Event

MLK Weekend Workshop

This January 2022, Falconworks Theater Company will be offering a 3-day workshop in Theater of the Oppressed, a form of theater popular theater established in the early 1970s by Brazilian director and activist Augusto Boal. Theater of the Oppressed was developed as a rehearsal theater for people who want to learn ways of fighting back against oppression in their daily lives. Theater of the Oppressed (TO) is a participatory theater that enables 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.

During the workshop, participants will learn tools of TO and create plays that present a real issue a conflict or an injustice affecting their community. Typically the plays problems will be left unresolved. The workshop will conclude with a public performance where the audience will be invited to solve the problems and provide a resolution. Instead of traditional feedback, audience members will show their solutions by actually stepping into the play themselves.