Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters in the fifth part of this book. The part of the book addresses the analytical and political interests of critical dramaturgy by suggesting how dramaturgy might be put to emancipatory uses. It discusses what is necessary in the theater and in human drama if these are to contribute to emancipatory knowledge. In scientific terms, critical dramaturgy emphasizes the historical relativity of forms of social drama. In political terms, critical dramaturgy facilitates understanding and participation by all competent adults in social processes of human emancipation and societal development. The part focuses on how young people unite magic and make-believe with the world of seriously intended reality in which they live, love, adapt, struggle, doubt, and die. Each young person searches for a voice with which to tell her/his own story and that is the way it should be.