Jul
10
Shout-out: Theatre of the Oppressed
We’ll kick things off by looking at three organizations whose work in Theatre of the Oppressed is exciting and innovative. Meet the people behind ImaginAction, The Forum Project, and Mixed Company Theatre.
ImaginAction, based in Los Angeles, CA, is led by the incredible, intimidating, inspirational Hector Aristizábal. To meet Aristizábal is to come face to face with an artistic whirlwind- he’s always moving, trying something new, pushing the boundaries. The range of projects that ImaginAction is involved with at any moment is very exciting, combining more traditional Forum theatre and TO workshops and performances with an eclectic blend of circus, single-performer pieces (especially Aristizábal’s NightWind, a performance based on his experience as a Colombian torture victim), and intercultural and inter-religious dialogues and workshops. Aristizábal has just released a book titled The Blessing Next to the Wound: A Story of Art, Activism, and Transformation and I look forward to reading it and passing some thoughts on in the near future. If you live near LA, you owe it to yourself to attend one of ImaginAction’s frequent Awakening the Imagination workshops.
The Forum Project is a newer group based in New York City and run by Alexander Santiago-Jirau and S. Leigh Thompson, both of whom have served on the board of the International Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed conference. Leigh’s work with LGBT and trans topics has been a real inspiration to me and this group ought to be providing some really interesting work in the city. Offering a variety of TO and TO-inspired workshops, The Forum Project is a good place to get some training, especially if you’re new to the work!
Mixed Company Theatre, based in Toronto, Canada, was recognized by Augusto Boal as an official Forum Theatre center within Canada. They have been continuously active since 1983 and continue to expand and explore Boal’s original Forum Theatre models by bringing them into dialogue with other artistic practices. Mixed Company has a very active workshop schedule, and a variety of different workshops suited to educators, students, business professionals, and community leaders. Unless you’re planning a trip to Brazil to study with Boal’s own CTO-Rio, your next best bet to experience really innovative, powerful performance activism and forum theatre is Mixed Company Theatre.