Spring 2011 Workshop Series

This is a notice about a past event. For information on upcoming events, click here.

Mondays 4/25–5/23, 2011 • 7:30–9:30 p.m.

at Studio 34 • 4522 Baltimore Ave. West Philadelphia

Full series tuition: $35–$65 sliding scale.

THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED is used by groups of people to dismantle dynamics of oppression in our world. Unlike other dramatic forms that divide spectator from actor, everyone in Theatre of the Oppressed is a "spect-actor" in workshops that serve as rehearsals for the performance of everyday life.

THIS 5-WEEK SERIES visited the various branches of Theatre of the Oppressed, including games, Image Theatre, Forum Theatre, the Cop in the Head/Rainbow of Desire techniques, and developed facilitation skills for bringing this work outside the workshop and into other areas of our lives.

FOR MORE INFO, call Philadelphia Theatre of the Oppressed at 215-730-0982, or email “tophilly@gmail.com”

Theatre of War: Film Screening and Discussion

EVENT POSTPONED—Check back for details
at the A-Space, 4722 Baltimore Ave. Philadelphia
a free event – donations welcome

Philadelphia Theatre of the Oppressed's reading group branches out into the medium of film with a screening of Theatre of War. This 2008 documentary highlights the life and work of German-American playwright Bertolt Brecht centering around the Public Theater's 2006 production of his play Mother Courage featuring Meryl Streep.

Augusto Boal cited Brecht as a crucial influence in the development of Theatre of the Oppressed. Both Boal and Brecht made great strides with how abstract ideas about power, performance, and theatre play out in front of us. Though each of these directors' approaches to creating theatre differed in many ways (Brecht made scripted plays whereas Boal facilitated others to create their own interactive pieces of Forum Theatre), both are used all over the world as means for engaging audiences in social and political discourse, often spilling over into the politics and poetics of everyday life.

We hope you can join us for this film and discussion at the A-Space—or at least seek out the work of these revolutionary dramatists on your own!