Community Theatre

Advocacy through Performance

By Standing Voice

August 28^th, 2019

For four years, Standing Voice has nurtured a talented group of advocates from across Tanzania in their mission to build understanding of albinism through performance. Using their lived experience of discrimination as source material, the Hadithi Storytelling and Performance Group harnesses the power of song, dance and participatory drama to challenge damaging myths and ignite community dialogue around albinism and human rights.

Reconvening this year at the Summer Skills Workshop, the group were led by John Sagatti (an instructor at the Bagamoyo Creative Arts Institute [TaSUBa]), William Mseti and Jacqueline Mtoi (TaSUBa students), and John Fungwa and Ayoub Kajanja (local musicians). This incredible array of African talent led the storytelling group to new heights, converting their personal histories into an interactive drama later performed live in open-air village settings.

"What we are trying to do with dramatic public engagement is to empower people with albinism to have a voice. We cannot speak on behalf of them; they live in these communities, they need to speak for themselves." — John Sagatti

Before taking their performances into villages, the storytelling group prepared at the Umoja Training Centre.

Participants began the creative process by talking and listening: by sharing their experiences, exploring the parallels (and divergences) in their own stories of suffering and resilience, prejudice and triumph. Releasing these memories—often repressed for years—forged a space of healing, and a platform to move forward.

From this conversation emerged several storylines, rehearsed at the Umoja Training Centre and later toured in villages across Ukerewe: one narrative about a woman without albinism, shunned by her family and friends due to her relationship with a man with albinism; another following two mothers, who experience marital abandonment and violence following the birth of their babies with albinism. Scenes were interactive, inviting explicit participation by audience members, who were challenged to interrogate and rethink their own preconceptions about albinism. The performance concluded positively, as the man with albinism was embraced by his girlfriend’s family following constructive dialogue with the audience.

"In the past three years I have seen changes both within the group of storytellers and within the communities where we perform. In previous years the people taking part in the workshop were shy and a little reserved, they didn’t want to talk much at all. Now they are communicating openly with each other, giving their testimonials and showing eagerness to engage their communities through performance. And increasingly, people in the villages are receptive to our performances: they understand that albinism is a genetic condition, not a curse, and that the rights of people with albinism must be respected and protected.” — John Sagatti

"We are not the owners of the performance, what we are supposed to do is create and initiate dialogue and then allow the audience to guide where the story goes. It is important for the audience to really engage so these conversations can continue; we want community members to continue the debate after we have left. The performances are just a trigger." — John Sagatti