Theatre of the Oppressed
Although it was first officially adopted in the 1970s, Theatre of the Oppressed, a term coined by Augusto Boal, is a series of theatrical analyses and critiques first developed in the 1950s.
This person takes responsibility for the logistics of the process and ensures a fair proceeding, but must never comment upon or intervene in the content of the performance, as that is the province of the "spect-actors".
It refers to the dual role of those involved in the process as both spectator and actor, as they both observe and create dramatic meaning and action in any performance.
This will eliminate any notions of the ruling class and the theatre solely portraying their ideals while the audience members are the passive victims of those images.
[3] As more TO systems evolved, Boal and others have made slight modifications to which techniques appear on various limbs, but the Tree of Theatre of the Oppressed has mostly remained consistent: Image theatre is a performance technique in which one person, acting as a sculptor, moulds one or more people acting as statues, using only touch and resisting the use of words or mirror-image modelling.
In early forms of "simultaneous dramaturgy", the audience could propose any solution, by calling out suggestions to the actors who would improvise the changes on stage.
[4] This was an attempt to undo the traditional audience/actor partition and bring audience members into the performance, to have an input into the dramatic action they were watching.
(Wardrip-Fruin, 346) [2] Invisible theatre is a form of theatrical performance that is enacted in a place where people would not normally expect to see one—for example in the street or in a shopping centre.
A system of techniques devised to give the audience a way to transform daily news articles or any non-dramatic pieces to theatrical scene.
Rainbow techniques stem from Image theatre and tend to focus on forms of internalized oppression played out by a protagonist in relation to an antagonist.
(Wardrip-Fruin, 349)[2] Photo-romance is a romantic narrative illustrated with sequential photographs in the style of a comic strip, usually published in magazines and such.
Boal argues that if they first act out the story themselves then afterwards read the original version, the participants will no longer assume a passive, expectant attitude, but instead a critical, comparative one.
Boal argues that this is an extraordinarily rich technique that has many variants: for example, the same ritual may be explored by its participants exchanging masks or it may be enacted by people from different social classes.
Set up by Sanjoy Ganguly in the Sunderbans, a rural area outside Calcutta in the Bay of Bengal, Jana Sanskriti has a membership of over 40,000, 30 theatre teams, and an impressive record of art and activism which has resulted in major improvements in health, infrastructure, welfare benefits, education and social awareness through the region.
[8] Boal's ideas have been widely accepted and used by theatre groups in Mozambique after the end of the civil war in 1992 to explain the need for reconciliation and to discuss topics such as avoiding landmines, voting in the first democratic elections and the rights of peasants under the new land law.
It has presented plays such as O meu marido esta a negar (My Husband is in Denial), documented as a film by Rogério Manjate, which discusses HIV/AIDS avoidance and treatment.
These troupes devise and perform plays based on their challenges confronting economic inequality, racism, and other human rights injustices.
After each performance, actors and audiences engage in Forum or Legislative Theatre – with the aim of catalyzing creative change on the individual, community, and political levels.
TONYC was founded in 2011 by Katy Rubin, (who trained with Augusto Boal), after returning to New York City, and discovering a lack of "popular theatre" – created and performed by the actual communities facing oppression.
Since 2011, TONYC has grown to train communities to facilitate Theatre of the Oppressed independently, and produce more than 60 public performances and workshops a year.
[11] Stage Left’s mandate is to craft a “professional artist-community collaboration” performance model that will “integrate marginalized people into the creative, artistic, and social life of [the] community by providing safe and accessible space in which they can explore, define, and celebrate their culture; develop confidence, imagination, and artistic expression; contribute to the culture of community in meaningful ways; and express both individual and collective identity.
[12] Stage Left’s output is intercultural and multifaceted, encompassing Guerrilla theatre actions, production, presenting, training, education, advocacy, and organizational support work.
Bárbara, an artist and activist originally from Brazil, previously served as Coordinator of Center for Theatre of the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro, working alongside TO creator Augusto Boal since 1986.
Their forum theatre plays often involve music, movement, and visual art - building on the foundations of Aesthetics of the Oppressed.
[13][14][15] Community Dialogue and Change (CCDC) is an organization based in Bengaluru, India which is dedicated to the promotion of Theatre of the Oppressed chiefly in education as well as medical humanities.
