We targeted a rural population near Bangalore, India to enhance knowledge about mental illness. We devised a script for a street play that would enhance knowledge, and shift attitudes and beliefs about mental illness. After identification of the villages in the catchment area, a professional theatre group conducted pilot shows and the script was modified in its design and content. Schizophrenia was the chosen illness. In a manner familiar to them, the theatre group who specialized in street plays staged them in various villages in the chosen catchment area. We received a positive response from the village folk that turned out in large numbers. We were able to co-ordinate, devise and conduct street plays on mental illness in a rural set-up in Bangalore, in a feasible manner, which was keeping in consonance with the local sociocultural background.
