Skip to main content

~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 theater is not my métier, but I found this approach very interesting. I’m intrigued and will read more about Schutzman’s work.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jeremy Griffith - The Roof is on Fire

1. CONTEXT: What were the circumstances that framed the meaning and process of this project? There are many minority teens in low-income, low-opportunity areas who have unheard voices. Their self-esteem isn't cultivated and all of their portrayal in the media is negative. 2. CONTENT: What was the issue, need, idea or opportunity addressed by this project? Teen voices were unheard, opinions of them were based on negative media stereotypes, and many of them had very poor self-esteem. 3: FORM: What is the medium that was used to address or embody the content? Immersive theatre in the form of car-conversations that audience members could eavesdrop on. 4. STAKEHOLDERS: Which are the groups or individuals that were invested in the project? The teenagers were very invested because of their desire to free their voices. The adults who helped were invested because they wanted to help these kids start to change the narrative. And the d...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mind Map

Post a Comment
Read more

What a Riot - Bri Pattillo

   I like the Theater of the Oppressed methodology of the Joker. It sort of reminded me of El Pachuco in “Zoot Suit”, like this narrator commenting on all the action. I thought the Joker methodology was a good way to introduce a Theater of the Oppressed tactic into the piece. A lot of the Theater of the Oppressed options that we read about last week have an element of questioning within in them, but I think the Joker was a good one to use with young people. It was nice and cool that she was able to include the students’ actual questions into the play.     I did think her approach was rather problematic. She highlighted the problem herself and posed the question, “To whom and to what is the author beholden when writing a play for a specified population that has been invited to contribute to the playwriting process?” My problem was her answer, when she said that the students didn’t understand all of the references or language in the play. I don’t...
Post a Comment
Read more