Al Akhawayn University: Theatre for Gender Justice

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Al Akhawayn University (AUI) Social Action Project: Changing Gender Roles in Morocco.

Leslie Jacobson has partnered with this community for many years, using theatre to create a safe space to voice and discuss issues related to gender justice.

Her process: teaching how to conduct a senstive interview – gaining the interviewee’s trust; creating a release form for the interviewers to give to their interview subjects; reviewing the interview questions sent to me by the students; reading the transcribed interviews, in order to create a 45-minute performance piece about changing gender roles in Morocco.

Between 5 and 7 students from the class perform a staged reading of the script, as if the stories had happened to them – although the anonymity of the interviewees is strictly maintained. Along with her colleague, Professor Kenza Oumlil, she creates a post-performance questionnaire for the audience members to gain insight into the audience's improved empathy and understanding of the issues presented in the performance.

AUI is a highly ranked, elite university located in Ifrane, Morocco, which conducts it’s classes in English. The students are fluent in Arabic, French, and English.