THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED NYC The Impact of Theatre of the Oppressed NYC Legislative Theatre on New York City Policy and Civic Engagement Version 1.3 • Rebecca Kelly-Golfman WATCH ACT VOTE 1 THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED NYC TABLE OF CONTENTS To holistically review the impact of TONYC Legislative Theatre we will (1) outline the background of Theatre of the Oppressed methodology and creation of Theatre of the Oppressed NYC; (2) share the policy impact of Legislative Theatre events from 2013-2016; (3) outline the changes in form and impact during the 5th Annual Legislative Theatre Festival in 2017; and (4) share Big Picture Takeaways. INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................................................................2 BACKGROUND OF THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED AND TONYC..........................................................................2 FORUM THEATRE......................................................................................................................................................................3 LEGISLATIVE THEATRE............................................................................................................................................................3 THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED NYC..................................................................................................................................4 STRUCTURE OF LEGISLATIVE THEATRE..........................................................................................................................5 TONYC LEGISLATIVE THEATRE FESTIVALS 2013-16....................................................................................................6 2013: SAVE THE DRAMA....................................................................................................................................................6 2014: CAN’T GET RIGHT.....................................................................................................................................................8 2015: INSIDE/OUTSIDE......................................................................................................................................................10 2016: HOUSING CIRCUS...................................................................................................................................................12 2017: 5TH ANNUAL LEGISLATIVE THEATRE FESTIVAL................................................................................................15 MAY 7, QUEENS MUSEUM................................................................................................................................................16 MAY 10, UNIVERSITY SETTLEMENT................................................................................................................................17 MAY 13, BRIC.........................................................................................................................................................................20 ASSESSMENT OF 5TH ANNUAL LEGISLATIVE THEATRE FESTIVAL..................................................................23 STYLE.....................................................................................................................................................................................23 ACCURACY...........................................................................................................................................................................24 ETHICS...................................................................................................................................................................................25 MOVING FORWARD................................................................................................................................................................27 ABOUT THE AUTHOR............................................................................................................................................................28 WHO’S WHO.............................................................................................................................................................................29 This work by Theatre of the Oppressed NYC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. 1 WATCH ACT VOTE INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND OF THEATRE Theatre has always been a means of investigating humanity, sharing stories, and examining our OF THE OPPRESSED role in the local, political, and global community. AND TONYC These contributions are deeply meaningful, but The Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) methodology sometimes leave open the question: in addition was born out of the desire for theatre to to personal transformation and social critique, move beyond emotional catharsis and toward can theatre also be a tool for concrete social and becoming a tool for community dialogue, political change? Does theatre have that power? actively challenging mechanical thinking, and The goal of this report is to provide background rehearsing for revolutionary change. The creator on Theatre of the Oppressed NYC (TONYC), of these practices, Augusto Boal, was an activist an organization answering that question with a theatre-maker in Brazil during the 1960s and resounding yes! In this report, you will learn how 70s with roots in more traditional theatre. As the Theatre of the Oppressed practices have been story goes, Boal traveled with a troupe into the applied to raise awareness of pertinent issues countryside to perform a political play. In this play, of oppression, shift the minds of policymakers, the actors encouraged the people of the village and engage audience members in civic action. in the audience to take up arms and change their In addition to sharing TONYC practices, we hope oppressive working conditions. The response this report will help support advocacy efforts by to the play’s activist message was immediate artists and other arts-based institutions looking to and forceful. The audience members sought to make change creatively. gather weapons and fight for their liberation as urged in the play. In response, Boal and the other actors admitted that they were not prepared to take up arms with the members of the village and did not have the experience to help prepare the members of the village to do so on their own. The audience left frustrated and angry at the audacity of the actors to advocate for actions those same actors neither would nor could take themselves. Boal reflected on this experience and committed to never tell a story that did not belong to him, or push an audience to take action that he was not prepared to take himself. This new way of thinking led Boal to develop a series of theatre practices and problem-solving performance structures aimed at shifting political and social power called Theatre of the Oppressed. From these beginnings in Brazil, Theatre of the Oppressed is now practiced in over 70 countries around the world. Theatre of the Oppressed operates with the actors as storytellers of their own experience confronting oppression. The audience members are then invited to join in on the process of rehearsing for the revolution through the plays. From this initial idea grew various branches of the methodology.1 This report focuses on Forum 1 Other Theatre of the Oppressed branches include Image Theatre, Invisible Theatre, Newspaper Theatre, Rainbow of 2 Desire, and Cops in the Head. THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED NYC Theatre and Legislative Theatre because they LEGISLATIVE THEATRE are the forms most used by TONYC as a means The core idea of Legislative Theatre is that of social change. The terms below are frequently theatre is a means of political activity, in which used in the TONYC vocabulary and throughout voters are given the opportunity to realize their this report in describing the work: desires for political change and engage in deep discussion with legislators on their opinions, ACTORS: members of NYC communities field counterarguments, and share responsibility experiencing a particular type of for governance. This practice was a later oppression, such as housing or race-based development in the Theatre of the Oppressed discrimination, seeking to push back against canon. Boal felt that while sometimes solutions that oppression through theatre could be generated exclusively by the people and their efforts, equally many oppressions could JOKERS: facilitators of the play-creation be found in the law itself. He sought to create a process, like the Joker in a deck of cards; form of theatre where the “citizen makes their they are unbiased and do not belong to any law through the legislator.”2 In 1992, Boal was particular suit elected Vereador of Rio, a position similar to that of a City Council Member in the United States. SPECT-ACTORS: audience members who With this new position, he saw the opportunity jump into the play and act out potential to manifest the dream of making Forum Theatre strategies for change or brainstorm tactics to “have practical and visible effects beyond those fight the oppression in the play contained in the show itself… to make ‘theatre as politics,’ instead of simply making ‘political PROTAGONIST(S): the person or people theatre.’ ”3 He called this new form Legislative facing an oppressive obstacle in obtaining Theatre.4 what they need Given Boal’s beliefs on theatre as a civic tool, he ANTAGONIST(S):