I. Playback Theater as a Tool for Conflict Prevention & Transformation
(Lesson #2636)
Observation.
Interactive, arts-based peacebuilding tools can contribute to conflict prevention through community-
building – aiding people who may otherwise react and respond to adversity with violence in part due to an
inability or lack of opportunity to process emotions in healthy ways.
Playback Theater is an effective tool for peacebuilding in communities by building bridges across divides,
creating a space for healing from traumatic loss, and empowering at-risk youth to process emotions, as
illustrated by the work of Inside Out Playback Theater in the United States.
1. Playback Theater can help people hear each other across divides instead of talking past each other
on tough issues (such as racial, ethnic, and immigration issues), because this improvisational
technique focuses on people’s stories, not people’s views or political positions on such issues.
2. Playback Theater creates a safe space for survivors of abuse to process trauma and loss and
experience community acknowledgement of their stories, which is often necessary to break free
from the cycle of violence.
3. Playback Theater cultivates a sense of belonging for at-risk youth while providing groups of youth
a constructive way to process emotions. Beyond its application in the United States, this form of
storytelling may contribute to conflict prevention and/or recovery from conflict worldwide when
combined with complementary interventions.
Discussion.
Playback Theater is an interactive form of improvisational theater whereby a theater troupe acts out stories
on the spot that are shared by people in the audience. Playback Theater was originally founded in the
state of New York, U.S., in 1975 by Jo Salas and Jonathan Fox in order to provide more people an
opportunity to tell their stories. Since then, it has expanded to six continents and at least 40
countries including Australia, Brazil, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, and Sweden. In the
United States, Inside Out Playback Theater at Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia has partnered
with myriad organizations since 2012 for community-building across racial lines, with survivors of
trauma, and in times of student transition.
A Playback Theater troupe is composed of a Conductor (who facilitates the event), approximately 4-6
actors (who improvise people’s stories), and 1-2 musicians (who accompany the theater performance with
improvised music). Each performance lasts approximately 90 minutes. The Conductor asks the audience
questions throughout the event, and the audience responds. At first, the audience stays seated while the
Conductor opens with short introductory questions. Emotions expressed by people in the audience are
acted out promptly by the actors. Later in the performance, audience members are invited to sit on stage
and share longer stories which are then improvised by chosen actors in longer patterns. A playback
performance will typically cover a key theme (such as veterans' issues, immigration, etc.), eliciting people’s
varied experiences on the subject.
The following examples from Inside Out illustrate how Playback Theater has been used effectively in
communities as a peacebuilding tool.
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