Wait so what the hell is it that you're doing this summer? I'm interning as a part of my Applied Peacebuilding course. I've been assigned to a local NGO to assist in their research. The research topic is a collaboration of both mine and the organization's interests.

Yeah, but you're not someone I'd consider a theatre buff. That's true! I've got a healthy case of enthusiasm for theatre but for me what's important to my research is looking for locally-sourced and culturally sustainable efforts towards maintaining peace and working on issues of violence. Yeah, its a mouthful, but I like local approaches to problem-solving. Forum and applied theatre is just that. That and these theatre forms have history – through out the war they were never censored or interfered with by the government or the major political parties or the LTTE. And both sides of the conflict have a history of theatre performances and groups thus making it a pretty good fit for integration of peace initiatives.

So what does this entail? Heavy background research and then detailed interviews with playwrights, actors, producers and critics. I'm looking to focus on theatre methods and themes relating to reconciliation. Sri Lanka's 30 year civil war was officially ended by the government May 2009. That doesn't mean the issues that caused it were resolved. It means that the greater responsibility will be placed on the citizens as crucial steps are taken to reunify the island.
So I've been working 9 to 5 doing background research and hope to start interviews next week. I've been able to view online a very good example of Devised Theatre based off experiences in an IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camp, that was an incredibly moving piece of very high quality.

Email me if you want a link to what this sort of theatre represents.

I've posted photos on facebook, will post more as my travels continue.