RESTORATIVE THEATRE™

MIA is committed to positively impacting young people and youth serving adults by offering them courageous, authentic, honest, and empowering spaces. We believe this is possible by utilizing Restorative Theatre© with youth and youth serving adults to REFLECT, RECLAIM and REHEARSE for REALITIES for their past, present and future.

  • Reflect.

    Youth refect upon what they feel, what they think, what they want, what they need, and who they believe they are, rather than who their family, communities, cultures, society and other circumstances have defined them to be.

  • Reclaim.

    Youth reclaim for themselves the rights, opportunities, privileges and possibilities that have been denied them by others.

  • Rehearse for Realities.

    Youth rehearse how they act and react towards: Themselves; Others; Life; Circumstances; and New possibilities. They identify realities: What is actually real; What is perceived to be real; What is reasonably real; What is potentially real; and What it will take to make new possibilities real.

What is Restorative Theatre™

Facets of the MIA Pedagogy and Praxis: Inspired by Theatre of the Oppressed, Dorothy Heathcote, Social Emotional Learning, Positive Youth Development, Restorative/Transformative Justice, Trauma-informed Care, Healing Centered Engagement, Culturally Responsive Teaching, the Neuroscience of Play, Happiness and Co-Regulation.

  • Pedagogy used in spaces of trauma that need restoration and healing. This happens through play/imagination, joy, belonging, and empowerment.

  • Co-creation of spaces that cultivates and humanizes the interconnectedness of lived experiences and identities for ourselves and our collective liberation.

  • Utilizing time and resources to restore/heal oneself is imperative to be a member of the ensemble: equipped with the tools to collaboratively imagine what is yet to come.

  • All humans are oppressed by systems at varying levels even if they oppress others (we cannot live into our fullest selves if not rooted in the belief that all humans deserve to feel valued, seen, and heard). We all hurt when some hurt. We rise when all rise (there is always enough work to be done in service to our collective liberation).

  • There must be time for: play/joy sharing stories, being in community and feeling valued, seen, and heard, problem solving, dreaming/imagining, curiosity, pause/mindfulness,

    making meaning/reflecting on personal experiences in the company of others doing the same to allow individuals to zoom in on self while also zooming out to the larger world around them.