The Mart Theatre Project : exploring identity in a community-based applied theatre project with young people

This thesis details the theoretical and practical implications of utilizing applied theatre as a tool for the exploration of youth identity and relationship to community. Drawing on traditions of ethnography and reflective practitioner research, this document explores the roles of identity and identity-based inequities as they relate to Mart Theatre Project, an applied theatre project aimed at engaging students in Mart, Texas in a larger community development initiative taking place in their town. The document comprises critical analyses of the roles of student identity, facilitator identity, and community identity as they pertain to a community-based applied theatre process and product. The resulting discussion argues for a continual awareness that that the applied theatre process is impacting and impacted by the identities of the facilitator and the participants.