Moving from reflection to action, Season 5 focused on theatre’s capacity to engage directly with social realities and drive meaningful change. Led by guest curators, the conversations investigated how theatrical practices can be applied beyond the stage to influence communities, institutions and everyday life.
Earlier seasons navigated the teaching of theatre amidst disruption (Season 1), explored performance, pedagogy, and advocacy for resilience and relevance (Season 2), delved into the creative possibilities of disequilibrium in our ‘chaosmos’ (Season 3), and envisioned future collective pathways for humanity and our planet (Season 4).
This Season is a call by Unrehearsed Futures to transition from dialogue to action, emphasising theatre’s role in social transformation. Led by a new cohort of guest curators, each on their own quests to unearth new insights, this season encourages participants to move from theoretical discussion to practical engagement in the world.
It’s about taking theatre’s potential for ongoing transformation into the field, affecting the profound social change it’s capable of. This evolution represents a dynamic shift towards embodying theatre’s insights and methodologies in real-world contexts, championing its capacity as a powerful tool for understanding and influencing our environment.
Jonathan O’Hear, Maria Sappho, and Qondiswa James explore Chimère, a community-driven AI, as a counter-cultural creative collaborator challenging corporate AI narratives and expanding human-nonhuman collaboration.
Liz Morgan, Maulikraj Shrimali, and Vandana Asha explore how Theatre of the Oppressed shapes democratic organisations, anti-caste practice, and community-rooted activism across diverse contexts.
Dizu Plaatjies, Nhlanhla Mahlangu, and José Dias explore ancestral memory, embodied awareness, and the sacred secrets embedded in African musical and performance traditions.
Michael Pierce, Denise Kenney, and Ellie Nixon explore how Lecoq’s pedagogy can be adapted to address ecological crisis, decenter anthropocentrism, and evolve with local contexts.
Six South African live art practitioners explore how Live Art transgresses form, centers queerness and decoloniality, demanding a rethinking of curatorial power and artistic freedom.
Three Indian mental health practitioners explore how theatre and drama therapy dismantle hierarchies, support trauma healing, and transform community health outcomes across diverse contexts.
Ukrainian playback theatre artists from Kharkiv share how they use playback theatre to build community, foster acceptance, and support displaced persons and refugees.
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