Thu 3/26 + Fri 3/27
Social change may come slow but for those oppressed it can’t come fast enough.
Providing tools for those affected is the simple yet powerful idea the Theatre of the Oppressed provides the less fortunate around the globe. Locally, Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed hosts two-day workshops to empower the powerless.
The free training uses theatre-based activities to examine and overcome oppression. Audiences get actively involved and suggest actions and ideas. This leads to concrete actions that can change the world through immediate application of those actions in communities, schools and organizations.
The next workshop dates are March 26 and 27 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Akron in Fairlawn. The upcoming affair is organized by Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed, the American Friends Service Committee, Alternatives to Violence Course, Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee and UUCA Social Action Coalition.
CoolCleveland talked to Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed President Katherine Burke about the upcoming program.
CoolCleveland: What exactly are the workshops are all about?
Katherine Burke: It takes place because there are a lot of social injustices that are happening. It just so happens I work in Theatre of the Oppressed and I have these tools that are available that anyone can use. We thought it would be a good idea to get these tools into the hands of people who can use them. So Theatre of the Oppressed can really be used by anybody who wants to change the world. It’s used by activists. It’s used by teachers. It’s used by people who are involved in social justice work, faith-based communities. It’s used anywhere people want to examine and overturn oppression.
What’s the root of the Theatre of the Oppressed?
Theatre of the Oppressed is a set of theater-based tools developed by Augusto Boal in Brazil. It’s a way of using theater, theater performance, games, improvisation to examine social injustices and oppression. We refer to it as kind of the arsenal of tools in Theatre of the Oppressed. It’s a lot of different tools like activities you can use. It’s theater games, a way of using interactive performance.
As far as the upcoming workshops are concerned, who is your target audience?
Theatre of the Oppressed is done by the oppressed for the oppressed. This is a group of people. One type of Theatre of the Oppressed is called forum theater – a forum for discussion. And a community creates a play that’s about a problem that’s happening in the community. It could be a problem of violence or with a school-to-prison pipeline. Any number of problems that are affecting a community.
The community creates a play with one protagonist who is struggling to achieve something, struggling to overturn this oppression but can’t do it. It’s a big problem, a real problem, a complicated problem. The community then performs the theme for other members in their community. And audience members, who we call spec-actors, enter the scene and take on the role of the protagonist and try to struggle to figure out the problems and see what we can do about it. It essentially ends up being a community brainstorming session using theatrical tools.
Can you give us a few examples of where the Theatre of the Oppressed has been used locally?
I worked in high schools dealing with bullying and use plays to engage entire school in an effort to stop bullying. It’s used in healthcare settings for disparities where a community is trying to get appropriate healthcare. For example, in the trans community. I’ve used in terms of labor rights and in terms of gender equality, marriage equality.
Just to confirm, the notion of the Theatre of the Oppressed isn’t to enlighten the oppressor as much as empower the oppressed.
It’s a rehearsal for action. What you’re trying to do through this is not to take an oppressor and inform the oppressor you’re being oppressed by them because the oppressors are not likely to change. It’s not in their interest. So it’s an opportunity for the community to have a rehearsal for action, to see if this is going to work. What are the possibilities we can try here? And so the community can come together and it’s really a rehearsal for life. The idea is once you come out of the forum theater, you’ve had this discussion and now you have plans for action.
The upcoming training takes place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 26 and 27 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Akron, 3300 Morewood Rd. Fairlawn. RSVP at afscworkshops@gmail.com.
Freelance writer John Benson spends most of his time writing for various papers throughout Northeast Ohio. When he’s not writing about music or entertainment, he can be found coaching his two boys in basketball, football and baseball or watching movies with his lovely wife, Maria. John also occasionally writes for CoolCleveland.com.
Fairlawn, OH 44333