PhD candidate Emily Warheit awarded Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship

Congratulations to PhD candidate Emily Warheit on being awarded the UMD ARHU Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship for the Fall 2016 semester!

Congratulations to PhD candidate Emily Warheit on being awarded the UMD ARHU Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship for the Fall 2016 semester!

Emily’s dissertation is titled “Forum Theatre as Theatre for Development in East Africa,” and she is researching how the performance practices that are involved in Theatre for Development (TfD) communicate or foster dialogue in a development context. Her dissertation looks specifically at the use of Forum Theatre (developed out of Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed movement and based on the critical pedagogy of Paulo Freire in 1960s/1970s Brazil) in public health-focused programs funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Uganda and Kenya.

The participatory and democratic nature of Forum Theatre aligns with current trends towards community involvement in development initiatives, but power imbalances inherent in development projects work against the potential for Forum Theatre to develop communities and fight oppressions. Emily’s research addresses this contradiction, and her study questions just how effective or ineffective Forum Theatre is for community development.

Emily’s work has taken her to Uganda and Kenya to interview funders, leaders, theatre practitioners, volunteers, and community members who are involved in TfD programs funded by USAID. She has also used her own skills as a theatre practitioner herself to participate in such projects, in order to better understand the effectiveness of such initiatives.

Emily working on a Forum Theatre project in Uganda in 2011

This research is important because it has the potential to improve the understanding of the use of Forum Theatre for both development professionals and theatre artists, allowing for better and more efficient application. This work will also connect TfD to the complicated international web of the development industry, and highlight how theatre for development projects are planned and funded for an audience of theatre scholars and practitioners. 

Emily earned her MA in Theatre & Performance Studies from TDPS, and she continued straight into doctoral work after completing her Master's thesis in 2011. With the support of the Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship from UMD’s College of Arts & Humanities (ARHU), Emily will spend next Fall semester writing and revising her dissertation. She plans to defend in November and graduate in December 2016.

We are looking forward to seeing the culmination of this very important work and where it goes next!

By Kate Spanos