Voice of the Artist Episode 2

Theatre for Development: An Essential Change Agent- Kingsley Obed Ansah

Obed K. Ansah is a Teacher and a Theatre Artist, who's work is based on Theatre for Development. As a Theatre Artist specifically a change agent, He tries to effect minds to inspire change. He is involved in the kind of Theatre that uses the methodology of finding the problems in a community with it's members and together, through a dramatic performance with the community members playing the center role, they laugh at the wrongs or ills they do in the community and propose solutions.

Challenges 
His challenge is that people actually don't understand the role art plays in the society, hence they tend to make ''mockery'' of it but he often admonishes them by saying: "the end products defines competency. He also realizes that with theatre for development,  people think anybody can organize a performance to sensitize the community but they all leave out the most important part which is feedback.

His experience
Working on a social protection drive on child abuse,  those who were handling the project wanted to organise seminars for the communities involved. Through somebody he had the opportunity to meet the organisers, and sold to them how effective the TfD method will be.  He was given the opportunity to handle it and they were marvelled because of the feedback they got.

His Current Work
He's working with the students he teaches to raise awareness both in the school and the community he is in, on the need to pay attention to arts, which has resulted in some positive results.
Again, he has a drama troupe, that identifies the problems in his school and attempt to ridicule it using drama.(experimented it with only an art class)
Way Forward

He's also working on a having seminars for SHS ''arts'' students,  starting from his school to expose them to the opportunities in arts and how to attain them. He is hopeful that his work will create the heightened awareness of how Theatre can efficiently serve as a social force by inducing a positive change process in his local community and the world at large.

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