Our Methods and Their Effects
MUSICAL THEATRE
Musical Theatre is Drama that uses Songs to tell a Story. There can be dialogue in the play as well, but music is equally important and often takes the place of dialogue (such as a thought song or a dialogue song). Most Rwandans had never heard about Musical Theatre until RAPSIDA introduced the idea. Some anti-AIDS clubs in Rwanda sing songs before they do a play, but that is not exactly musical theatre. In musical theatre, the songs are always inside the story/play-- and in Rwanda, the audience stops talking and begins to listen when the characters begin to sing. RAPSIDA also broke new ground in Rwanda in 2005 by using Musical Theatre in its Video/Film and Radio Dramas.
Effects:
“It was because of the songs that the story is clear in my mind.”
--Student, APRED Ndera Secondary School
"The audience were fully engaged..., a hushed silence fell when one actor broke into a quiet sorrowful song about finding out her HIV status, and demonstrated very powerfully how effective using musical theatre is in engaging a listening audience. The forum theatre, brought 3 audience members to the front to convince a young man to go get a test.
--Irena Pearse, Volunteer Services Overseas, Report on PJLS/VSO/RAP September 2005 Workshop at Nyarurema
"Everyone at the school who responded to questions about the music reported that they liked the original songs composed and sung by the students and named at least one song by name (from memory) as a favorite. These favorites ranged from the songs composed to create ambiance, to the song encouraging people to gather together at the beginning of the play to fight HIV, to those songs sung by characters at dramatic moments in the play, such as when Rose sings “I’ll Be Strong” after considering whether to get a test for HIV."
--RAPSIDA Report, 2004 Schools Pilot Program
“I liked the song Mwaramutseo (Good Morning) because it was sung as if it was in a real movie.”
--Student at APRED Ndera Secondary School after Live Theatre
“Musical Theatre provided a way for the actors to noticeably command the audience’s attention and often to affect the audience emotionally, even under difficult circumstances where an audience could have easily been distracted.”
--RAPSIDA Report to CARE International
FORUM THEATRE
Forum Theatre is a method where audience participants (one at a time) get on the stage to help try to solve a problem in a scene in the play. Forum Theatre is one form of Interactive Theatre and is widely used throughout the world to help different groups resolve conflicts, raise awareness, raise consciousness, and stimulate action and behavior change. This method allows the audience to feel that they have agency (that they can make a difference) in a particular situation. When the audience returns to everyday life and they encounter situations similar to the one they participated in during the Forum Theatre play, they will feel empowered to make that change in real life as well. RAPSIDA often uses a more simplified version of the traditional method, where the audience is prompted to get involved at a very specific moment in a conflict on-stage, which enables RAPSIDA to place Forum Theatre in the context of a full-length play.
Effects:
"During Forum Theatre, 3 people got on-stage to try to convince the main character to go for a test. After the Forum Theatre moment, the play continued, and then, amazingly, one young man/boy from the audience initiated his own Forum Theatre moment during the regret scene at the end of the play. He came on stage and sat next to the dying main character, telling the dying man that he would console him and not forget him."
--RAPSIDA Report on World AIDS Day 2005
· The Forum Theatre plays inspired activity and participation in the target audience members (3% of all audience members got on-stage physically to get involved in the play or to address the actors/characters directly; 9.4% of all audience members became engaged in post-show discussions)
· The Forum Theatre plays created a mind-set of commitment to change (on the days when the Pledge method was used, 52% of the audience members pledged support both verbally and physically)
· After the audience had already tried to convince him to not go with a girl, and after he had discovered that he had HIV because of his actions, the lead actor from Club Urumuri of Ruyumba addressed the audience directly and said very emotionally “I should have listened to you, and you, and you.” The audience, which had been very hot and talkative, became very silent.
--RAPSIDA Report to CARE International, November 2005
SERIAL THEATRE
Serial Theatre can be defined as drama in episodes, produced regularly over a long period of time, with a continuous story-line. This method was used during the 2004 Pilot Project at APRED Ndera Secondary School. A 6 hour play was broken into 6 parts and shown at the school over the course of 3 months.
Effects:
“Six out of nine students reported that they enjoyed watching the play in weekly segments better than all at once, for various reasons: “because I am now curious about what will happen;” “because most of the time on Sunday, I have nothing to do in the evening;” “so that we can learn slowly by slowly about AIDS.” One person said she yearned to see what would happen to a particular character, the rapist, so she wanted to see the rest of the play now. This was exactly what we hoped to achieve with the Serial Theatre: to keep the audience curious about the characters week after week.”
--RAPSIDA Journal
"We have found that one of our methods is unique even in the global context. We presented the results of the 2004 Schools pilot project at the 4th International Conference on Entertainment-Education in Cape Town, South Africa in September 2004 (www.ee4.org), and we are tempted to say that this pilot program at APRED Ndera was the first of its kind in the world, let alone in Rwanda. Not one expert at the conference had heard of our method of serial theatre (presenting a theatre play over time, in many episodes) and everyone at the conference seemed interested in following-up with the program and/or trying the methods in their own contexts."
--RAPSIDA Evaluation of 2004 Pilot Project
INTERACTIVE THEATRE
Interactive Theatre is where there is a direct engagement between the audience and the actors during the presentation of a play. For example, characters will ask audience members direct questions, expecting a reply, or audience members, prompted by the Master of Ceremonies, can ask questions of characters in the play once it is finished and the actors respond in character.
Character Chat Examples
Audience Question: “Why did you choose to go and speak with the woman who has HIV/AIDS? What was your motivation?”
Actor Response: “I chose to go and speak with her because she looked like she needed comfort. Because other people were treating her badly. And I realized that it felt good to help her.”
Audience Follow-up Question: “But why did you hesitate. Why didn’t you just go directly towards her. Why did you delay?”
Actor Follow-up Response: “I didn’t show her kindness at first because I thought that I should stay with my group of peers. They didn’t like her, so I thought I should just stay with them and not show her kindness. But then I realized that it felt better to go and help her, so I did.”
Direct Address Examples
“I know I should ask him to use a condom but if I ask him to use it he will think I am a prostitute or a bad woman. What should I do?” – a character named Charlotte (speaking directly to the audience), in a play called Kunda Ubuzima
“Welcome to Our Town, a play about a typical Rwandan Town. I want you to meet the people in the town. Over here you will see a market. Here you will see a minibus, and here you will see the school. Isn’t this town wonderful!”—The MC speaking directly to the audience at the beginning of the play.
Effects:
The play was interesting and clear “because of the discussions between actors and the audience.”
--Student from APRED Ndera, RAPSIDA Report, 2004 Schools Pilot Project
Eight out of twelve people said that they enjoyed having the MC ask questions to them to keep them engaged and to make everything clear to them during the action of the play. One student liked it when the MC gave the audience a quick review of the previous episode at the beginning of the second, noting the “use of simple words” as a positive aspect of helping to engage him/her. One reported that they “made us curious about what will happen next,” and another that “they made us pick up the information from the episode.”
-- RAPSIDA Report, 2004 Schools Pilot Project
“The audience became seriously involved and engaged during a talk-back session with the actors/characters from the play. Moderated by the MC from the play, the audience members lined up to ask the characters very intelligent questions about why the individual characters (not actors) made certain choices in the play. The discussion went on and on and on. This showed us that we are having an effect. We are inspiring dialogue and passion. The talk back session gave the audience a sense of connection to the play. After that talk-back session, the audience members were standing on their feet in order not to miss any part of the third episode.”
--RAPSIDA Journal
PHYSICAL THEATRE
Physical Theatre is when actors mime inanimate objects, or use their bodies creatively to imitate machines or even environmental objects, such as a forest or a door to an office. One of the most popular in Rwanda is the mini-bus, or simply opening an imaginary Fanta bottle.
Effects:
Physical theatre proved to be another surprising method that had instant appeal to the audiences. Scenes where the actors created minibuses with only two benches and their bodies, or where the actors improvised imaginary doors, cups, tables, etc. brought the audience to laugh and cheer for the actors.
--RAPSIDA Evaluation of 2004 Pilot Project
v The imaginary bicycles from Ruyumba and the minibus from Ruhango were physical theatre highlights; the audience became entranced with the movements on-stage
v Physical Theatre created moments of great comedy for the audience that made them listen constructively
--RAPSIDA Report to CARE International, November 2005
PERSONALIZED THEATRE
Personalized Theatre can be defined as theatre developed from personal stories, testimonies, interviews, etc, so that the play is relevant to the lives of the people who are watching it. Those who are familiar with Thorton Wilder’s classic play “Our Town” would have no trouble recognizing the similarity between many of RAPSIDA’s plays. We have developed a model play similar to Our Town, with an MC who is a member of the town in the play, who introduces the audience to the town in an enthusiastic way, often with the actors singing songs about what they do in town and miming the actions, similar to the simplistic and often imaginary props employed in Wilder’s classic play.
Comment:
"The students interviewed unanimously said that the specific characters and situations in the play were relevant to their own lives and to all Rwandans."
--RAPSIDA Evaluation, 2004 Pilot Project
ANTI-STIGMA VISITS
Anti-Stigma Visits: When on tour, RAPSIDA’s Actors often stay in homes with People who Live with HIV, and/or eat with their associations, and the actors discuss their experiences at the plays. Often special food is served at the play, as a reward for the audience if they are well behaved, and it is catered for by PLWHA. We use the STAR status of our actors and of our organization to show communities that PLWHA can lead productive lives and even host our visit to their community, which helps to reduce stigma.
“Sure, we could wait for a widely recognized star such as Celine Dion to visit every village in Rwanda and use her star power to convince people to show respect to PLWHA, or we could create (and we are creating) respectable stars from the talented youth in Rwanda, and then they can then convince the others.”
--Jesse Hawkes, RAPSIDA
“In the morning I walked around and spoke with some of the people in Clavelle’s neighborhood. One woman said she usually offered assistance to Clavelle, but she didn’t really feel comfortable giving him help. She still had reservations about getting close to him. She seemed like she just did it because it might please him, but she still had fear in her heart. That is why I think our spending the night with Clavelle helped to show people like this woman that people who have HIV are just like everyone else. You can treat them like normal people. You can help them and care for them, get to know them, and like them. Afterwards, this woman actually came over to visit with Clavelle.”
-- Christian, a student actor in Kunda Ubuzima who stayed with a 30 year old man named Clavelle, who is HIV +
“I informed my neighbors in advance that I would be hosting the students on Saturday night. All the neighbors were happy about the idea. They all know that I am HIV+ and generally they support me, especially when I get ill. But it was not always like that and sometimes stigma is silent so it is hard to tell if everyone is sincere in their support. So the overnight made me feel like they would respect me more. I was also happy with the night because the boys who stayed with me shared stories and experiences. I hope that this kind of experience can be brought to the villages where stigma is still a major issue.”
--Clavelle, HIV+ resident of Kabuga
“It made me feel wonderful to have the students staying with me and my HIV+ partner, Jean-Darc, because many of the people in our neighborhoods have not studied and are illiterate, and to have the students staying in our homes brought us a lot of respect from our neighbors.”
--Isaac, HIV+ Resident of Kabuga
“It made me feel very happy, because the action of staying over night with us showed that we are humans just like everyone else. You can eat and sit with us. You can sleep in the same bedroom with us.”
--Jean D’Arc, HIV+ Resident of Kabuga
"The inclusion of demonstrations of care for PLWHA in and with highly entertaining and provocative theatre was one of the most surprising and effective ways to reduce stigma and increase the possibility of prevention. When asked how they felt about the moments where RAP and the anti-AIDS club offered care/support to the association of PLWHA, all of the students were either “pleased” or “happy” and one was “surprised” as well. Showing care/support during the play, no matter how small the gift, seemed to be a way of getting people to think about PLWHA in a way that might actually contribute to the efficacy of the prevention messages in the play. Offering care/support is a prevention strategy in and of itself."
--RAPSIDA Evaluation of 2004 Pilot Project
"In Karenge, one group of students visited the home of Chantal, an openly HIV+ woman who is in good health. During their visit, the students learned that Chantal’s mother often discriminates against her, and treats her poorly because she has HIV. Before the end of the visit, Chantal’s mother came home. Needless to say, she was surprised to see the students visiting Chantal. The students did not let Chantal’s mother leave the room in silence. They explained to Chantal’s mother why they were there and they taught her how HIV is spread and how she need not worry about contracting HIV by living with her daughter. Chantal’s mother started to ask many questions, and the students were thankful that they knew the answers, because they allayed the mother’s fears and convinced her to love her daughter just as she did before Chantal was open about her HIV+ status.
One week later, the students received a call from Chantal to come visit her again. They did, and found that her mother and the whole family wanted to come see the play at ASPESKA Karenge on May 28th. And they did."
--RAPSIDA Journal, Schools Project 2006
CANDLELIGHT CEREMONIES
At the first RAPSIDA conference in 2003, Dr. Glenn W. Hawkes initiated a candlelight ceremony on Sunday morning, where participants lit candles for, and gave testimonies in loving memory of, people who have died of HIV/AIDS. They also lit candles in honor of those people who are currently fighting the disease valiantly, including people who are HIV negative. The Ceremony is very simple, non-religious, mostly hopeful, but often very emotional too. Often it is accompanied by solo and choral songs, some planned and some spontaneously performed by the RAPSIDA actors. RAPSIDA performs these ceremonies in training sessions, to build an emotional commitment to the work, and also during presentations of plays. There is always someone present from RAPSIDA who has experience in helping people who may experience some trauma during the ceremony.
Effects:
“I light this candle for my mother and my father, who both died of HIV/AIDS.”
--Student actor from Kunda Ubuzima, at the non-fictional candlelight ceremony before the play at Kabuga
"I light this candle for my best friends. We were a group of 5 friends, good buddies, and 3 of them have now died of HIV."
--Lead actor (20 yrs old), Club PJLS, Nyarurema, before the play. Note: This comment brought seriousness to the otherwise rowdy secondary school audience, who showed their sympathy through mouth noises and head shaking back and forth, and who then attended the play very carefully.
“The candlelight ceremony created a deep emotional connection between the people who were in the audience and the actors who were in the play, even hours later in the day. I say this because I felt it myself. Based on the actors’ true testimonies during the morning candlelight ceremony, the audience, like me, could see that the talented actors in our group are real people whose lives have been deeply affected by HIV/AIDS, just like the majority of Rwandans. For example, I learned for the first time that one of my actresses lost her mother to HIV/AIDS, and one of our singers lost both of her parents to HIV. Yes, it was heartbreaking when they got up and testified about this during the public candlelight ceremony, but the connection between them and the audience for the rest of the day was heart-warming. Their testimonies created a sense of sister-/brotherhood between them and the rest of the people in the room that made the message of the play very poignant and powerful.”
--Jesse Hawkes, RAPSIDA
POWER PURCHASES
One of the ways that we reduce stigma is by using our Purchasing Power to initiate and/or support businesses and Income Generating Activities (IGAs) run by local associations of People Living with HIV/AIDS. We hire PLWHA to make costumes and food/refreshments for the plays; and, when RAPSIDA’s actors visit/spend the night in homes of people living with HIV, we pay them for their good services. Making sure that our money goes to people who really need it takes a little more time, but it not only helps them, it also helps our message, by reducing stigma in the community and making people more receptive to our Prevention messages.
Effects:
Example 1: Kabuga 2004:
$680 (29 % of the $2350 budget) went directly as profit to the Association of PLWHA, Girimpuhwe.
Example 2: Ndera (January 2006):
During the Leader Training Seminar, the Twizerane Association housed actors, made special donuts as prizes for the audience members, and fed actors and trainees for most of the week. At the end, the Association had profited over $100 and asked RAPSIDA to consult with them on how to best use the money. They decided to do more Micro-Finance grants to deserving members of the Association.
BADGES OF HOPE: Ikimenyetso cy’Ibyiringiro
Interpersonal Communication (IPC)
This method utilizes the bead badges made by PLWHA and which contain the Red-Ribbon and the Rwandan Flag Colors. These badges are worn in a variety of ways, in programs that creatively and strategically use the badges to spark interpersonal communication (IPC) about HIV/AIDS Awareness, Prevention, and DeStigmatisation. RAPSIDA has used them in its school programs as well as in its programs with Hotel, Restaurant, and Bar (HRB) workers in Nyagatare. RAPSIDA promotes wearing these badges only if the wearer understands fully the meaning and importance of the badge.
The HIV/AIDS Red Ribbon is “A Sign of Hope”, the international symbol of HIV and AIDS awareness. When you wear the red ribbon, you are saying:
1. I want to talk openly about the problem of HIV/AIDS and what I can do to help it.
2. I support safer sex practices (abstinence, mutual faithfulness, condom use)
3. All people should have the right to say No to sex.
4. I will not discriminate against people with HIV/AIDS
5. I remember and I respect those who have died of AIDS and their families
6. Yes, the red color is a sign of danger – AIDS is deadly, and sex can be dangerous if not done with care--but the ribbon is also a sign of hope.
7. The red ribbon is crossed to show that we are one – if we work together, we can stop this deadly disease.
8. Wearing the red ribbon can be the first step in the fight against HIV and AIDS. You can wear it in any place, at any time.
When you wear the red ribbon with the Rwandan colors you are saying: If we uphold the values of the red ribbon in Rwanda we will build a stronger Rwanda!
Effects:
"In Nyagatare, the bead-badges with the image of the red-ribbon had a big effect. All workers at the follow-up meeting stated that they had worn their badges with pride for the whole week. Some trainees reported that their co-workers and customers had accused them of being HIV+ for wearing the red-ribbon, but the trainees did not become shy. They did not remove the badges. Rather, they explained to the restaurant clients and co-workers the true meaning of the red-ribbon and how it encourages people to talk about HIV and AIDS, to try prevent actions that lead to HIV transmission including sexual harassment, and also to commit to supporting those who have HIV. The trainees added, “We felt strong because of the workshop; the information we gained from RAPSIDA helped us feel confident.” Some of those customers who had inquired about the HIV status then asked if they too could wear the badge.
"Amazing Story from Week 1: One trainee was wearing his red ribbon while tending the billiard table at his hotel when one of the billiard players called him to the corner to explain the meaning of the red ribbon. Afterwards, the billiard player privately asked the trainee if he would buy him a condom because the billiard player would soon be having sex but was too shy to buy a condom at the local store, where he knew people. The trusted RAPSIDA trainee bought the condom for the billiard player, perhaps saving him from contracting or spreading HIV."
"Hence, some of the customers viewed the red-ribbon wearers as trustworthy and caring, and entrusted them with life-saving information."
--RAPSIDA Journal, April 2006