Creativity is about creating reality : The experience of a drama and performing arts project for a group of South African adolescents

Abstract: The thesis is based on a field study conducted in a South African secondary school and seeks answers to how young people living under harsh conditions in a disadvantaged environment experience the opportunity to practice drama and performing arts in an after-school programme. Drama is often mentioned as an educational tool and a strategy to self-development. But how is it perceived by the adolescents themselves? How do they experience the drama activities? And what meanings do they put into these activities as a part of their daily lives? The drama and performing arts project, concerned in this study, was set up in collaboration between the social science research programme HealthWise South Africa and the performing arts company Brown Paper Studio. HealthWise South Africa aims at promoting youth development, for example through facilitation of healthy leisure opportunities. Brown Paper Studio aspires to create a positive and secure environment where creativity, talent and self/group expression can be explored and encouraged, and skills learned, through drama exercises and performing arts. In this study, the experiences of the participating adolescents have been investigated through a phenomenological research approach. An analysis, which has been thoroughly worked out with focus on the empirical data, will be presented and discussed.