Workshop wGeo Britto, Brazil's Theater of the OppressedNYC

(* travel directions below)

An innovative approach to public forums, Forum Theater is rooted in the Brasilian popular education and culture movements of the 1950s and 1960s. It is designed for use in schools, community centers, trade unions, and political, solidarity and grbuttroots organizations. It is especially useful as an organizing tool in protest movements. Workshop participants (the actors) are asked to tell a story, taken from daily life, containing a political or social problem of difficult solution. A skit presenting that problem is improvised and presented. The original solution proposed by the protagonist must contain at least one social or political error. When the skit is over, the audience discusses the proposed solution, and then the scene is performed once more. But now, audience members are urged to intervene by stopping the action, coming on stage to replace actors, and enacting their own ideas. Thus, instead of remaining pbuttive, the audience becomes active "spect-actors" who now create alternative solutions and control the dramatic action. The aim of the forum is not to find an ideal solution, but to invent new ways of confronting oppression. In Brasil and other parts of Latin America, as well as in India and Africa, Forum Theater has been used with peasant and worker "audiences" as training in labor and community organizing and participatory democracy.

Exercises, games, and improvised scene work from the Theater of the Oppressed repertory developed by Brasilian director, popular educator and Workers Party activist Augusto Boal. Boal�s interactive approach to theatrical expression emphasizes physical dialogues, non-verbal imagery, consensus-building and problem-solving processes, and techniques for developing awareness of both external and internalized forms of oppression.

Geo Britto has been working with the Center for the Theater of the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro for the last fifteen years. He coordinates the Center's youth prisoner project and its mental health project, and is a founder and coordinator of the CTO-Rio's two anti-violence programs, Campaign against Domestic Violence and Men against Violence against Women. He has facilitated TO workshops throughout the world, and recently returned from a visit to Mozambique and South Africa.

Geo Britto will also give a talk at the Brecht Forum on Friday, February 17 at 7:30 in which he will review and discuss some of the recent projects and work currently being undertaken by the Center for the Theater of the Oppressed in Rio.

Workshop tuition: Sliding scale--$75-$125 (some limited scholarships available)

This workshop is open to all, and there is no formal application process. However, pre-registration is highly recommended to ensure a attending. Include your name, address, telephone number and email address, and say something about yourself--who you are, your political work, your interest in the Theater of the Oppressed, etc. No prior acting or theater experience is required, and nobody will be rejected based on their bio statements (we want those simply because we'd like to know in advance who will be working with us).

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Other Upcoming Events

Saturday, February 11 and Sunday, February 12: Integrated Theater Arts for Actors, Non-Actors and Activists (workshop)

Saturday, April 8-Sunday, April 9: Introduction to the Theater of the Oppressed--A Workshop for Beginners

Saturday, May 20 through Thursday, May 25: Workshops facilitated by Augusto Boal and Julian Boal --Workshop 1: Invisible Theater --Workshop 2: Cop-in-the-Head

Saturday June 24 and Sunday June 25: Forum Theater Festival

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Travel directions

The Brecht Forum and TOPLAB is at 451 West Street. West Street is the same as the West Side Highway.

Subway: IND Eighth Avenue A, C or E to 14 Street; BMT Canarsie L to 8 Avenue. Walk down (against the traffic) Eighth Avenue to Bethune Street (at Abingdon Square). Go right (west) on Bethune to West Street, turn left for 1-2 block to 451. IRT Seventh Avenue 1, 2 or 3 to 14 Street. Exit at the south (12 Street) end of the station. Walk west (against the traffic) on 12 Street to West Street. Turn left, walk 1-1-2 blocks to 451.

New Jersey PATH train to Christopher Street. Walk north (with the traffic) on Greenwich Street to Bank Street. Turn left, walk west on Bank Street to West Street. Turn right, walk 1-4 block to 451.

Bus: #8 to Christopher and West Streets, walk north on West to 451. #11 and #14A to Abingdon Square. Walk west on Bethune Street to West Street, turn left for 1-2 block to 451. #20: From downtown--to Abingdon Square. Walk west on Bethune Street to West Street, turn left for 1-2 block to 451. From uptown--to 12 Street. Walk west (against the traffic) on 12 Street to West Street. Turn left, walk 1-1-2 blocks to 451.

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