NYC: Upcoming Theater of the Oppressed workshops, June 2002 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit The Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory (TOPLAB) 122 West 27 Street 10 floor New York, New York 10001 (212) 924-1858 toplab@toplab.org http://www.toplab.org June 2002 Upcoming Workshops An Introduction to the Techniques of the Theater of the Oppressed A Special Benefit Workshop for The Brecht Forum Sunday, June 2, 2002, 10 am to 6 pm at The Brecht Forum 122 West 27 St 10 floor (6 & 7 Aves) Manhattan Come join the Brecht Forum and members of the Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory for a special eight-hour workshop in the techniques of the Theater of the Oppressed. If you have been wondering what this is all about, now is the time to find out. Workshop attendees will discover and practice some of the techniques in the repertory of the Theater of the Oppressed in a lively, participatory manner and come away equipped to use them in their ongoing social action work. Wear loose and comfortable clothing. No previous Theater of the Oppressed or general acting experience necessary. To register: Call Liz Roberts at the Brecht Forum at (212) 242-4201. Tuition is on a sliding scale, $50$150. ***** Friday, June 7, 6 to 10 pm and Saturday, June 8, 10 am to 5 pm at The Brecht Forum 122 West 27 St 10 floor (6 & 7 Aves) Manhattan This workshop is the final one in TOPLABs 2001-2002 Internship Program workshop series. In this two-day workshop, we will explore and practice Forum Theater, one of the techniques in the Theater of the Oppressed repertory. This workshop is designed primarily for people who are currently involved in social action movements or projects and who work with an activist organization, as well as for TOPLAB interns, but is also open to the general public, space permitting. Enrollment is limited. Sliding scale: $60$75. To register: If you have attended any previous workshops in the 20012002 series, please call Liz Roberts at the Brecht Forum (212 242-4201) and let her know that you plan to enroll. If you have never attended a workshop, send an application to TOPLAB at toplab@toplab.org . Let us know: 1) how you will use and apply the techniques you will learn, and with which group or constituency (give a brief description of the group or constituency); 2) the organization, university, etc. with which you are affiliated, if any; 3) if you have had any previous Theater of the Oppressed or general theater experience (not a pre-requisite); 4) if you are a member of a trade union. Please include your phone number. We will contact you prior to the workshop to let you know if you have been accepted. Sessions will begin promptly. Please arrive 1/2-hour before the workshop start time to register. Checks should be made payable to The Brecht Forum. Note that in order to insure continuity, participants must commit to attending the entire workshop. We cannot admit people who want to attend for only one day or part of a day, nor can we admit observers. ***** A Theater of the Oppressed Mini-Festival Saturday, June 8, 2002, 7 to 10 pm at The Brecht Forum 122 West 27 St 10 floor (6 & 7 Aves) Manhattan The Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory invites you to a special performance/demonstration of Forum Theater, one of the techniques in the repertory of the Theater of the Oppressed. If you have been wondering what this is all about, now is the time to find out. This Mini-Festival will be hosted by TOPLAB facilitators and interns, and is the culmination of the Theater of the Oppressed Laboratorys year-long Internship Program. Interns will discuss how they have used the techniques in their ongoing social action work with their various constituencies and give live-skit presentations that illustrate how Forum Theater has been applied within their respective groups. Audience members are encouraged to participate in the dramatic action. Wear loose and comfortable clothing. Sliding scale: $6/$8/$10. No reservations needed. ***** The Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory will present a special workshop at the Fellowship of Reconciliation's USA Conference The Power of Nonviolence: Exploring Alternatives Saturday, June 15 to Wednesday, June 19 (FOR conference) Monday, June 17, 2:15 to 4:45 pm (TOPLAB workshop) at Manhattan College Riverdale (Bronx), New York (IRT Seventh Avenue #1 train to 242 Street, Bronx) For more information contact: Marc Fallon Fellowship of Reconciliation (845) 358-4601 http://www.forusa.org ***** Friday, June 21, 6 to 10 pm Saturday, June 22, 10 am to 6 pm and Sunday, June 23, 10 am to 2 pm at The Brecht Forum 122 West 27 St 10 floor (6 & 7 Aves) Manhattan A workshop in Image Theater, one of the techniques in the Theater of the Oppressed repertory. Open to the general public. Sliding scale: $75$100. ***** Friday, June 28, 6 to 10 pm Saturday, June 29, 10 am to 6 pm and Sunday, June 30 10 am to 2 pm at The Brecht Forum 122 West 27 St 10 floor (6 & 7 Aves) Manhattan A Cop-in-the-Head workshop, one of the techniques in the Theater of the Oppressed repertory. Open to the general public. Sliding scale: $75$100. To register for the June 21-23 and June 28-30 workshops, send an application to TOPLAB at toplab@toplab.org . Let us know: 1) how you will use and apply the techniques you will learn, and with which group or constituency (give a brief description of the group or constituency); 2) the organization, university, etc. with which you are affiliated, if any; 3) if you have had any previous Theater of the Oppressed or general theater experience (not a pre-requisite); 4) if you are a member of a trade union. Please include your phone number. We will contact you prior to the workshop to let you know if you have been accepted. Sessions will begin promptly. Please arrive 1/2-hour before the workshop start time to register. Checks should be made payable to The Brecht Forum. Note that in order to insure continuity, participants must commit to attending the entire workshop. We cannot admit people who want to attend for only one day or part of a day, nor can we admit observers. ***** Late October 2002: Augusto Boal will return to New York to facilitate another workshop series. Details and exact dates will be announced. ***** The Theater of the Oppressed, established in the early 1970s by Brazilian director and Workers' Party (PT) activist Augusto Boal, is a form of popular theater, of, by, and for people engaged in the struggle for liberation. More specifically, it is a rehearsal theater designed for people who want to learn ways of fighting back against oppression in their daily lives. In the Theater of the Oppressed, oppression is defined, in part, as a power dynamic based on monologue rather than dialogue; a relation of domination and command that prohibits the oppressed from being who they are and from exercising their basic human rights. Accordingly, the Theater of the Oppressed is a participatory theater that fosters democratic and cooperative forms of interaction among participants. Theater is emphasized not as a spectacle but rather as a language designed to: 1) analyze and discuss problems of oppression and power; and 2) explore group solutions to these problems. This language is accessible to all. Bridging the separation between actor (the one who acts) and spectator (the one who observes but is not permitted to intervene in the theatrical situation), the Theater of the Oppressed is practiced by "spect-actors" who have the opportunity to both act and observe, and who engage in self-empowering processes of dialogue that help foster critical thinking. The theatrical act is thus experienced as conscious intervention, as a rehearsal for social action rooted in a collective analysis of shared problems of oppression. This particular type of interactive theater is rooted in the pedagogical and political principles specific to the popular education method developed by Brazilian educator Paulo Freire: 1) to see the situation lived by the participants; 2) to analyze the root causes of the situation; and 3) to act to change the situation following the precepts of social justice. "The Marxist poetics of Bertolt Brecht does not stand opposed to one or another formal aspect of the Hegelian idealist poetics but rather denies its very essence, asserting that the character is not absolute subject but the object of economic or social forces to which he responds and in virtue of which he acts... "In Brecht's objection [to idealist poetics], as well as in any other Marxist objection, what is at stake is who, or which term, precedes the other: the subjective or the objective. For idealist poetics, social thought conditions social being; for Marxist poetics, social being conditions social thought. In Hegel's view, the spirit creates the dramatic action; for Brecht, the character's social relations create the dramatic action.... "Brecht was a Marxist; therefore, for him, a theatrical work cannot end in repose, in equilibrium. It must, on the contrary, show the ways in which society loses its equilibrium, which way society is moving, and how to hasten that transition. "Brecht contends that the popular artist must abandon the downtown stages and go to the neighborhoods, because only there will he find people who are truly interested in changing society: in the neighborhoods he should show his images of social life to the workers who are interested in changing that social life, since they are its victims. A theater that attempts to change the changers of society cannot lead to repose, cannot re-establish equilibrium. The bourgeois police tries to re-establish equilibrium, to enforce repose: a Marxist artist, on the other hand, must promote the movement toward national liberation and toward the liberation of classes oppressed by capital...[Hegel and Aristotle] desire a quiet somnolence at the end of the spectacle; Brecht wants the theatrical spectacle to be the beginning of action: the equilibrium should be sought by transforming society, and not by purging the individual of his just demands and needs.... "I believe that all the truly revolutionary theatrical groups should transfer to the people the means of production in the theater so that the people themselves may utilize them. The theater is a weapon, and it is the people who should wield it." Augusto Boal, The Theater of the Oppressed For more information about the Theater of the Oppressed and TOPLAB please visit our website at http://www.toplab.org Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory 122 West 27 Street 10 floor New York, New York 10001 (212) 924-1858 toplab@toplab.org http://www.toplab.org ********************************************************************* "The first duty of a revolutionary is to be educated." Josi Martm ********************************************************************* The Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory http://www.toplab.org ********************************************************************* ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytnyc-05.12.02-19:37:53-16114