Social problems may be impossible to explain, but become self evident when actors bring them into the open.  Wan Smolbag plays, drama sketches, and participatory drama workshops have tackled a wide range of social issues including child and spouse abuse, coping with disabilities, alcoholism, and political corruption.

Stand up and Vote! The Electoral Commission of Vanuatu wanted to inform as many people as possible about their voting rights and responsibilities when a snap election was called for early March 1998. Wan Smolbag made a play about elections and toured hundreds of villages in Vanuatu in the weeks before the election. The actors were from many different islands and seven groups of five actors were sent out. About 90% of the villages in Vanuatu saw the play performed. It was a short play so there was time to discuss issues after the play. Many people said that before the group came they had decided not to vote, but after seeing the play they realized how important voting was. Smolbag also recorded a number of radio spots and recorded the play for national television all in the month before the election. 

Smolbag Kids is a group of young people that work with Wan Smolbag Theater. Their story is as interesting as the plays they perform. In 1995, the theater started a series of workshops with children who were not at school. 30 kids turned up for the first workshop ranging in age from 8 to 12. They were not used to any kind of discipline and often got into fights. The boys and girls were real enemies. "We asked them to talk about their lives so we could make a play," recalls Yvette Vatu. "Some of them trusted us enough to tell us stories, but some were very closed. When it came to putting the play together, they needed a lot of time and encouragement but Rod Blong Ko long Skul (The way to School) was a big hit and they performed to primary schools round Vila and North Efate."

The story of the play took an ordinary day in their lives - they get up, see their friends going to school, fight, argue, and then are told to collect firewood. On the way to the wood, strange things happen and the kids find themselves transported to a magic land where they must find the answer to the question, "Who is your real friend?" A core group of nine children  became a semi-permanent attachment to Smolbag and appear in plays and videos. They have a play on dental hygiene and did a lot of work in the Dengue Fever campaign. They also have a play on how girls' bodies work, aimed at primary school children. 

The Blacksands Community Play emerged from a workshop with the people of Blacksands, a poor urban community near the Wan Smolbag House. A note sent round through the community asked for a meeting with people who would like to make a play with Wan Smolbag resulted in a meeting with over 100 people. The eldest participant was in her sixties and the youngest about ten. The play centers around a family. Only the father works, but he drinks kava every night. The family is poor and none of the kids work or go to school. When his wife complains about his kava drinking, he hits her. His old father looks on, wanting to make his son see that he is doing the wrong but unable to get through to him. The central story is intermixed with stories from the past and song and laughter, too.

The community play was an incredible experience and gave young people who were involved a degree of self respect. It also led to members of the group being involved in films and campaigns. One spin-off was the expansion of the Wan Smolbag Haos to include a family planning clinic, literacy classes, guitar lessons, self defense classes and other recreational projects. 

While person to person live theatre is the most effective way of getting a message across, sometimes there is a demand for other media. 

George and Sheila is a video funded by the British Government (DFID) that looks at the role of men and women in Melanesian society.  Who looks after the children? Who has the right to go out and who should make the decisions in a family? Sheila gets the chance to go to the Solomon Islands with her netball team. George was brought up to believe a man is the boss. He's seen the way his father treated his mother and when Sheila won't do what he wants the memories come flooding back.

Pacific Star asks the question, what is real development? Funded by the British Government (DFID), WWFFN, AusAID, FSP, and Canada Fund, the video tells the story of a young man with a great idea: bring tourists to see the island's beautiful cave! Now all he has to do is convince the chief and the villagers. Sounds easy, but is it? And even if the tourists come and bring money, who gets it? We soon find out that where there's money, there's trouble. Pacific Star is a comedy with music, but deals with development issues in a powerful way.

Things We Don't Talk About, funded by the British Government (DFID), is a film on disability. Andrew's family does not want to talk about his blindness or Martha's violent marriage. Rau's father is ashamed of his backward son and wants to hide him away. When a healer comes to the island saying he can work miracles, both families see this as their chance to make Andrew and Rau into "normal" people. But David, the disabled field worker of the Disability Society does not believe in miracles. He wants to make Andrew realize that being blind isn't the end of everything. If Andrew can face up to what he can hear happening around him, his life might change forever.

Politics, Corruption and Voting , funded by the British Government (DFID), AusAID, UNDP, and NZODA, is a film about corruption and politicians.