Burundi: Forum Theater Freeze-and-Swap Team Rehearsal Drills

Forum Theater Freeze-and-Swap Team Rehearsal Drills, Burundi

Context

In Burundi, theatre has often been used as a social technology: something to test ideas in public, rehearse solutions, and practice dialogue across difference, with practices that vary by region and community. During and after the civil war, Search for Common Ground’s Bujumbura-based Studio Ijambo popularized serial radio drama to model problem‑solving conversations, a format that ran into the hundreds of episodes and became appointment listening nationwide. The approach turned performance into a civic tool rather than a pastime. * *

From there, interactive theatre blossomed. The association Tubiyage, whose name literally means “let’s talk about it,” built a reputation for forum theatre (spectators stepping into scenes to try solutions), touring schools and communities with pieces about everyday dilemmas and inviting audiences to intervene. Their work is documented in NGO reports that describe interactive audience participation and scene re‑runs that encourage action as well as discussion. * *

The ecosystem remains lively today. The Buja Sans Tabou festival in Bujumbura curates provocative plays and, crucially, professional workshops that sharpen local companies’ writing, acting, and directing craft, keeping a pipeline of facilitators able to run participatory sessions for organizations. The 6th edition ran 5–11 February 2024; according to the official festival site, the 7th edition’s lead‑up in 2025 included public panels on creativity and technology, and a province‑decentralized program (“Intara Zirakina”) that takes theatre to teams across provinces beyond Bujumbura and Gitega. Burundi’s political capital is Gitega, and Bujumbura remains the economic center. * * *

Meet the Company/Cultural Tradition

Forum theatre (from Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed) is the tradition; Burundi’s practitioners are the enablers. Tubiyage’s method is clear: stage a recognizable work problem or social knot, then invite a spectator to replace a character and test a different tactic, with the room observing and iterating. RET International documented Tubiyage’s Kirundi‑language forum shows in seven provinces, where tens of thousands of students, teachers, and parents saw scenes about misuse of authority, conflict, and everyday ethics, and recorded that audiences proposed and tried solutions in real time. That “spect‑actor” switch (a spectator becoming an actor) is the technique that translates directly to team development. *

The network is broader than one troupe, and names and spellings in this chapter follow each organization’s official pages to respect local orthography. Africalia, the EU‑funded NZORAMA program, and the COPRODAC platform helped professionalize production skills and visibility, so organizations primarily in and around Bujumbura can now find trained facilitators when they want participatory workshops. Buja Sans Tabou’s organizing company, La Troupe Lampyre, sits in that network and continues to grow practice through festivals and labs. * *

Newer initiatives show the format’s currency. In 2023, Impunity Watch worked with the Burundian troupe “Les Enfoirés de Sanoladante” to create IRAGI (“Legacy”), an interactive production that toured six provinces with more than 18 performances, each followed by public dialogue. The project’s process, co‑creating scenarios from lived experience, then iterating with audiences, mirrors how teams can surface and solve internal frictions. *

In short: forum theatre is an authentic, current Burundian practice with a homegrown facilitator base and public‑facing track record. Some organizations in Burundi already contract such groups for engagement and learning, and adoption varies by sector and budget; the jump to structured, recurring short practice sessions is modest when paired with a local co‑facilitator. * *

The Ritual

Minute	Scene	Purpose
0–5	Set the stage: a facilitator from a local troupe (e.g., Tubiyage/Lampyre network) frames one concrete, non‑traumatic workplace dilemma (missed handoffs, silo friction, or client‑handover hiccups). No props, no slides, and no recording.	Focus and psychological safety; scope the “one knot” to untie.
5–12	First run: two volunteers act a 90‑second scene showing the problem as it actually happens, with seated or voice‑only options available.	Make the issue visible and embodied, not abstract.
12–20	Freeze & swap: a “spect‑actor” taps in to replace one character and tries a different tactic (clarifying request, boundary, escalation path), and anyone may pass or participate as an observer or note‑taker. Quick re‑runs test alternatives.	Iteration and shared problem‑solving without blame, with the leader speaking last and sessions not linked to performance evaluations.
20–25	Micro‑retrospective: facilitator extracts 2–3 behaviors that worked (“offer options,” “state constraints early”) and writes them on a whiteboard.	Turn improvisation into transferable norms.
25–30	Commitment beat: pairs practice one line they will use this week (e.g., “Before we start, can we limit this to 15 minutes?”). Session closes with a quick check‑out.	Translate insight into a specific next practice.

Cadence: 30 minutes, weekly or bi‑weekly, embedded in team routines during project cycles, with voluntary participation, socially safe opt‑out choices (observer, note‑taker, timekeeper), remote‑friendly breakouts for hybrid teams, seated or voice‑only participation, interpreter or assistive‑technology on request, rotating time slots that avoid major prayer times and holidays, and notes shared for absentees focusing on agreed norms rather than scenes; must‑keeps include the freeze/swap method, 90‑second scenes, a local lead or co‑facilitator, capturing 2–3 behaviors, and opt‑in participation, while adaptable elements include language, cadence, venue, group size within 6–12, and recording policy (no filming without written consent). Teams hire local theatre facilitators periodically (e.g., once a quarter) to refresh skills, and interim short sessions are run by a rotating internal host trained in the format via festival or troupe workshops, with an accountable owner named for scheduling and data, a simple cost model (employee time x loaded rate plus any facilitator fee), and a minimum viable version for up to eight people in 30 minutes. * *

Why It Works

Embodied rehearsal can be more effective than abstract debate for many teams. In forum theatre, colleagues don’t just discuss better collaboration, they enact it, swap roles, and feel what a different choice does to the room, which creates behavioral rehearsal and perspective‑taking that can support clearer handoffs and more voice behavior in day‑to‑day work. In small pre‑post studies, improvisational theatre training has been associated with longitudinal lifts in creative self‑efficacy and self‑esteem, ingredients that may help people speak up and co‑create under uncertainty. A 2025 field study (N=202) reported that improv participants’ self‑reported creative self‑efficacy and self‑esteem rose over time beyond a sports control group. *

Interactive theatre also tunes core communication muscles. A medical‑education program using improv‑based training reported significant pre‑post gains in participants’ self‑perceived communication comfort, with structured, mixed‑stakeholder workshops building shared language and trust, exactly what cross‑functional teams need. *

Culturally, the practice can fit. Burundi’s theatre scene already treats audiences as co‑authors, not passive consumers. Tubiyage’s provincial tours invited spectators to step into scenes and propose fixes; Impunity Watch’s IRAGI shows did the same across six provinces. In workplaces, that “spect‑actor” norm becomes a safe practice space to try tactics, learn safely from mistakes, and iterate quickly. * *

Outcomes & Impact

While most documented outcomes in Burundi come from civic programs rather than corporate HR dashboards, the observed pattern in those settings is that interactive performance can fuel participation and practical problem‑solving. RET International’s forum‑theatre program reached roughly 22,400 students plus educators and parents, with audiences actively intervening to test responsible choices, which suggests that the format can help convert spectators into problem‑solvers. That same mechanic—short, iterative scene work—is what this workplace practice codifies. *

The infrastructure to sustain the ritual is largely in place in and around Bujumbura, with growing reach elsewhere and varying access by province and budget. Buja Sans Tabou runs recurring workshops that upskill facilitators; Africalia‑backed initiatives like NZORAMA strengthen production and training capacity; and local troupes (Tubiyage, La Troupe Lampyre, and others) maintain contacts and offer services, meaning teams primarily in and around Bujumbura can book professional help to seed and refresh their practice, with access and costs varying by province. * * *

Finally, global research on applied improv gives leaders confidence that they’re not “just playing.” Studies, often based on self‑report and small samples, link improv training to improved collaboration, adaptability, and psychological safety, which are associated with high‑performing teams rather than guaranteed causes of performance. Forum theatre simply localizes those benefits in a Burundian form the workforce already recognizes. * *

Lessons for Global Team Leaders

Principle	Why It Matters	How to Translate
Spect‑actors, not spectators	Doing beats discussing; people try solutions, not just suggest them	Freeze, swap, and re‑run scenes until a workable tactic emerges
Tight time‑boxes	Energy and safety rise when scenes are short and specific	Cap each scene at ~90 seconds; limit sessions to 30 minutes
Local facilitators	Cultural fluency speeds trust and relevance	Contract Burundian troupes (e.g., via Buja Sans Tabou/Lampyre network) for quarterly refreshers
From scene to norm	Insights fade without codification	Capture 2–3 behaviors per sprint; add to a living “plays we run” list
Rotate hosts	Shared ownership sustains cadence	Train 3–4 internal hosts through festival/troupe workshops

Implementation Playbook

Map dilemmas: Collect three recurring, non‑traumatic friction points (handoffs, meeting overruns, unclear asks), tie the choice to a top team priority such as reducing handoff defects, explicitly exclude harassment, violence, or political topics, and coordinate with HR or union representatives as appropriate.
Book a facilitator: Engage a local forum‑theatre practitioner through Buja Sans Tabou’s network or a troupe like Tubiyage to co‑lead an introductory workshop, with consent to be named, fair compensation per local norms, facilitator skills in neutrality, time‑keeping, and redirection, and a one‑page overview that explains purpose, voluntary participation, data handling and retention, and partner credit.
Set the rhythm: Schedule a 30‑minute short session every one or two weeks for a six‑week pilot with 2–4 teams, make participation voluntary with an observation‑only equivalent, rotate times to accommodate shifts and caregivers, avoid customer‑critical windows and major prayer/holiday times, cap groups at 6–12 people, and separate sessions by level when needed.
Script “first runs”: Volunteers act the problem as it truly happens (anonymized, no names or clients), no fixes yet, and a brief pre‑brief covers voluntary participation, pass rights, protected turns for women and junior staff, an anti‑retaliation ground rule, the leader speaking last, no public call‑outs, and accessibility options such as seated, voice‑only, or written roles; then debrief with three prompts: what changed, what made it work, and what to try next.
Freeze, swap, iterate: Spect‑actors step in to try alternate tactics; keep scenes short and kinetic.
Capture the moves: Name and log winning behaviors on a shared page (e.g., “state constraints up front”).
Refresh quarterly: Bring the external facilitator back each quarter to raise difficulty and keep craft high, and use a simple memorandum of understanding that covers consent to be named, fair payment terms pegged to local rates, and permissions or benefit‑sharing for any materials created.
Measure lightly: Collect anonymous team‑level pulses only (e.g., a 3‑item psychological safety short scale, one item on belonging, and two on handoff clarity and voice), link the mechanism to a business metric such as handoff defects per cycle, allow opt‑outs, retain only aggregated data for up to 90 days after HR/Legal review, exclude results from HR files, include an optional 48‑hour micro‑diary with three prompts, and set success thresholds (+0.3/5 on safety, −15% handoff defects) and stop rules.

Common Pitfalls

Over‑talking the scene. If discussion starts to dominate, re‑run the moment instead; keep insights embodied.
Picking heavy or traumatic topics. Stay with everyday workflow knots; the ritual is for teamwork, not sensitive casework, and any harassment, violence, or political scenarios should be escalated through proper channels rather than rehearsed here.
Letting only extroverts act. Use pairs, clear roles, opt‑ins, and observer or timekeeper roles so everyone can participate safely.
One‑off theatrics. Without a cadence and capture, the gains dissolve; protect the rhythm and document the norms.

Reflection & Call to Action

Burundian forum theatre shows what happens when audiences become co‑authors: ideas get tested, old habits loosen, and better choices spread. Your team can borrow that practice respectfully by partnering with Burundian facilitators, crediting origins, and compensating fairly, often in just half an hour each week. Start small: a single scene about a familiar friction, one swap, one tactic worth keeping. Then repeat. In a few cycles, you will have more than a ritual; you’ll have a repertoire: scripts your team writes together and performs on the job.