Ghanaian Community Theatre in Promoting National Development

Abstract

Theatre is a powerful instrument in social engineering, the recovery of a people’s cultural heritage and above the promotion of education and development. This article is derived from community theatre projects studied and executed over a period of time within some Ghanaian communities. It is a critical study of what various societies accept as real development. It examines development in a contextual perspective, using Ghana as a concrete background. It is meant to point out some of the dimensions of everyday understanding of what development is and how it is often misconstrued, understood and implemented in the developing world. The main objective of challenging and helping readers to seriously consider what development means to individuals and nations in a developing world underpins the article. This could be regarded as an academic reflection. A further discussion and deliberation will also be made on Community Theatre and its socio-cultural impact on the individual, the community and the nation as a whole.