Our Story Continues

Each year, The Rainbow Players improvised and wrote a new show with the participation of local community members in a fully inclusive theatrical production. The material originates from the members as they engage in a process of improvisation and social justice theater forms.

After tackling the bullying and name-calling types of discrimination, the troupe eventually developed a sense of pride – of themselves and of the message they sent out – and began doing shows involving story theater, fairy tale characters, or representations of current concerns like Climate Change.

Transforming the stories and seeing other potential outcomes, the group became spokespeople for their community, the “labeled-as-disabled”.

They have offered workshops on Anti-Bullying theater to students of elementary through high school age, as well as to self-advocacy groups in the region. The scenes are generated within the group and solutions are imagined and tried in the scenes.

This style of theater, drawn from the writing of Augusto Boal, empowers the individual, whether the “bully” or the “target”, to imagine a new way to act when a real situation occurs. We have offered trainings and orientations to staff in after schools, camps, human service agencies and for school personnel.