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Theater of the Oppressed Brayson Williams

“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 the. The theater is a weapon, and it is the people who should wield it.” When one compares this style of theater with Brechtian theater I do not take that comment lightly. This comparison was EXTREMELY helpful for my understanding of this style because I have done my fair share of research into the Brecht style of theater. After reading the article I do see many correlations. Although Brecht never outright stated that his goal was to change the people or even make theater for the people. You can definitely see the influence that his work had. This idea of creating theater whilst the audience gives influence isn’t an entirely lost in today's culture and even vaguely reminds me of how many of our improve troops are set up today. By no means do I mean to sound like I am putting “theater of the oppressed” on th...
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What A Riot Brayson Williams

“The Joker System provided a perfect aesthetic vehicle to tell not only the story of Rodney King and the ensuing uprising, but a larger, ever changing and ever-the-same, storyo of violence, racism, and resistance in the US. Creating UPSET! In the mode of the Joker System provided a means to incorporate the teens curiosity, dismay, outrage, confusion, fear, and inspiration in relation to the subject matter of the play within the play.” Here's a bit of extra background on the joker system: “The Joker System laid the theoretical foundation for the Theatre of the Oppressed, the umbrella term Boal employed for all his subsequent theoretical developments. Even in the Forum Theatre, his most popular theatrical format, the lineaments of the Joker system are apparent. The Joker System began in 1965, when the Arena Theatre performed Arena Narrates Zumbí. The word “Joker” had, in Boal’s mind, the same significance as the “Joker” playing card, a card which has more mobility than a...
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What a Riot - Inobe Schutzman

During the reading, I definitely felt the students were given an opportunity to discuss their opinions as well share their feelings and solutions when exploring the lives of Rodney King and Claudette Colvin. When students are given the choice to share their opinions, this encourages the students to interact and connect more with the conversation at hand, this also welcomes the audience to participate in becoming informed. However the joker and chorus roles were without a doubt perfect, these roles play a specific role in which helps convey the message in an inviting way to discuss and provide audience present during the discussions about social issues such as, racism, race, prejudice, and how it was to be an African American during the 50's and 90's.
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~Inobe Schutzman's "What a Riot”

Inobe~ Schutzman's "What a Riot” was definitely drama therapy and social theater at its finest. It offered the students a choice, an opportunity to tell their stories, share their opinions, express their feelings and solve problems all at the same time as they explored the lives of Rodney King and Claudette Colvin. I found it very therapeutic reading about their process and felt the collaboration portion of the process very powerful. This method allowed the student's interpersonal relationships to be enriched. They could get lost in the characters, lines, and the stories while learning more about themselves and the choices they may have made if placed on either side of history as Rodney or Claudette. The chorus and joker role was brilliant. It helped move to the story along making hard conversations about race, justice and being black in America in the 50’s and 90’s possible with empathy, so it seemed. I will research this piece and work more closely. The the...
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What a Riot

Mady Schutzman found a very creative way/tool to tell/create the story. Inspired by TO and it's founder Gustavo Boal she decided to use Joker view to approach the young artists. Joker is someone who in his archetypical nature, tells jokes. His duality and safe dangerous around him is very seductive and that's why it worked well as a turning point in the play. Protagonist - antagonist -protagonist-antagonist = Fast roles switching Black masks - white masks - no masks =  Who cares the masks in society, what is a social mask and how is easy to get one, two, multiple. Is it possible to be alive without the mask? Joker-Joke = what's real?  Chorus= superego in progress (Latino)kids=artists I really appreciate Schutzman first step approaching the material. She asked kids to choose some famous people that they would like to learn more about. That can be an interesting platform for some research about current youth as well as the potential projects in the f...
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Geneva Heron Assignments

Assignment: Aesthetic Evangelists - Due 1/30    Three key ideas in the text that resonate with me: The first is the idea of the "new public art," or what we would call "community engaged art." The article discusses the transition from art displayed in public sites to community based projects that have the goal of collaboration and focus more on the process than the end result/outcome. This intrigues me because before this class I was honestly very unaware of this form of art-making and its growing prevalence. Another idea that resonates with me is when the author talked about community based public art of today drawing on the urban reform rhetoric of the past both consciously and subconsciously. This stood out because it's an old adage that history repeats itself and I think it's interesting that the times we live in now call for a callback to this type of work and a more curious examination of what this can do for people and their communities. Th...
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Theater of the Oppressed Ariyan Kassam

Augusto Boal brings the audience into the spotlight and creates a platform for them to engage freely in the discussion and dialogue as well as contribute to the event. It adds the spectator as a player in the game. Seeing the process of creating theater as a language in which one should be literate in is fundamental as an artist. Especially one trying to dissect an issue, the process or development of the piece is seen as the language of telling the story. Thus not being in any way passive but rather through inviting the audience in on the story, we place a responsibility on them to come forward and engage in the work. They are being asked to continue the dialogue or story in the moment as we perceive it. I do wonder if giving so much freedom and responsibility to the audience can sometimes backfire when a discussion turns into an argument or when it deters from the story? How is this dealt with?
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