Brent Blair, associate professor of theatre at University of Southern California, will give a talk on "Theatre and Collective Trauma: Rwanda and Elsewhere Around the Globe" at Coastal Carolina University's Wall Auditorium on Friday, Feb. 15, from 4:45 to 5:45 p.m. A reception will take place before the talk from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in Wall 222. The events, part of CCU's Nancy A. Smith Distinguished Visitors Series, are free and open to the public.

The presentation will be based on Blair's work using theatre as a therapeutic method to help trauma survivors in Rwanda. He has also applied this technique to help the families of both the victims and the perpetrators of violent crime.

Blair is a Linklater-designated voice instructor and a former Fulbright Scholar in the Igbo traditional theatre of West Africa. He founded the Applied Theatre Arts focus at the University of Southern California's School of Dramatic Arts and is the founding director of the Center for Theatre of the Oppressed and Applied Theatre Arts in Los Angeles, based on the works and training methods of Augusto Boal. He has formed numerous collaborative and curricular programs that partner with community members using theatre as a vehicle for education, therapy and social change.

On Saturday, Feb. 16, Blair will lead a participatory workshop for a limited number of CCU students on "Collective Transformation: Theatre as a Means for Social Change."

For additional information, or to register for the student workshop, call Gwendolyn Schwinke, assistant professor of theatre, at 843-349-6412, or email gschwinke@coastal.edu.