Augusto Boal, creator of the Theatre of the Oppressed (TOP), passed away this Saturday May 2nd at 78, and I extend my deepest condolences to his immediate family and the wider family of people inspired and galvanized by his teachings. TOP is a particularly powerful method for engaging mind/body/soul in deep political excavation: Where does power lie? How is it being used against me, my family, my community? How do I create a better world and challenge oppression without recreating it?
His guide books are references the world over - one I was especially looking forward to digging into this year was Games for Actors and Non-Actors, but it got lost in the move last summer! I used to be very shy about using performing arts in community work, and so missed numerous opportunities to train directly with Boal in Montreal.?
This started to change in Summer 2006 when I tagged along with my teacher-friend Denise Nadeau as she headed to a hip-hop Playback Theatre workshop facilitated by Playback NYC. Once again the benevolent mastermind behind the event was Nisha Sajnani: she and other folks hovering around the Creative Alternatives / theatre and development world often make such events possible, all the while being models that I aspire to (I'm looking at you Lisa Ndejuru, Emily Burkes-Nossiter, David Jurasek, to name a few).
It was a full two years before I attended my first TOPLAB (Theatre of the Oppressed Lab) in Summer 2008 - but I put it to good use pretty quickly. What I've been looking for on-and-off is Theatre of the Oppressed pracitioners in Haiti and the Caribbean (also its sister form, Playback Theatre). I'm sure they're around, I just have to be patient and I'll find them...
When I do I'll let y'all know, in the meantime read more about Augusto Boal and Theatre of the Oppressed at NY's TOPLAB and at Wikipedia, of course.
No bad post, write more
No bad post, write more