Blind Games: a free workshop

WINTER 2015 • THREE SESSIONS:
• Friday January 9 • 7:30-9:30 PM

• Saturday January 10 • 3:00-6:00 PM
• Sunday January 11 • 3:00-6:00 PM
(Come to the first part on Friday, return 
on Saturday and/or Sunday if you like)
at the Rotunda • 4014 Walnut Street

Free Workshop • Click here to RSVP

or email "tophilly@gmail.com" 

Blind Games are just what their name implies: games where some or all of the players cannot see. For one evening and two afternoons, we will explore these theatrical games and what they reveal about sightedness and blindness, ability and disability, power and privilege, as well as the nature of games and playfulness. We'll also look at cultural depictions of blindness and dis/ability with a critical eye as to how that ripples out in society and within ourselves.

This fully experiential workshop will also serve as a launching point for a new theatrical work about vision loss made by two visually impaired artists. Anyone attending the first part on Friday evening  can return for either or both of the other parts on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Look forward to:

• Friday, 7:30-9:30 PM: We play several blind games that dynamize the other senses and prepare ourselves for the theatrical work on the following days.
• Saturday, 3:00-6:00 PM: We examine depictions of blindness in film, theatre, art, mythology and elsewhere through re-enactment and re-imagination.
• Sunday, 3:00-6:00 PM: We delve into disability within our own lives, how it affects us and our relationships to each other.

Come and see what this is all about—Click here to RSVP or email "tophilly@gmail.com" 

About the facilitators:

Morgan Andrews has been making activist art and theatre in Philadelphia since 1998. He started with woodcuts and shadow puppets as a method for visual rehabilitation, and then branched out into other forms of performance, working with the Bread & Puppet Theater and other affiliated artists for over a decade. Morgan discovered and trained in Theatre of the Oppressed in Brazil, New York and India, and then founded T.O. Philly in 2008 as way to make this work accessible and affordable in his home city. He also teaches yoga and theatre around town, and creates plays with the Medium Theatre Company.

Mason Rosenthal is an actor, creator, dancer, director, and teacher from Skokie, Illinois. He holds a BFA in drama from NYU where he studied embodied voice with Katie Bull and community-based performance with Jan Cohen-Cruz. In 2007 Mason joined the faculty at NYU's Atlantic Theater Company Acting School before moving to Philadelphia to work for The Headlong Performance Institute. Mason has since collaborated with many Philly artists—see his website for the ever-growing list!

Free Workshop Series

Playing with Power: An Image Theatre Intensive

3 Mondays: Nov 3, 10, and 17, 2015 • 7 to 9 p.m.

at the Rotunda • 4014 Walnut Street • West Philly
—series closed to new participants—

Like iconic photographs from history, Theatre of the Oppressed uses still images to highlight systems of power and ignite dialogues around contentious issues. In this three-part series we will play “The Great Game of Power”, a technique for sculpting images out of everyday objects to illustrate conflicts and struggles faced by those around us. When we add ourselves as actors into the picture, scenes spring to life as debates between people and politicians, friends and neighbors, and family members who can’t quite see eye-to-eye. We’ll enrich this work with some readings and discussions and create opportunities to carry our scenarios not just to the stage, but to the actual people and places embroiled in conflict.

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More events soon to come. Call or email 267-282-1057 / "tophilly@gmail.com" for more info.

Free Workshop: Intro to Theatre of the Oppressed

Monday, October 6, 2014

at the Rotunda • 4014 Walnut Street

Theatre of the Oppressed (or “T.O.” for short) is a practice made up of images, sounds, movements, words and ideas taken from our collective experience in the world. Utilized by teachers, organizers, actors, activists and ordinary people in over 70 countries, Theatre of the Oppressed breaks down the dividing line between spectator and performer by inviting everyone to play theatrical games that hone our skills and spark conversations. These skills and conversations are the building blocks for more in-depth techniques that address power, privilege and oppression in our society and ourselves.

Here in Philly we kick off our 2014-2015 season with a free workshop that touches on some of the key practices of T.O. and the ways we can use it for personal and social transformation. Anyone of any experience and background is welcome to attend, just let us know that you’re coming by calling 267-282-1057, or email “tophilly@gmail.com”.

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More events soon to come. Call or email 267-282-1057 / "tophilly@gmail.com" for more info.

T.O. Philly News: Summer 2014

It's been a spectacular spring! Several amazing facilitators officially joined the T.O. Philly team and led a variety of workshops in April and May at the Rotunda. Having so many Jokers* on deck, we were for the first time able to be practicing Theatre of the Oppressed in multiple places at once. Here's a synopsis of where we've been and who we've been with in the past couple months:

We were invited facilitators at the Zami conference for LGBTQ+ people of color, for the Ethical Humanist Society's Building an Ethical Future conference (which is where the photos on the right were taken), and at the Young Adult Friends Conference at Pendle Hill.

At local institutions, we did Image Theatre with Temple University's Institute on Disabilities, made quick Forum Theatre pieces with student art teachers through Tyler College's Arts Education Program, and brought Theatre of the Oppressed to UPenn to highlight the importance of improvisation as a tool for social change.

We also led games and anti-oppression group work with people from all over the world at the Girls Rock Camp Alliance's conference in New Jersey and for Action Service Reconciliation for Peace's seminar in D.C.

This summer we resume work with transgender and gender-variant youth at Camp Aranu'tiq on the East and West Coasts, with students and faculty at Goddard College in Vermont, with Mariposa Co-op's Food Justice and Anti-Racism group in West Philly, with South Philly's Burmese and Bhutanese refugee community at Growing Home Gardens, and with LGBT teens at The Attic Youth Center in central Philadelphia.

What else will 2014 bring? You tell us! Leave us a message on our new voicemail at 267-282-1057, or drop us a line at ye olde email: tophilly@gmail.com.

Hope to see you soon!

—The T.O. Philly Team

*Joker is a Theatre of the Oppressed term for "facilitator" and also "difficultator". For more insight in to that, see our glossary of T.O. jargon.

Dram•Attic: Teen Forum Theatre with LGBT Youth and Allies

Performing at the Attic Youth Center's 2014 Summer Expo

Thursday, August 7th, 2014 • 5:00-8:00 PM

at the William Way Community Center 

1315 Spruce Street, Philadelphia

T.O. Philly has teamed up with the Attic Youth Center this summer to present DramAttic, a Forum Theatre project with LGBTQ teens and their allies. Each week DramAttic creates a set of 5-minute mini-plays and then performs them for their wider community. After each scene, we have a Forum where audience members can step onto the stage and alter the outcome of the story.

DramAttic has been holding Thursday Morning Forums throughout July at the Attic Youth, highlights from which will be part of the Attic's Summer Expo on the evening of Thursday, August 7th at the William Way Center at 13th and Spruce Streets. Other groups at the Attic have been engaged in online social media, writing Twitter poetry, creating Vine and YouTube videos, and rethinking the way we engage on Facebook and Instagram. The Expo is open to the public—Come see what these teens are doing!

July Anti-Oppression Events at Mariposa Co-op

In July of 2014 T.O. Philly co-sponsored this series of interactive workshops and discussions at Mariposa Food Co-op. Though some of these events were specific to Mariposa, all covered material about the nature of co-ops and Philadelphia in general. All events were free to attend and took place in Mariposa's Upstairs Meeting Room, at 4824 Baltimore Avenue in West Philly. 

For more info on what's happened at Mariposa Co-op now, email education@mariposa.coop.

Sunday, July 6, 2014 • 5:30pm–7:30pm

Film Screening & Discussion

Come watch a popular movie about race, racism, food and a neighborhood not unlike West Philly! There will be delicious snacks, good conversation and good company.

Sunday, July 13, 2014 • 2pm–4pm

Interrupting Isms: Responding to Micro-aggressions Before They Go Macro

With Morgan FitzPatrick Andrews

Do racism, sexism, ableism and other forms of prejudice play out in the places where we work? Of course they do! But these “isms” are usually unintentional behaviors (sometimes called “micro-aggressions”) taught to us subtly by the world around us. This interactive workshop will identify some common micro-aggressions and practice how we can respond when they arise.

Saturday, July 19, 2014 • 2pm–4pm

Discussion: Race, Racism & Our Co-op

To build an organization that is as diverse and inclusive as possible, we have to make time to talk about how the values of oppressive systems tend to arise in that organization—and what we can do about it! Mariposa Co-op staff members Clarice Bailey and Laura Smoot co-facilitate this discussion about race, racism, power and privilege. 

Tuesday, July 29, 2014 • 7pm–8pm

Communicating Across Ability & Disability

With Marianne Gellert-Jones

Marianne Gellert-Jones from the HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy will a discussion about speech, communication, and eating based on her 25+ years of working with people with neurological and cognitive disabilities.  

Wednesday, July 30, 2014 • 7pm–8:30pm

Co-ops & Social Justice Book Club

Want to know more about co-ops, justice and social change?  Come join this collaborative study project about the intersection of food cooperatives and social justice organizing! This month we are reading Collective Courage, a history of African American cooperative economics by Jessica Gordon Nembhard. Email education@mariposa.coop to join in.

SAVE THE DATE: T.O. Philly teams up with LGBTQ teens at the Attic Youth Center this summer! Come to the Attic's Expo on August 7th, 2014!

MEANINGS OF JUSTICE:

What does “justice” mean today? 

What could it mean tomorrow?

Led by Mika Taliaferro

PART 1: Wednesday May 21, 6:30-9:00pm

PART 2: Wednesday May 28, 6:30-9:00pm

WHERE: The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut Street

RSVP: Email "tophilly@gmail.com" 

or call 267-282-1057. 

Sliding scale tuition—no one turned away

Join us for this 2-part workshop exploring individual, societal and possible definitions of “justice”.

In the first session we will investigate recent news stories with “justice” featured in the headline. Participants will create pieces of Newspaper Theatre to reveal how the word is used in today’s media and society at large.

In the second session, we will work to re-imagine “justice." To start, we will use Image Theatre to sketch out our own pictures of a more just world. Once we establish a vision of the world we are striving for, we will explore new definitions of “justice” to discover which collective usages will best support the transition.

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Mika Taliaferro first fell in love with Theatre of the Oppressed in 2009, when she attended a workshop at Bread & Puppet Theatre in Vermont led by a fellow apprentice. Since then, she has trained, interned and volunteered with several T.O. organizations including Theatre of the Oppressed Laboratory (TOPLAB), Theatre of the Oppressed NYC, People's Theatre Project and, upon moving to Philadelphia, T.O. Philly! Mika holds a BA in Theatre from Wesleyan University where she focused on the intersection of theater and social justice.

Seeing the Mask: Work-self vs. Home Self

A 2-part workshop 

Led by Amy Capomacchio 

and Erika Barrington

WHEN: Monday+Tuesday, May 12+13, 2014

WHERE: The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut Street

Is the person you act like at work different from who you are at home? We all wear various hats and play a variety of roles in different areas of our lives, and this workshop explores that tension between our work-selves and home-selves by asking the following questions:

• What societal pressures influence your work environment? 
• Are the values of your workplace in conflict with your personal values?
• When is it healthy to be able to play a role, and when is it inhibiting your ability to do your work or make systemic changes?
• What is your relationship to the monetary compensation you receive for your work?
• How does society dictate what masks we wear?

Through Theater of the Oppressed techniques, participants will play with the sources and repercussions of these different masks and explore alternative strategies toward reconciling these different sides of self.

About the Facilitators:

Erika Barrington and Amy Capomacchio each hold a Masters in Dance/Movement Therapy from Drexel University. They began work with Philadelphia Theatre of the Oppressed in 2010 and developed methods for bringing T.O. games and techniques into their work as therapists. This fall, they will present a Theatre of the Oppressed workshop at the American Dance Therapy Association's national conference in New York City.

The Cop & The Rainbow

Running Tuesdays, April 22-May 6

Facilitated by Morgan Andrews  

Three evening sessions: 6:45-9:30pm

at the Rotunda, 4014 Walnut Street

Tuition is sliding scale, $10-$20 per session
Pre-register by emailing "tophilly@gmail.com"

Come learn the skills and ideas that build up to the Cop in the Head/Rainbow of Desire techniques devised by Theatre of the Oppressed founder Augusto Boal. Sometimes called "the Boal method of theatre and therapy", these techniques take all of our inhibitions and desires and put them on stage where we can deal them in the flesh. Over the course of three Tuesdays, this group will share, embody and unpack personal stories while asking important questions about the shared goals of personal growth and social change.

ABOUT THE FACILITATOR:

Morgan Andrews jumped into artmaking and theatre-as-activism in the late 1990s. He helped start Philly's Puppet Uprising in 2000 and has organized street theatre protest-parades and pageants with a network of artist-activists all over the globe. Morgan discovered and trained in Theatre of the Oppressed in Brazil, New York and India, and then founded T.O. Philly in 2008 as a way to make this work accessible and affordable in his home city. He also teaches yoga and creates plays with the Medium Theatre Company.

Living in Communities

A 2-part workshop led by Julie Lipson

Mondays, April 21+28, 6:30-9:00pm

at the Rotunda, 4014 Walnut Street

Tuition: $15-$35 sliding scale 
Pre-register with an email to "tophilly@gmail.com", or call our NEW voicemail number: 267-282-1057.

 

Many of us are constantly around others, and yet often feel alone. This two-part workshop provides the opportunity to explore what we look for in a community, what our roles are in community, and how we can build and sustain community with those around us. Through improv games and theatre techniques, we will dig deep into the dynamics of being roommates, neighbors, and even strangers to the people we encounter every day.

ABOUT THE FACILITATOR:

Julie Lipson is a songwriter and music therapist with a flair for orchestrating participatory concerts for musicians and non-musicians alike. In 2009 she co-founded Camp Aranu'tiq, a bi-coastal summer camp for transgender and gender-variant youth. She also organizes call-and-response Jewish chanting events in spaces all over Philadelphia. Julie holds an MA from Drexel University's Creative Arts Therapies Program and began working with T.O. Philly in 2011. Her craft is a vibrant and playful mixture of all of the above.

Spring 2014 Workshops

One, Two and Three Session Series
At The Rotunda 4014 Walnut Street
See below for dates, times and descriptions.

Philadelphia Theatre of the Oppressed (T.O. Philly for short) is excited to present a variety of sessions on an array of topics led by a team of 5 different facilitators. All of these workshops combine games, movement, sounds, images and discussion to critically examine social structures from various angles. This season we've arranged for workshops to happen on different weeknights to fit different schedules. The short list:

• Monday, April 7, 7:00-9:00pm: Intro to Theatre of the Oppressed
• Mondays, April 21+28, 6:30-9:00pm: Living in Communities
• Tuesdays, April 22-May 6, 6:45-9:30pm: The Cop & The Rainbow
• Monday+Tuesday. May 12+13, 6:30-9:00p: Seeing the Mask—Work-self vs. Home-self
• Wednesdays, May 21+28, 6:30-9:00p: What is Justice?

Full descriptions below. Pre-register with an email to "tophilly@gmail.com", or call our NEW voicemail number: 267-282-1057.

We kick off with a stand-alone session from 7:00-9:00pm (2 hours total). It is free to attend

• Monday, April 7: Intro to Theatre of the Oppressed. Led by the T.O. Philly Facilitation Team, this workshop will pack in the games, techniques and theories used by Theatre of the Oppressed practitioners all over the world. It will also be a chance to come and meet T.O. Philly's facilitators, sign up for subsequent workshops and talk with us about what we do. Tuition: Free, donations accepted. Pre-requisites: None.

These next workshops span two sessions apiece from 6:30-9:00pm (each is 5 hours total). Each double session is $15-$35 sliding scale. Group discounts and work-trade are available on request:

• Mondays, April 21+28: Living in Communities.  Led by Julie Lipson. 
  Many of us are constantly around others, and yet often feel alone. This two-part workshop provides the opportunity to explore what we look for in a community, what our roles are in community, and how we can build and sustain community with those around us. Through improv games and theatre techniques, we will dig deep into the dynamics of being roommates, neighbors, and even strangers to the people we encounter every day.
• Monday+Tuesday. May 12+13: Seeing the Mask—Work-self vs. Home-self. Led by Amy Capomacchio and Erika Barrington.
  Do you ever feel like the person you are at work is not who you are at home? We all wear various hats and play a variety of roles in different areas of our lives, and this workshop explores that tension between our work-selves and home-selves by asking the following questions:
       ·  What societal pressures influence your work environment? 
       ·  Are the values of your workplace in conflict with your personal values?
       ·  When is it healthy to be able to play a role, and when is it inhibiting your ability to do your work or make systemic changes?
       ·  What is your relationship to the monetary compensation you receive for your work?
       ·  How does society dictate what masks we wear?
  Through Theater of the Oppressed techniques, participants will play with the sources and repercussions of these different masks and explore alternative strategies toward reconciling these different sides of self.
• Wednesdays, May 21+28: What is Justice? Led by Mika Taliaferro.
  Theatre of the Oppressed was created to bring justice to people facing oppression in every facet of every society on earth.  This 2-part workshop explores that theme of justice from two angles:
       ·  Part One: What does "justice" mean? How do we define justice in our society? In our communities? Is the justice in "criminal justice" the same as that in "social justice"?
       ·  Part Two: What could "justice" mean? What does a world where justice has been achieved look like? How can we re-imagine our understanding of "justice" to support our vision of a just world?

And then we have a working group that will begin with three weekly sessions, 6:45-9:30pm (eight hours total). Tuition for this is $25-$55, sliding scale, and prior experience with Theatre of the oppressed is recommended:

• Tuesdays, April 22-May 6: The Cop & The Rainbow. In this weekly working group led by Morgan Andrews, we will utilize the Cop in the Head/Rainbow of Desire techniques. Sometimes called "the Boal method of theatre and therapy", this group will share, embody and unpack personal stories while asking important questions about the shared goals of personal growth and social change. 

Pre-register for any of these workshops with an email to "tophilly@gmail.com", or call our NEW voicemail number: 267-282-1057.

T.O. Philly News: Winter 2014

2013 may have been the best year yet for Philadelphia Theatre of the Oppressed with many amazing facilitators sharing their expertise: Ariel Morales, Magda Scharf and Morgan Andrews unpacked race and unraveled religion, Qui Alexander workshopped gender, Julie Lipson and Mason Rosenthal helped us hone our voices, and Erika Barrington and Amy Capomacchio created a dialogue about the the relationship between therapeutic goals and the goals of social change in their workshop for mental health professionals, which they then brought to the American Dance Therapy Association's national conference in New York.  All in all it's been a year of powerful, wide-ranging and wide-reaching work.

The question of therapeutic goals and the goals of social change is a good one.  Douglas Hundley raises the issue in his essay, "Theatre of the Oppressed: An American Tradition?" (Platform Vol. 1, No. 1, Autumn, 2006) where he writes about Augusto Boal's training in New York and how U.S. political and experimental theatre-makers during the Great Depression and Vietnam War helped shape the development of T.O. in South America.  Hundley concludes in saying that when Boal's work was brought back to North America, "the potentially subversive edge was gone and replaced with techniques for coping with society rather than changing society." (Hundley, 27).  This is something that T.O. Philly considers in the work that we do: workshops are often experiential and personally transformative, but they are only rehearsals for reality—real transformation can only come from taking action in the wider world.

We also recognize that in Theatre of the Oppressed there is the "theatre" side and the "of the oppressed" side and that both are important, which is why we offer a spectrum of events for a spectrum of desires.  On the theatre of side of things this January, we are promoting a 3-day workshop with Donna Oblongata drawing on traditional puppetry techniques, Pochinko clown teaching, and the her own theatre company's method of creation and performance.  Mason Rosenthal and Morgan Andrews will also be staging their new play "Nobody's Home", which was devised in part using T.O. techniques.  See the T.O. Philly Calendar on the right side of this page for details.

On the "of the oppressed" side, we are teaming up with Mariposa Co-op to present a month of anti-oppression events, including a Theatre of the Oppressed workshop on January 11th.  We are also working with Temple University's Institute on Disabilities, Bryn Mawr College's Education Program, and Haverford College's Student Leadership Office to bring anti-oppression pedagogy to students and faculty working both on and off-campus. More details soon!

Photos are from our Images of Transition workshop in December of 2013. The images above depict views on the mental health care system.