Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK) is a legal aid and human rights resource centre, created 1986 in Bangladesh. Apart from their activity in providing free legal aid, the organization also initiates Action Theatre projects in twelve working areas in Bangladesh. The goal of Action Theatre is to develop the capacities of young people and activists at the grassroots level to be a force for change, helping to create a society based on human rights, gender equity and social justice. The tactical outcome is the creation of local theatre groups who initiate discussion, debate, analysis and actions on critical human rights issues in their community.

ASK works to address several human rights problems, including gender equality and access to justice. Their approach is to form a collaborative relationship with a local non-governmental or civil society organization, as well as with local individuals, to start up small local Action Theatre groups. Action Theatre is a form of applied theatre that revolves around the dramatization of a social problem, after the performance there is a guided discussion with the participation of the community in identifying and carrying out solutions. The performance itself depend upon the human rights issues present in the local area, and can for example treat problems such as underage marriages, domestic violence, education of children etc.

The tactic consists of eight different steps:

1. To connect with local people to engage them in the Action Theatre, and to form relationships with relevant local NGOs and CSOs.
2. To identify which local problems that need to be addressed.
3. To develop a storyline that will be helpful in addressing their topics.
4. To make the storyline into a drama that can be performed for an audience.
5. To practice on the performance.
6. To start performing and engage the feedback given by the audience.
7. To take action. This step is dependent on the reaction of the audience and on the discussion following the performance. Examples of actions taken after performances are rallies, demonstrations and planning for future activities.
8. To create nstitutionalization, it is for the theatre to become an important part of the community and to engage more people and more issues.

One example of the practice of Action Theatre is The Hatosh Haripur theatre group, they identified three major issues they hoped to tackle in their community, these were the cases of rape, under-aged marriages, and the negligence of children’s education. During the coming few years, the group received training in theatre, family law, human rights, gender relations analysis, laws concerning violence against women, and issue-based drama production. They used this information to organize many Action Theatre performances on these issues in the community, leading to significant changes: a reduction in the number of underage marriages, improved educational achievement, changing the response to rape cases.