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Description
Throughout history, the performing arts have been used as an accessible tool for communication, raising awareness about social issues and affecting positive change. Social justice theatre encompassing documentary theatre, verbatim theatre, and social justice ethnodrama is designed to raise critical consciousness, build community, interrupt, and alter oppressive systemic social patterns, and motivate individuals to promote social change. This chapter addresses how social justice influenced the development of a two-act crime victim advocacy play titled Call this Number and critically analyzes social justice theatre through the lens of narrative engagement theory. This chapter advances understanding of how to develop social justice theatre, ways to assess if social justice goals are being achieved when producing this work, and provide a useful theoretical lens for understanding how social justice theatre can promote social justice goals.
ISBN
978-1-032-79804-2
Publication Date
4-28-2025
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
City
New York
Disciplines
Other Communication | Other Theatre and Performance Studies | Social Influence and Political Communication | Social Justice
Recommended Citation
Miller-Day, M., & Raja-Halpern, N. (2025). Changing the world, one play at a time. In R. West & C. S. Beck (Eds.), Communication, Entertainment, and Messages of Social Justice (pp. 195-212). Routledge.
Copyright
Routledge/Taylor & Francis
Included in
Other Communication Commons, Other Theatre and Performance Studies Commons, Social Influence and Political Communication Commons, Social Justice Commons
Comments
This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of a chapter accepted for publication in Richard West and Christina S. Beck (Eds.), Communication, Entertainment, and Messages of Social Justice. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003493952