Myanmar Projects

Youth Engagement: Theatre for Peacebuilding

Bond Street has been working in Myanmar since 2009, partnering with Thukhuma Khayeethe (Art Travelers), one of the only theatre troupes that dares to perform contemporary theatre, to train artists in social theatre methods and their practical applications for community education and social empowerment. The project is designed to address issues of diversity and mutual respect, and introduce interactive theatre as a means to promote community engagement and conflict prevention.

Civic engagement on issues of rule of law, discrimination and sectarian violence is new in Myanmar, a nation emerging from decades of military rule.  The theatre arts give youth a platform to examine and discuss issues in a public forum and participate as active agents for social advancement.
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Thukhuma Khayeethe and Bond Street collaborated to create an educational performance that illuminates issues of diversity, discrimination, and coexistence, the roots of the issues, and the damage caused to Burmese peace and social development for all citizens.  After each performance by Thukhuma Khayeethe the artists hosted participatory activities that allowed the audience to come onto the stage to role-play and offer their solutions to the issues. 

"This is something very new and interesting. We need this in Myanmar." 
– Ye Mon, Professor at Yangon University, Myanmar

We have also developed a theatre-based curriculum centered on the issue of anti-discrimination and personal responsibility, featuring theatre exercises. This curriculum allows students to role-play, debate, discuss issues, and devise their own solutions.  Similar workshops are offered to teachers, NGO staff, and other stakeholders, to encourage inclusion in Burmese school systems.

We are training youth to create their own plays based on issues of their choosing, and present the performances in local schools and community centers with post-performance dialogues. The impact on communities is amplified when presented by youth for youth.  

Project Donors

Project Partners

• Thukhuma Khayeethe
• Gitameit Music School

Volpone

In 2017, BST collaborated with Thukhuma Khayeethe (Art Travelers) of Myanmar on an adaptation of Ben Jonson’s Volpone, reconfigured to suit Burmese characters and culture, and highlighting the idea of taking personal responsibility to speak out against injustice. After decades of military dictatorship and heavy censorship, the Burmese people find themselves in a nation on a precipice. The play’s interactive ending invites the audience to take a stand, to act as a jury and choose an outcome -- a new concept brought to light through a comic, yet serious, story with colorful characters.

​In February of 2012, the ensembles began training in the classic physical style of Commedia Dell’Arte. Our Burmese partners Thukhuma Khayeethe were fascinated by the humor of Commedia and saw many similarities to the archetypes in classical Burmese theatre. The two companies chose to adapt Ben Johnson’s Volpone for modern performance in English and Burmese. 

Our collaboration with Thukhuma Khayeethe has been an invaluable opportunity to support theatre artists who are creating purposeful work in a dramatically changing social and political landscape. Our Burmese version of Ben Jonson’s Volpone addresses the cronyism and inequities that are endemic in Myanmar and elsewhere. It’s a daring step for theatre in Myanmar.

The play premiered publicly in 2017 in Yangon, and was performed as a free piece of street theatre in areas around the city, reaching residents of informal urban settlements, local artists, and others.

History & Other Projects

Working in Myanmar since 2009, Bond Street Theatre works in partnership with and is committed to Thukhuma Khayeethe, a group of socially conscious, contemporary theatre makers in Yangon.

• 2009 - Bond Street Theatre traveled to Yangon to complete an evaluative trip, working with Gitameit Music School.  The companies began to collaborate on social outreach projects.
• 2010 -  On a return trip we learned that a new theatre company had grown from the outreach programs at the Gitameit: Thukhuma Khayeethe (Art Travelers).  We worked with director Thila Min and performers Soe, Thura and Sai Nyi. In a two-week rehearsal period, we began work on a “serious” play, and an “edu-tainment” piece for children in schools and orphanages. While the serious, mainstage piece remained a work-in-progress, our entertaining and educational show promoting hygiene, The Handwashing Show, was up and running in no time. 
• 2010 - We completed 12 performances of The Handwashing Show  and 1 workshop, reaching over 2,500 children and adults from 12 schools in three States in southwest Myanmar: Yangon, Karin and Mon states.  Despite working under a regime with high censorship, we only had one show cancelled due to “permission withheld”.

• 2012 - We continued work on a new production with Thukhuma Khayeethe.  Our Burmese partners wanted to explore the archetypes and humor of Commedia Dell'Arte, so we chose to work on an adaptation of Ben Johnson's 17th century play Volpone.  In three weeks, the ensembles created a dual-language version of Act 1 and performed for an invited audience.
• 2014 - The Open Society Foundation funded a project to engage youth in promoting mutual understanding and peaceful coexistence with others of different religions and ethnicities.  BST worked in Pakkoku in Magway state, the seat of Buddhist authority, presenting a play about harmony with post-show discussions with the youth. The play, Swamped, clearly showed how cooperation leads to a better society for all. To avoid the censors, our play involved frogs and lizards rather than human characters - censors don’t “get” allegory, but the audience does.
• 2012-2017 - We returned to Myanmar to continue workshopping Volpone, which premiered in January 2017 in Yangon.