AREPP EDUCATIONAL TRUST
Education in Sandton

arepp:Theatre for Life creates applied theatre productions which travel to schools nation-wide, providing complimentary, social life-skills education to school-going learners for the promotion and development of self-efficacy and resilience in relation to life-style issues and the attendant attitudes, behaviours, choices, and values that are inherent therein. Performed in the real-life context and home language of the audience, the productions have two aspects: the performance of a play; followed by an age-appropriate problem-solving discussion with the audience. The productions are specifically designed to be performed as a Life Orientation lesson in the schools’ daily schedule and to complement and support the outcomes of the national Life Orientation curriculum statements and the strategic plan for HIV and AIDS. Using a rights-based approach, each show is age-appropriately crafted to highlight and foster thought and debate around the issues of identity, rights, relationships, discrimination, gender equality, homosexuality, pregnancy, peer pressure, sex, substance use, HIV/AIDS and STIs, violence, and physical and emotional abuse. The approach addresses the development of self-confidence, self-image and self-esteem, and engages with the notions of choice-making, responsibility and tolerance within the framework of the audience’s understanding of their rights, and how to exercise their rights and their civic and social responsibilities, while respecting the rights of others. The theatre experience stands in for, substitutes and becomes a life experience for the audience which is then reflected upon, analysed and theorised, and where skills are imparted to understand how to problem solve, and make sense and meaning of experience. Engagement with the arepp:Theatre for Life performances assists young people in handling themselves within their own contexts and finding their own solutions to their problems, while simultaneously exposing them to the thrill, excitement, culture and enjoyment of a live theatre show. In addition, arepp:Theatre for Life develops and conducts training in applied theatre & puppetry methods, facilitation techniques, sexuality and related issue training, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and organisational development, on request.