Nestled amid mountains and winding roads just miles from Tajikistan’s southern border with Afghanistan, Otchapar is one of the more remote communities of the world. Populated by fewer than 20 households, it is home to a mix of ethnic Tajiks and Uzbeks.
“Our village has not had any visitors for the past 20 years,” explained Nurrullo Amrulloev, Head of the Village Committee, when receiving a group of youth theater performers from Panj, a central town in Tajikistan’s far south. Through the Youth Theater for Peace [7] (YTP) program, rural youth and their teachers work with local leaders to prepare performances on the specific conflict issues affecting their communities. YTP drama groups visit neighboring towns to engage residents in a unique theater process through which audience members may come on stage, replace an actor and attempt to impact the conflict situation positively.
“You are the first group to bring such a program to us, but these performances are good for the development and education of our youth,” said Amrulloev. “We’ve never heard of a kind of theater where we can speak and say what we think.”
Despite the intensity of the high-altitude sun, nearly 70 Otchapar residents turned out to explore issues affecting local youth and the stability of their community at YTP’s open air performance. Although isolated by distance, mountainous terrain and crumbling Soviet-era roads, small towns like Otchapar often face the same challenges as communities throughout Tajikistan and Central Asia at large, yet they have limited outlets to discuss and engage on these issues. The YTP performances in Otchapar touched on family conflict, poverty of opportunity and women’s employment, as well as school-imposed child labor, an issue which has plagued communities throughout Tajikistan and has caught the attention of international governments and media [8].
“YTP is useful in our communities,” explained one young performer. “Audience members come up to take on our roles, and if the plays we show did not address their problems and concerns they would not be able to solve the problems portrayed on stage. They feel as if they are our characters. They cry when we cry, and laugh when we laugh. I’ve understood for myself that we can show the pain of individuals and whole communities.”
Youth Theater for Peace is implemented by IREX and funded by USAID [9]. Nearly 6,300 people have attended YTP performances throughout rural regions of Tajikistan since November 2010.