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“I Will Raise My Daughters to Be More Confident”: Women’s Empowerment and Applied Theatre in Jordan

“Teacher, we tried everything; nothing will work,” declared one woman at the end of the session. This fatalism was her conclusion to a theatre workshop designed to explore, and perhaps promote, empowerment among women, one of two conducted in community centers in Amman, Jordan, under the direction of the author, an applied theatre specialist, with three assistants. Paradoxically, the pessimistic view of this workshop participant speaks to both the success and limitations of this kind of theatre work, especially in the context of conservative communities in the Arab world. Applied theatre, with roots in popular education, political organizing, and activism, has been used throughout the world to foster consciousness about issues and to bolster the abilities of less-enfranchised peoples. While applied or participatory theatre offers tremendous promise in promoting a political voice and justice in the Arab world, the task of translating techniques that were developed in other cultures to conservative, religious communities in Jordan and elsewhere faces significant challenges. These two workshops revealed several of these challenges in relation to using the body, filming, and specific theatre techniques. The women participants, despite some differences in education and economic status among them, were able to vocalize views about gender equality in Jordanian society, all voicing some of the same problems. The project demonstrated that participatory storytelling—my blend of several methods of applied theatre—serves as both a means and end for empowering women in the Middle East.