Community
On Stage To Change Lives
How Wan Smolbag Continues To Move Communities
| The question is, what isn't Wan Smolbag Theatre doing? Since producing
the regionally acclaimed AIDS awareness drama video "Like Any Other Lovers"
in 1992, the Vanuatu-based group has moved in dozens of new directions,
tackling topics ranging from turtle conservation to government corruption,
from voting to domestic violence against women. The group now operates a
youth drop-in center and a reproductive health clinic that offers family
planning advice and screening for sexually transmitted illnesses. In the
mid-1990s, it launched Wan Smolbag Kids to involve 11-16 year olds in developing
and taking plays out to schools and the community. Teams of adult actors
regularly visit schools in Port Vila or tour Vanuatu's many outer islands.
Traveling teams also help non-government organizations and health officials
in neighboring countries to develop their own plays for outreach promotion.
Youth peer educators deliver condoms to kava bars and promote HIV awareness
through one-on-one contacts in the community. In 2004, the program produced
a two-hour musical on gender issues that played to packed, paying audiences
for weeks on end in Port Vila.
Wan Smolbag has demonstrated that drama can break down the barriers against openly discussing what are said to be "sensitive" issues in Pacific Islands where culture and religion are strong. In many Pacific Islands, government health workers fret about how to publicly discuss sexually transmitted illnesses (STIs) and HIV/AIDS, fearing repercussions from religious or traditional leaders for talking openly about sex. - ADVERTISEMENT -
Wan Smolbag has solved that problem by using drama to present the message. One humorous audience-interactive skit features a mock-up of a vagina and penis on stage and actors playing STIs, semen and AIDS, and their super-enemy, the condom. They also show through drama the effects of untreated STIs on the bodies of both men and women. It is difficult to imagine a health educator getting up in front of a mixed audience in a village in most islands in the region to talk bluntly about sex and AIDS prevention in this way. But Wan Smolbag and groups like Youth to Youth in Health in the Marshall Islands do this on a daily basis and not only is it culturally acceptable, they get invited back to do more. Still, it takes organization and structure to make it happen. "Without funding, it's hard to sustain a drama group," says Jo Dorris, who with Peter Walker coordinates the writing and directing of the plays. In the group's large warehouse in Port Vila, you'll find dozens of young ni-Vanuatu practicing skits, recording music in one of their studios, preparing to take a modest assortment of props out to a school for a drama presentation, writing reports to organizations that fund the program, and people from the community dropping into the reproductive health clinic. The program has the support of a "who's who" list of donors in the region, which has helped it expand dramatically since the late 1990s. In 2004, Wan Smolbag sent two teams of actors to Palau, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kiribati, Tonga and the Cook Islands to run workshops of producing HIV/AIDS dramas with local theater groups. In the Solomon Islands, Wan Smolbag staff have spent time working with schoolteachers to use drama and role-playing in classrooms, as well as videos produced by the group. "Teachers don't get a lot of training, so they mostly use the blackboard and a stick for teaching. That's it," says Dorris. "But the teachers really respond to the materials that we produce." Importantly, Wan Smolbag theater is rarely a one-way presentation. A recent skit for schools was developed to tackle the significant waste and litter problem in the country. "It's rousing stuff," says Dorris of the plays that are performed in local classrooms. "They get the students to attack the litterers." One skit was called "Dangerman," who was the evil litterer. "The kids really liked it." Still, while a one-off presentation may amuse and energize young people, it is unlikely to change behavior patterns. So Wan Smolbag returns to schools repeatedly. "We keep going back," says Dorris, who estimates that the group may visit a school four-to-five times a year with different plays and different activities, including having the students build sculptures out of trash. The drop-in center and reproductive health clinic links the program's message about individuals taking action to protect their own health and communities, to actually providing the services to help people do just that.
In 1997, the program spent six months working closely with the Blacksands/Tagabe community near Port Vila. A play was developed and research conducted into issues affecting the lives of people in this community. Follow up work led Wan Smolbag to develop programs outside of its core theatre work. One of the priority needs identified by the community was a drop in center where people could watch videos, chat, get advice and counseling on reproductive and sexual health issues, access to contraception, and other health check-ups. The drop in center and clinic opened in early 1999, with the support of the Health Department, the community and numerous international donors. People in Vanuatu want information, but many haven't completed school so written materials are not helpful. Drama, however, is understandable for everyone. "Everyone loves to watch a play or film," says the program's Web site. "But do they really inform people? Are they passing on the right messages?" It's a question that few programs take the time to ask. But Wan Smolbag has a research officer who conducts surveys of audiences to find out what they knew before presentations, and their knowledge level afterwards. It has been said that the medium is the message. For Wan Smolbag, the medium is drama, and it's carrying a potent message out to the community about nation building and people taking responsibility for their own futures. For more information: www.wan-smolbag-theatre.org |
