Forum Theatre for Development
Video related to the publication: Going all-out for human rights and sexual health - Aiming for results in Burkina Faso
Founded in 1978, Atelier Théâtre Burkinabè (ATB) is a professional theatre company at the core of the Fédération Nationale Théâtre Forum (FNTF), an association consisting largely of local groups of amateur actors who use forum theatre to engage audiences inter-actively in performances that entertain but also educate about a wide range of development issues. In 2000, ATB launched a national theatre school to train Burkinabe people in this kind of theatre and eventually to become an international centre for training. Every two years, ATB hosts the International Festival of Theatre for Development. ATB also produces radio and television series, all designed to entertain and educate.
Since 2004, PROSAD has been supporting ATB and FNTF as they produce plays designed to address the issues covered by all three of PROSAD’s components. These plays are refined through performances in Ouagadougou and then taken to the regions, where ATB’s core group of actors work with local actors on translating them into local languages and adapting them to reflect local cultures and circumstances.
During performances, there may be opportunities for audience participation in determining turns of plot and alternative endings. Immediately after performances, there are always opportunities for lively discussion. Following these discussions, people often come forward to ask for advice or assistance with matters of personal concern, such as how they might be able to protect their own daughters from sexual exploitation and send them to school or how they might repatriate their own trafficked children. Some performances and discussions are recorded for broadcast on local radio or television so that more people may benefit.
The plays are often performed in schools, with school children playing some of the roles, and with issue-oriented games and group discussions held afterwards. In Sud-Ouest, PROSAD supports an annual cultural festival that provides opportunities for additional performances of the plays, as well as for other cultural events, and school children are among the enthusiastic organizers of and participants in these festivals.
The play "Le sang des enfants" (Children's blood) is about child labour in a gold mine. It was developed by ATB with technical assistance by PROSAD concerning the content. It has been documented on film (video cassette and DVD) in French and in different local languages. These films of the play are used for "debate cinemas" during information campaigns about children’s rights, child labour and child trafficking.
