CLINTON HILL, Brooklyn
Adult Acting Workshop
WHO: For Adults and Young Adults
WHAT: In a joint international partnership, Brooklyn Acting Lab will host Center of the Theatre of the Oppressed from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for a 4-Day intensive training workshop.
WHEN: August 27th – 30th, 10 AM – 6 PM
WHERE: Clinton Hill @ Gallim Dance
COST: $300
CONTACT: rebecca@brooklynactinglab.org for more info
Program Description
Workshop At Glance
- Train with Geo Britto, the most experienced Joker from CTO in Rio de Janeiro and one of the first generation of students who trained with Augusto Boal when he returned to Brazil. The workshop will cover TO Exercises, the Theory, and Dramaturgy of Forum Theatre, including culminating in a Forum performance.
Games and Exercises
- The initial part of the TO process comprises of an arsenal of games and exercises designed to “de-mechanize” the body, reconnect and dynamize the senses. Participants will be introduced to these exercises and offered the chance to facilitate them.
Image Theatre
- Image Theatre provides a more focused look at the techniques for creating and analyzing images that represent critical moments and power dynamics in the relationships the oppressed have with the community, family, society, or with themselves. These techniques are the building blocks in Theatre of the Oppressed, and vital to the construction of the forum play.
The Aesthetics of the Oppressed
- An exploration of the aesthetic foundations of TO (Image, Sound, Word) gives participants the philosophical and theoretical grounds on which to develop and democratize the means for dramatic and cultural production.
Dramaturgy of the Oppressed
- The Dramaturgy of the Oppressed covers in more depth the history of its development, how the forum play is structured, how it functions, and ways we can use it to analyze social and political structures through theatre and performance.
Forum Theater
- In the forum theater, members of a community present a dramatization of a pervasive experience of oppression. The protagonist of the story – the oppressed – experiences this oppression in the play. The audience is then invited to intervene to lead to an alternative outcome for the oppressed. Participants will learn to use this method to reveal systems that perpetuate the oppression of the protagonist, and the possible alternatives available.
Payment Information
- Workshop Tuition Fee is $300
- Deposit of $50 required when you register
- Remaining $250.00 must be paid by August 8th
- Email rebecca@brooklynactinglab.org for more information
The theater itself is not revolutionary; it is the rehearsal for the revolution. -- Augusto Boal
Note from Geo Britto, Joker and Member of Collegiate of CTO-Rio
The philosophy and actions of the Center of the Theatre of the Oppressed (CTO) seeks to democratize the means of cultural production as a way for intellectual expansion of its participants, and the spread of Theatre of the Oppressed as a means of activating and strengthening of democratic citizenship. CTO implements projects that foster the active participation of protagonists from the oppressed layers of society and aims to transform reality through dialogue and aesthetic means.
The Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) is a ludic and educational methodology and an effective communicative means for seeking practical alternatives to overcome real problems through aesthetic means. The methodology is based on the interaction of communities and participants, resulting in the search for effective solutions for overcoming injustices and social transformation. So, the concept of social technology fits for this practice. The methodology creates the conditions for the oppressed to take ownership of the means of theatrical production and expand their possibilities of expression. It also proposes to beat the barriers between stage and audience, in order to establish an active, democratic and purposeful dialogue in order to seek for alternatives for conflict resolution. In this pedagogical purpose, conflicts must be disclosed aesthetically, so that their implications are clearly understood, and the concrete means to overcome them are found.
The training of Theatre of the Oppressed and its multipliers developed by the institution is unprecedented and revolutionary, which attracts the interest of students and practitioners around the world. And to meet this demand, the CTO has an International Exchange Program that caters to different cultures and languages, training students and practitioners in international method.
Since 1996 CTO has received and made workshops in various countries: (America) Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, United States, Canada, (Africa), Mozambique, Morocco, Egypt, Cameroon, South Africa, (Europe) Germany, France, Spain, Norway, England, Italy, Denmark, Greece, Portugal, Belgium, Switzerland, (Asia) India, Palestine, Afghanistan, Japan and Nepal; (Oceania) Australia.
The training process is based on the Aesthetics of the Oppressed, which is based on the belief that not only are we all better than what we are supposed to be, but also, we are capable of doing more things than what we actually do. For this purpose, we use aesthetic means – that provide the discovery of productive and creative possibilities, stimulating the ability to represent reality producing Word, Sound and Image to promote artistic synesthesia that stimulates all: self-knowledge, self-esteem and selfconfidence, and purposeful dialogue for the transformation of social reality.
