Theatre for Development is one of the most dynamic and controversial theatre movements on the global South. Emerging in Southern Africa in the 1970s to address social and economic problems using theatrical techniques, today it is taught in theatre departments across sub-Saharan Africa and employed in numerous contexts from health care to agriculture. This book investigates the emergence of TfD from its beginnings to its transformation into a coherent organizational field capable of attracting significant governmental and NGO funding. Drawing on leading African scholars and practitioners the volume examines the complex transnational processes that led to the institutionalization of Theatre for Development.

Christopher Balme is Professor of Theatre Studies and co-director of the Käte Hamburger research centre Global dis:connect at LMU Munich. He directed the ERC project ‘Developing Theatre: Building
Expert Networks for Theatre in Emerging Countries after 1945’.

Abdul Karim Hakib is a lecturer at the Department of Theatre Arts, University of Ghana. He completed his PhD at LMU Munich. His research interests include Theatre for Development, intangible cultural heritage and performance, theatre and other media, and organizational politics and development.