Parallels to Theatre of the Oppressed

A lot of people mention Boal and his Theatre of the Oppressed when I explain StoryBox to them. There are a lot of parallels, and as I am preparing for opening night tonight and thinking about the reasons why sharing this work is important, the words from the Theatre of the Oppressed website’s Declaration of Principles (http://www.theatreoftheoppressed.org/en/index.php?nodeID=23) completely resonate.  

Theatre of the Oppressed strives to be “a system that enables people to act in the fiction of theatre to become protagonists, i.e. acting subjects, of their own lives.”

The primary guiding principle is that theatre is essential—it is not limited to the sphere of artists and dreamers, but instead, “every human being is theatre!” The Declaration of Principles goes on to explain, “Theatre is defined as the simultaneous existence — in the same space and context — of actors and spectators. Every human being is capable of seeing the situation and seeing him/herself in the situation.”

StoryBox relies on this ability to empathize and relate. It assumes that all humans necessarily understand common elements of the human experience. It is a natural tendency to see ourselves in another’s shoes and imagine how we would handle the situation.

So then what is the ultimate goal here? TO states its (and our) purpose beautifully:

“The Theatre of the Oppressed offers everyone the aesthetic means to analyze their past, in the context of their present, and subsequently to invent their future, without waiting for it. The Theatre of the Oppressed helps human beings to recover a language they already possess — we learn how to live in society by playing theatre. We learn how to feel by feeling; how to think by thinking; how to act by acting. Theatre of the Oppressed is rehearsal for reality.”

Empowerment. How can we teach the spects to play by reminding them that they already know how to play? How can we encourage people to take agency in the stories of their own lives when it feels like outside forces have taken control? How can we empower our audience by showing that our choices, our reactions, our relationships are ultimately within our own power?

Don’t wait for your future. Tonight let’s rehearse for reality. Live. Play. Empower.  HAPPY OPENING! 

~Carolyn