Winter 2012 Workshop Series: From Image to Action

Theatre of the Oppressed is a tool for rehearsing reality: what we do onstage we may strive to do in everyday life. We held this 3-part workshop in January/February of 2012, in which the group used theatre games and techniques to identify, explore, and take apart various forms of oppression. We then strategized ways to transform our ideals for liberation into concrete actions.

What we learned and made in this workshop was supplemented with take-home readings written by others who use Theatre of the Oppressed in different ways: peasant farmers in India and Brazil, young people in New York and Minneapolis, and survivors of torture and war in Colombia and Afghanistan. These readings show us how this work can be used in the wider world and inspire us to transform our own communities in similar ways. These workshops were also filmed for the documentary Image to Lifeworld, about how Theatre of the Oppressed is producing opportunities for both temporary and more enduring community in West Philadelphia. 

T.O. Philly News: Winter 2011-2012

2011 has been packed with a number of weekly workshops exploring different aspects of Theatre of the Oppressed, including communication without words, exploring the senses, and developing tools for facilitation. We also started hosting public performances of a family of techniques called the Rainbow of Desire. Known as "the Boal method of theatre and therapy," the Rainbow of Desire takes people's ongoing experiences with oppression and replays the situations in which these oppressions occur. We use the stage and the audience to expose hidden elements of the story, then take the pieces of the story apart and put them back together in a way that we would like the situation to be. From there we work to expand these acts of liberation beyond the stage and into the wider world. The Rainbow of Desire is a personally transformative process—If you'd like to host or participate in a workshop, get in touch!

Other things T.O. Philly has done this year have included a screening of the film Jana Sanskriti: A theater on the field, about the large Theatre of the Oppressed movement in India. The screening coincided with the release of the book, Celebrate People's History: The Poster Book of Resistance and Revolution, and the printing of a Jana Sanskriti poster featured in the book. Details on this show are posted on the venue's website. We also started a reading group to study and discuss some of the more historical and theoretical aspects of Augusto Boal's work, and some of us have been involved with ongoing Forum Theatre workshops and performances at the Attic Youth Center in Philadelphia. T.O. Philly has also been focusing on food justice by doing work with Mariposa Co-op in West Philly and at the Rooted in Community Youth Conference, hosted by the Urban Nutrition Initiative.

Outside of Philadelphia, T.O. Philly recently held college workshops with

North American Students of Cooperation at the University of Michigan; for an Applied Theatre course at The College of New Jersey; with the Marywood Players Theatre Club of Marywood University; and for a service learning program with students from William & Mary College. We also led trainings with English For Action in Providdence, RI; at Our Space LGBTQ drop-in center in Hayward, CA; at national retreats organized by the Jewish Farm School; at a camp for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting's Young Friends program; and at the 17th Annual Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Conference in Chicago.

For more info about what we do or how you can get involved, contact us at 215-730-0982 or "tophilly@gmail.com".