Exploring How Community-based Theatre Praxes in the Philippines and Taiwan Tackling Climate Change-related Issues and Providing Alternative Philosophies and Aesthetics for Climate Change-induced Problems｜DaTEAsia Vol.12

APA Citation

Wang, W. (2023). Exploring How Community-based Theatre Praxes in the Philippines and Taiwan Tackling Climate Change-related Issues and Providing Alternative Philosophies and Aesthetics for Climate Change-induced Problems. The Journal of Drama and Theatre Education in Asia, 12, 7-42.

Distances are created by geographical locations, fixed ideological cultural construction as well as social classes, race, nationalities and gender. However, facing the drastic climate change and continuous natural disasters brought by typhoons, flood and over-exploitation of natural resources in Asia, community theatre practitioners in the Philippines and Taiwan, located in the global south, tried to bridge the distances between countries and within their own societies. They reflect on and combat the impact caused by these challenges with community-based theatre praxes and musical praxes consecutively.

This paper aims to investigate how community theatre practitioners in the Philippines and Taiwan employ 4 different devised theatre productions using community members’ voices and experiences, popular theatre techniques (such as musical forms), and indigenous rituals, dances and songs to reflect on thedeterioration of the environment and climate change, as well as community disintegration. It also explores how we need to save ourselves through vigilant supervision of government development projects and community reunification by rebuilding consensus and communal cultural identity. The ancient Asian indigenous natural beliefs, mythology and Chinese philosophy of co-existing peacefully with nature are also employed to reflect and criticise the myth of progress of modern technology and development.