I. Introduction

     I was first introduced to the idea of theatre as a tool of
education before my last year of High School. I was involved in
a small, summer theatre program in Brentwood, Tennessee, where
I was living at the time. The director in the show that I was
cast in, as well as another actor, both worked at the Planned
Parenthood Association of Nashville (now Planned Parenthood of
Middle Tennessee); one as the "Teen Theatre Coordinator" and
the other as the Drama Consultant for the same group, the PG
(peer guidance)-13 Players.
     The program had a lack of males in the group (and the
situation appears to be a common problem among such programs),
so after showing interest and the ability to act reasonably
well, I was eagerly scooped up.
     The PG-13 Players primarily dealt with, during my single
year there, with issues of sexual decision making, sexual
responsibility, drug and alcohol use, and peer pressuere.
     Two years later, after transferring from Eastern Michigan
University to Syracuse University, I was also given the
opportunity to re-enter educational interactive theatre in the
form of "every 5 minutes R.A.P.E. forum theatre"(1), which was
named after a poem by ntozake shange. This group dealt with
issues concerning date and acquaintance rape, and I eagerly
joined the group, not out of idealism, but out of enjoyment of
the format. I was not familiar with the issues of acquintance
rape, aside from the basic idea of "rape is bad," and the fears
of false reporting that is very common among men today. 
     The amount of education that I have encountered on the
topic, in the last three years has risen exponentially: from
book, experience, and from disclosures from those around me
since joining. I joined the group because of theatre reasons,
but I remain because of a desire to change the situations and
systems that lead to these problems.
     So, nearly five years after first exploring interactive
theatre as a tool for teaching what is often regarded as taboo
subjects by U.S. society, I've begun to look into other
programs. Where are they? How many are there? What topics do
they cover? Is there any research on them? How effective are
they?
     Over the course of Spring 1995 Semester, I've established
contacts with eleven different functioning troupes or
organizations from Texas to New York, with varying degrees of
communication and available information. This paper is an
attempt to explore these groups, which I believe are an
effective method of beginning a process of introducing concepts
often not covered by today's educational system and ignored by
society. I also have made an attempt to get into some of the
experiences of the groups. How it has affected the players
involved, as well as the audiences?
     This paper is meant to explore and explain what goes into
peer education programs that involve theatre. It's my
contention that the use of theatre makes such programs
different from those who just use "workshops" run by
peer-educators. It's my belief that by the use of theatre, such
programs can bypass people's desire to "zone out" when
presented with material they may not be comfortable, or
necessarily agree with. More-so than television, theatre
presents three-dimensional images of real people with real
problems, and cannot just be turned off, or switched to a
different channel. And when done correctly, will not shut
itself off, even long after the program has left the physical
space of the performance.

1. Rape Advocacy, Prevention, and Education‹ named from the
acronym used by the Syracuse University R.A.P.E. Center.