Ben Rivers specializes in the use of therapeutic and participatory theatre for community mobilization, cultural activism and collective trauma response. Born in the UK and raised in Australia, he has taught and practiced in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and North America, working extensively with communities impacted by structural oppression and political violence. He is a founding member of The Freedom Theatre’s Freedom Bus initiative in Jenin, Occupied Palestine, which uses interactive theatre and cultural activism to bear witness, raise awareness and build alliances throughout occupied Palestine and beyond. The aim of The Freedom Theatre is to empower youth and women in the community and to explore the potential of arts as an important catalyst for social change.

Ben is also a Co-founder of the Arab School of Playback Theatre in Cairo, Egypt. During a Playback Theatre performance, a Conductor (facilitator) invites audience members to share true stories from their own life. After a story is told, a team of actors and musicians subsequently transform each account into a short, improvised enactment. Over the course of an event, several stories, along with shorter anecdotes, are shared and performed. In many instances, a dialogue between diverse, yet inter-related accounts will emerge. This process helps to build a multi-faceted narrative that reflects the social and political concerns of a community. From its origins in Hudson Valley, USA, Playback is now practiced in over 60 countries and is often used for consciousness raising, community building and collective trauma response.

In describing his Freedom Bus initiative, Ben has said, "Our troupe travels to communities all over the West Bank, where we listen to and act out many different kinds of stories about life under the occupation. . . . It’s a form which seems to meet a very obvious need or demand that one frequently hears within Palestinian society. Palestinians are not asking for humanitarian aid or a ticket out of Palestine. Rather, people are saying: 'listen to my story and take it to the world!' This is a very common request, and so Playback theatre is in some ways the perfect form to meet this demand. . . . We don’t present Playback theatre as therapy but many community members spontaneously comment on the therapeutic nature of their experience."

Ben holds a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology with a concentration in Drama Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies and is currently a PhD Candidate at the University of New England, Australia. His articles have been published in professional journals around the world. He is a Registered Drama Therapist with the North American Drama Therapy Association, an Accredited Trainer at the Therapeutic Spiral Institute, Virginia, USA, and an Accredited Playback Theatre Trainer through the Centre for Playback Theatre, New York.

Ben has 20 years of experience as a Vipassana meditator in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin. He is currently based in Cairo where he works as an educator, group psychotherapist and theatre practitioner.