INFINITE FUTURES, INFINITE SOULS - THEATRE PEDAGOGY FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

For Theatre Lab (Youth) students, their only 'embodied' time during the pandemic was when they came to our farm, in Covid bubbles, to live and work. They harvested fruit and made a blended work called “What’s Inside?”. They built a duck pond and debated whether algorithms were more dependable than emotions. We hosted one group of students for a three-month residency. They entered, scared, insecure and left feeling connected and inspired by every animal and tree on the farm.

What we discovered was that the imagination too, if stuck within a fixed framework of understanding, stops growing. It requires the honesty of witnessing birth and death to clear its cobwebs. What use is the theatre canon when faced with an apocalypse? What use are theatre icons when young people face an uncertain future? 

This case study will provide reflection and learning to theatre pedagogues interested in taking forward ideas of sustainable theatre for young people and working towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

Presented via link by Kirtana Kumar, India