Theater as CeremonyHealing the Wound of Historical Trauma

BACKGROUND

PURPOSE HYPOTHESIS

Theater as a transformative process—a process of ritual and ceremony— is a praxis for healing through the re-creation of ourselves. By applying cultural systems into liberatory methodologies, healing performance occurs.

By Sheila Rocha

RESULTS

CONCLUSIONS

By using theater as a cultural tool for empowermentactor/participants carry out the act of story, thereby,healing wounds, reclaiming their history and reaffirming their cultural identities.

Cultural identity for Indigenous communities has been shaped by issues of unresolved grief and historical trauma. Coupled with day to day challenges of unemployment and poverty, a loss of self-concept and placement demonstrates what researchers Weaver and Brave Heart describe as“past events that shape current reality”.

METHODOLOGY* Consult with the elders and Medicine People for guidance and permission

* Take spec-actors through process of traditional ceremony* Reclaim Theater as Ceremony

* Theater of the Oppressed methodologies with cultural matchGIVE VOICE to the STORY - to the HISTORY – to the WOUNDS

The process of ceremony serves as a framework for theater. It is a fundamental tool that holds promise for Indigenous people to dislodge unresolved grief. In order to re-name our stories we must use all the tools we have at our disposal to heal from and understand our historical and personal trauma. Communities as a whole have much to gain from ceremonial theater.

Georgia White Water, Kickapoo War Chief

RESULTS

CONCLUSIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY