#ENOUGH: Confronting Gun Violence through Community-Engaged Theatre Practices

Abstract

This paper describes the authors’ experience of developing and implementing a civic engagement process within the context of a 2022 production of #ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence. By combining methods from participatory democracy, futures studies, and Boal’s Legislative Theatre, the authors created a multi-step audience engagement process consisting of pre-production, post-show, and post-production workshops aimed at collectively strategizing methods for preventing gun violence, both locally, in Arizona, and nationally, in the United States. In this paper, the authors outline their methods, reflect on outcomes, and offer considerations for theatre practitioners and researchers engaging with a variety of socio-political issues and wishing to incorporate community-engaged advocacy into their work.