The Community Theatre Training was conducted by MGM campaign partners at the Freshwater Center (FWC) on 6-8 June, 2023. A total of 18 MGM members from FWC, ZSL, PCC, Khustai National Park and Ashid Anand Co.LtD participated in the workshop facilitated by Narangerel Yansanjav from PCC, actor Lkhagvaa, and producer Bilegsaikhan. Both the producer and actor were also involved in the radio drama series and animated video on “Wildfire Prevention” that was used as a starting point for the theatre plot. The training was initiated by the FWC, implemented as part of the MGM campaign, and financed by the GIZ SPACES project.

The aim of the 3-day workshop training was to adopt an interesting and engaging way to deliver environmental messages to a variety of audiences, in particular youth. Participants learned to develop scripts and characters for community theatre performances, engaged in acting, breathing and public speaking techniques, and practiced the actual theatre play.

The training holistically covered all these aspects of developing short community theatre plays. In two working groups, the participants learned about ways to develop an overall story arc and the characters that drive the story ahead. Actor Lkhagva and producer Bilegsaikhan coached the groups and provided professional acting advice and practical tips. Next, the story lines of the two groups were merged into one for which a script was prepared. After several rounds of improving the scripts, actors from among the participants were selected to act out the selected characters and roles.  The 2^nd day was concluded with a voice rehearsal of the refined script.

On the final day, the theatre play was showcased in front of an audience from UNDP, FAO and FWC project staff.  The full performance can be accessed from the MGM YouTube channel or on a dedicated Facebook page. After the performance, the training participants engaged in an open discussion with the audience regarding the theatre play and the overall experiences and feelings they had during the training.  Ranger Altangerel from Arkhangai province noted “This is my very first time to experience a training where I have learned a lot and had so much fun at the same time.”

The community theatre training can be adopted in variety of ways, it can be a powerful and highly engaging as well as interactive tool to be used with audiences of all types in environmental education and communication. The participants will apply their newly gained skills to develop community theatre plays conveying environmental messages at school, with eco-clubs, NGOs etc. in the context of local EEC initiatives in Mongolia. The future local theatre plays that will hopefully emerge will again be covered by the MGM campaign.