ABSTRACT
This chapter reports the preliminary results from a qualitative case study about a social justice Testimonial Theatre Program provided in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and in Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It has focused on bringing people enmeshed in structural conflicts characterized by segregation together as participants and audience members. Community arts programs are fertile ground for addressing structural, such as interracial and sectarian/ethnonationalist, conflicts. The Testimonial Theatre Program examined includes a variety of pedagogical processes that contribute to peacebuilding and conflict transformation. This research reports the perceptions of the program’s participants. Themes that have emerged in the described case study are: the power of authentic and vulnerable storytelling, humanizing the “other” by bearing witness to true (often marginalized) stories, and empathy development in the audience members as well as the performers. The program encourages all of them to engage in social change within their communities. This chapter addresses the void of research on documentary theatre and gives insight into experiences within it.
