ABSTRACT
In Washtenaw County, Michigan, home to the cities of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, on-going applied theatre with youth initiatives have been instrumental in fostering awareness of systemic inequities, scarcity of resources, and economic realities at the root of truancy and school expulsions. Professor and theatre artist Decky Alexander discusses a sustained partnership between the local non-profit organization Student Advocacy Center and faculty and students in applied theatre at Eastern Michigan University. Alexander explains how theatre can be both a medium for self-efficacy and advocacy, and how storytelling can shift zero-tolerance educational policies. Crucial to this theatre’s impact is a deep understanding of the audience: who they are and their own power to effect change. Socially-driven theatre may aspire to ignite social change but is often a theatre of affirmation. Instead, this partnership seeks to change hearts and minds and thereby policies by targeting power brokers such as principals and public officials.
