Using Playback Theater with Adolescents in the Qalandia Refugee Camp in Palestine

Abstract

This work focuses on the lived experiences of 16 adolescent Palestinian boys who live in the Qalandia refugee camp under Israeli occupation in the Palestinian Occupied Territories. This work examines the boys’ engagement in Playback Theater, which is “an interactive form of improvisational theatre in which audience members tell stories from their lives and watch them enacted on the spot” (International Playback Theater Network, 2021). The findings illustrate that although the participants have much in common with other youth across the globe, they also experience stress and sorrow that are specific to their circumstances and context. Engagement in Playback Theater provided a collective space in which the participants could express grief and sadness at the loss of close family members and community members. Through the process, the participants also strengthened their ability to listen, to focus, and to interact positively with others.

ونحن نحب الحياة إذا ما استطعنا إليها سبيلا—محمود درويش

And we love life if we find a way to it—Mahmoud Darwish