Paper short abstract:

An exploration of how theatre techniques can function as agenda-setting devices, this paper describes the creation of two short public performances that presented participants as political subjects, rather than allowing them to be viewed as simple illustrations of social problems.

Paper long abstract:

Processes of social marginalization often work by convincing people that their desires are so unimportant to collective life as to be unworthy of even their own attention. This can make it difficult for members of marginalized groups to formulate public demands and puts them in the position of reacting to the agendas of others, rather than trying to set political agendas themselves. It is no surprise then that, as political philosopher Nancy Fraser points out, the struggle for parity of participation in political processes like agenda-setting is a crucial feature of social justice campaigns in contemporary societies.

This paper reflects on the use of theatre techniques as agenda-setting devices with two different groups of anti-poverty self-advocates in the context of the Transforming Hamilton Stories project. The goal of this project was to explore ways to use story circles and image theatre workshops to create parity of participation in public life by encouraging socially marginalized participants to create stories about their own desires for the future of their communities. Performances arising from the workshops used theatrical alienation techniques to focus audience attention on the choices community performers were making about how to communicate their desires for social change and for increased solidarity with audiences. These performance techniques allowed community performers to present themselves as political subjects, rather than allowing themselves to be viewed as simple illustrations of social problems, and so changed their sense of how they could participate in political discussions of the future of the city.