George Belliveau, U of Prince Edward Island
Drama as a way to promote social change

Year two of a three-year SSHRC funded project saw a group of pre-service teachers collectively develop a dramatic play on anti-bullying and then present their piece to over 3000 students in over thirty public schools across Prince Edward Island. Along with the compelling thirty-minute play, a series of interactive pre- and post-production activities were created to deepen the meaning of the drama as well as enable the student-observers to physically and experientially explore the complexity of bullying. Another part of the drama project had the pre-service teachers work in teams with five Language Arts (L.A.) classes in the school system. The students from these L.A. classes, with the leadership of the pre-service teachers, developed their own anti-bullying plays, and subsequently shared their drama and activities by touring local schools. In this paper, I explore the ways in which pre-service teachers and public school students applied drama to address bullying in schools. I also examine the learning that took place when the pre-service teachers shared and applied their knowledge and understanding of play development with the L.A. classes. With supporting evidence from the pre-service teachers, students, teachers, administrators, and the media, I analyze the impact the anti-bullying drama project has had on the participants and the local education system and community.