Act Globally

As a junior at American University in Washington, D.C., Stephanie Kridlo was trying to determine what her study abroad program would look like. She knew that going to another country had the potential to be life changing, and she weighed her options carefully.

“I was planning to go to a well-established program in Chile when I got an e-mail about ‘Rehearsing Change,’” Kridlo says of an Ecuador-based program that uses theatre to promote social justice issues. “Somehow, I knew that if I opened the email it would change my mind, and it did. It was one of the most formative experiences of my life.”

Education abroad programs are, by their very nature, designed to provide immersive experiences in other cultures and countries to college students. Increasingly, higher education drama programs are offering international experiences for their students through academic exchanges and education abroad opportunities that focus on skill development and, more broadly, on social justice and global issues in the developing world.

“Every society has its own way of telling stories,” says Reynolds Whalen, founder and executive director of Performing Arts Abroad, an organization that offers study abroad opportunities directly to students. “Theatre is not only a unique way to understand a society, but drama is one of the most detailed or in-depth ways to see how a group of people tell their story. It’s of value to anyone, not just theatrical practitioners, who want to understand a place better.”

“Embodying a Character Mirrors the Study Abroad Experience”

Interest in