USING PLAYBACK THEATRE IN HURRICANE RELIEF PROJECT IN GRENADA

Using an all Grenadian team was the best decision

The following informal comments were written by Tracie Rogers, a Trinidadian drama therapist and storyteller who has been using playback theatre as part of a hurricane relief project in Grenada. You can also read her paper, “De Day We See Wind in Grenada”: Community Dialogue & Healing through Playback Theatre

My work in Grenada was linked to a community caravan implemented by the Agency for Reconstruction and Development [following hurricane Ivan].  The Agency for Reconstruction and Development (ARD) hired me as a consultant to work on the Community Caravan they were planning.  The Director of the Social Recovery Unit, Dr. Jennifer Holder-Dolly, wanted to integrate drama into the Caravan… she asked me to think about what I could bring.  She conceptualized the Caravan as a roving cadre of services where community members could access counseling to housing repair information.  The second day of the Caravan was an information fair where both non-profit and government agencies offered workshops, information etc. to the community members.  Dr. Holder-Dolly came to me because she wanted to use drama to introduce the community to the idea of talking about Hurricane Ivan and all the changes being experienced in the community.  She pretty much left the project open to my interpretation.  She supported me in every way possible.  When I told her about Playback her only question was ‘what do you need?’  She sourced the actors and arranged for me to fly over for rehearsals and then the PT performances which happened on weekends (usually Friday evenings) over a five month period. Each weekend we visited a new parish and performed in Community Centres and Schools.

I opted to use playback because the caravan was essentially about empowerment – why not ask community members for their stories.  We did not do any set pieces.  We integrated a lot of the local arts into the storytelling.  Lots of calypso, traditional folk characters and stories were used metaphorically; the main musical instrument used was a tenor steel drum.  I am not Grenadian, although as a Trinidadian I share a common Caribbean identity and I live some 35 minutes by plane away from Grenada - I did not take this for granted.  All the actors and the musician are Grenadian.  I found this very helpful.  As all countries/ communities, Grenada has a political, social and cultural history and identity upon which most of their mores and values are based – there is a colonial history, there was a socialist revolution in 1983, followed by a US occupation, etc.  I also found that there was a measure of distrust of foreigners. Post Hurricane Ivan people were flying in from all over the world to work on the relief effort some on a voluntary basis as well as others professionally employed and indeed many Grenadians were without work.  I met some resistance from 1 of the original 10 actors – we ended up with 8.  In hindsight, using an all Grenadian team was the best decision that was made.  I trained the actors, and pretty much let them infuse all the Grenadian cultural energies they cared to.  I performed in a couple of performances, but mainly did a lot of coaching, particularly with the conductors (this was done by two of the actors on a consistent basis). 

I definitely subscribed to the idea that PT can often surpass cultural barriers. However, when dealing with people who are traumatized, other dynamics kick in.  I am also interested in how other traumas got played out in the PT after Hurricane Ivan.  A range of traumas manifested themselves through the PT stories - and not just individual traumas, but many community traumas, political and social dilemmas. 

I found that developing conducting skills was the most challenging.  There were two actors who conducted throughout the intervention – one conducted about ¾ of the time.  He was keen on it, and after the first couple of rehearsals I saw that he had a knack for it.  Although there were a number of actors who expressed interest in conducting, I made the decision to have these two actors do most of the conducting.  The time was too short to conduct sessions on conducting.  I worked with them one on one on specific conducting skills.  We met after each performance after the team debriefing for a conductor’s debriefing.  The answer to your question is that fortunately, the team had two individuals who already possessed conducting qualities, we had debriefing conducting sessions after each performance, and as they got more practice, they really grew into it.  The first few shows were hard for me to sit through; I was more anxious than they were.  We conducted many Ivan stories—i.e., the actors’ personal stories-- in our rehearsals and dissected the how of asking questions and treating with trauma responses respectfully and safely in the conducting experience – from extreme emotional expression as laughing and crying to flat affects.