The female voice in community arts: Working in fictional contexts in building new reality

The Norad Programme in Arts and Cultural Education was opened up for community arts development at Marangu Teachers College in Tanzania from 2006–11. The project, involving participating students and out-of-school youth, has helped these groups to articulate common positions on issues that affect them. Among these are gender-specific problems regarding women’s status in the community. The article examines the possibilities of stimulating changes in the society by using applied theatre in a community arts context. This article describes the process of developing a theatre performance where drama was used to explore female life conditions in post-colonial Tanzanian society, seeking to find workable solutions that can help improve women’s status in the community today.