Theater of the Oppressed - Bri Pattillo

This was a really great reading, I have this book on my “to read” list and I can’t wait to read the rest! It was extremely well written, particularly the part describing Aristotle’s theater, versus Brecht’s theater, versus the Theater of the Oppressed.

   I like the concept that when people act through revolution in a theater piece that it is rehearsal for revolution. That through performing an action, seeing how it feels, seeing it’s possibilities, it could help people to perform those actions in their actual lives.

   I found the part about symbols to be especially important. That you can’t go somewhere and use a symbol, language, or idiom, that doesn’t relate to the people. Symbols are cultural, and we must be aware of that. It made me think about symbols in relation to our El Acercamiento projects/Rueda. It also made me think about the care we must exhibit when entering into these projects and situations.

   This reading also made me think a lot about JR. How he doesn’t go into a place to make art for a people, but with a people. People don’t want to just be given a something, a finished piece, made “just for them”. It is much more respectful, empathetic, holistic, and effective to create a piece with a people. One cannot assume what a people need or want without exploring that with them.

    I think a lot of these concepts would be useful in reflecting on our El Acercamiento pieces. I also see them being useful in Rueda and see some of the ways that they have already be used in rehearsal. ;-)

   I have been reading a cheeky self-help book about depression my friend wrote, in the last chapter he likened life to a role-playing game to help battle depression and stay productive; you fight boss monsters (goals/tasks), get epic loot when you defeat them, have side quests, have to build up you abilities, etc. In the chapter he said, “humans fucking love games” (he has his doctorate by the way, haha.) But seriously, he shared that several scientific studies show that humans really enjoy games and can be extremely motivated by them. It made me think that playing theater games with people and practicing revolution is way more effective than we may have realized and supported the information in the reading.

   The strategy I was most interested in was “Invisible Theater”. I have never heard of it and I was fascinated by it. I think it might be useful in thinking about a performance to do at CalArts about a CalArts issue.

   I really liked the line from the reading, “It is not the place of the theater to show the correct path, but only to offer the means by which all possible paths may be examined.” This was sort of my idea for our “reducing gun violence” projects. My group wants to explore the question of “Why? - Why does gun violence happen?” We don’t know the answer, so it would truly be an exploration of the myriad reasons we think it happens, showing conservative perspectives as well. We could present these scenes just to make them visible, and to make people think. It is not our place to assert an answer.