Theatre and Education

Natya Chetana is a theatre group in India founded under the leadership of Subodh Patnaik in 1986 when he started doing theatre with a research component to establish whether theatre could play a role in educating society. As a result, Natya Chetana became involved in researching traditional rural theatre, as well as the social development strategies and practices of non-governmental organizations and the impact of theatre on the audience as a process. The past 17 years have, therefore, yielded a harvest of rich experiences and breakthrough events in Natya Chetana. This article is in three parts. The first part discusses the theory and practice of community theatre and theatre for social development, as embodied in Natya Chetana. The second part discusses the value of theatre as an art form to social and community development and the third part explains the different processes needed for the success of a community theatre group.