This document describes Edgar Rodríguez's independent project portfolio on social theater forms. It details his preparation, action taken, and reflection on a two-day workshop teaching Theatre of the Oppressed to students. The preparation section outlines Rodríguez's research on Augusto Boal and Forum Theatre. It describes the exercises and scene he planned to teach oppression. The action section recounts how he educated students on Theatre of the Oppressed and led exercises on power and sculpting oppressors. It discusses a performed scene and subsequent Forum Theatre discussion. Students eventually solved the scene's oppression. Rodríguez reflected on achieving his goal of teaching how to fight oppression through theater.

1. Independent Project Portfolio
Edgar Rodríguez
Odessa High School
002300-010
May 2011
2,981 words

2. Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Preparation 1
Action 5
Reflection 11
Conclusion 12
List of sources and works consulted 13

3. Introduction
It all began with one simple presentation concerning dating violence in our school.
Renée Morris was the speaker who had influenced our theatre class to put on a show as a
means of teaching our school peers what dating violence was. The day came that we had
finished writing the play and was ready to be performed. Surprisingly, the audience wasn’t just
made up of student; it also had many community members. Unlike any other show I’ve ever
performed in this one had a conclusive viva voce, a face to face with the audience where I saw
with my own eyes how our performance really touched the spectators as it brought them to
tears and life-long confessions. With this experience as a means of inspiration I decided to
create my independent project portfolio on the basis of some sort of socio-beneficial theatre
form.
Preparation
In brainstorming ideas about social theatre forms to base my portfolio on, I considered
Brecht’s Epic Theatre or Stella Adler’s view points. I had a set idea; I envisioned a workshop that
could teach people through action. In our show Love Shouldn’t Hurt we had taught people
about domestic violence with elements isolation and regret; I wanted to teach people about a
social action, and so through my extensive research I discovered Teatro do Oprimido, or Theatre
of the Oppressed. After further investigation, I discovered Agusto Boal’s social intentions in
having created this extraordinary theatre form in 1971 and it influenced me even more.
Boal’s ideas were greatly validated in his book “Theatre of the Oppressed.” In here he
made connections between the social oppression faced by all humans and the progression of

4. theatre history. During the time of Greek Theatre’s success, for example, Boal correlated
Aristotle’s coercive system of tragedy to the fact that “the aristocracy established [a] division:
some actors will be the protagonists [or aristocrats] and the rest will be the chorus” (Boal ix);
this was oppression. Throughout the medieval times when Commedia dell’Arte was barely
commencing in Europe, Boal associated Machiavelli’s poetics of virtù, or virtue, to the fact that
a new bourgeoisie was rising. At that time, “protagonists ceased to be objects embodying moral
values, super structural, multidimensional subjects, exceptional individuals equally separated
from the people, as new aristocrats” (x), hence another act of oppression. In this more modern
time period, on the other hand, Bertolt Brecht initiated an action against this sort of oppression
with his creation of Epic Theatre. He developed “the conversion of characters from absolute
subjects back to objects” (x) and developed the idea that” the social being must determine the
thought and not vice versa” (x). Over all, what most impacted me from Boal’s interpretations of
social oppression in relation to theatre was that “the barrier between actors and spectators
[must be] destroyed: all must act [and] all must be protagonists in the necessary
transformations of society” (x). Boal mentioned the fact that as humans we have the need for
“dialogue” since it’s very natural and dynamic for human development but when “dialogue”
becomes “monologue” that’s when oppression rises in form of a dictator, for instance. In
general, Boal saw theatre as a weapon against oppression and so did I. His public quote “while
some people make theatre, we all are theatre” serves to define all he stood for and so my plan
to teach this form took initiation in form of inspiration.

5. Before I could initiate any sort of action, I had to plan my workshop thoroughly. Through
my research within the official international theatre of oppressed website, I discovered that
Theatre of the Oppressed wasn’t a solid theatrical practice itself, instead it was actually the core
foundation for several other theatrical types including Forum Theatre, Rainbow of Desire, and
Image Theatre, just to name a few. As I thought of a way to present Theatre of the Oppressed I
also found myself stuck between so many choices but the only one of these several practices
that actually fit my intentions towards fighting social oppression was Forum Theatre.
And so, with a decision set down a new task needed to be accomplished; I had to further
investigate not only what Forum Theatre was but also how Theatre of the Oppressed influenced
Forum Theatre. I discovered that Forum Theatre was influenced greatly on Boal’s ideas about an
“equal theatre.” It searched to make the actors and the audience one solid and equal person,
not in a literal, biological way but in a socio-psychological manner instead. It established
SPECTACTORS (people equal as actors and as spectators) to brake that barrier between the
entertainer and the entertained. Even though Forum Theatre still kept the idea of having a
performance what made it essentially different was that it relies on the spectators to end the
performance successfully and in an oppression-free scenario. The spectactors are given a plot
to act; this plot has to have an extensive amount of oppression. Once they’ve acted it, their
fellow spectactors, who have been observing, have a chance to discuss ways to resolve the plot.
The spectactors will perform once more with the opportunity of having the observing
spectactors call out freeze and taking action into their own hands. There are rules involved
though, for instance, solutions for the plot cannot be violent or magical in any way but new
characters can be added. There is a “joker” who is also the workshop conductor (this would

6. most likely be me) whose job is to remain idea-free but also cheer on spectactors’ ideas or shut
them down if they don’t fit the requirements or break the rules. Essentially, “the aim is to
understand social reality, to then be able to change it” (MacDonald 1).
Before I could start such an impacting workshop, I had to plan how to inform my
students about Theatre of the Oppressed and, to give them a taste of this theatrical practice, I
wanted to have some sort of game or exercise to warm them up. Also, I had a limited 50
minutes per day of workshop; I would need more than a day. Therefore, I decided that I could
possibly inform my students and warm them up with two exercises or games the first day of 5o
minutes. The second day, I would have just enough time for Forum Theatre and a conclusive
viva voce amongst all the spectactors.
Now, I needed to search for exercises or games to teach my students. In searching, I
found several but they were all in other branches of oppressed theatre forms such as Image
Theatre. Then I knew that in order to teach Theatre of the Oppressed properly, I had to branch
out into other of its form, no pun intended. I had to teach my students about power and about
structural oppression before they could take on Forum Theatre. Therefore, I decided to teach
the exercise “Chairs and Power” to teach them the abundance of power found in setting up
four chairs in different respective ways. I also decided to use the exercise “Statue Sculpting” as
a means of opening my students’ minds to the reality of the oppressive world we live in today.
The initiative that this exercise takes is that it makes people realize an oppressor they’ve had to
thereon sculpt him or her and then release their feelings to this sculpted oppressor. With that

7. game and this exercise I had concluded in formulating an ideal plan for teaching Theatre of the
Oppressed properly. My plan:
1. Teach what Theatre of the Oppressed is and why Agusto Boal created it.
2. Play the “Chairs and Power” game to physically demonstrate power.
3. Do the “Statue Sculpting” exercise to open up my students to oppression.
4. Finally, accomplish Forum Theatre and thus ending oppression within the
workshop module.
Action
First day had come and I had to teach my students about Theatre of the Oppressed. I had
created a PowerPoint which consisted of the following:
 A short Agusto Boal biography
 Boal’s ideas behind Theatre of the Oppressed:
o Correlation to Greek Theatre’s social oppression
o Association to Machiavelli and the bourgeoisie’s oppression
o Link with Brecht’s creation of Epic Theatre and the character development
o The “dialogue” and “monologue” example of oppression
 The overall intentions for Theatre of the Oppressed
I had refused to incorporate Forum Theatre in this specific presentation because I
wanted to explain it tête à tête with my students; explaining it face to face would also allow
me to act more as a “joker” in the process.

8. After educating my students, I moved on to the “Chairs and Power” game. In this, I chose
one of my students to come up to rearrange four chairs to make one of them seem like it has
more power. She could’ve done it in many ways, such as, putting them in a straight line to make
the leader the power-holder but, instead, she placed them as so:
She said the one chair that was upside up
hade the most power because the other
three chairs were upside down almost
praising that chair. When I asked every one’s opinion, one person stated that that chair
had no power because there was nothing occupying the other chairs. It made sense and
it let for further discussion.
I then asked another person to do the same. Here is her placement:
She said that the chair stacked at the top had the most power because
the other chairs were literally “under” it. The same discussion rose as in
the prior “round” because nothing was occupying the bottom chairs thus
leaving the top chair power-less.
After that round, I decided to move along to the “Statue Sculpting” exercise. Here, I decided
to read this procedure which was influenced by Image Theatre:
1. Make two lines facing each other but at an arm’s length distance between each pair.
2. Someone in each pair needs to think of someone who is oppressing or has oppressed
them in their life. You are the sculptor.

9. 3. The person who has no oppressor, currently, must act as the statue.
4. In silence, the sculptor will sculpt his/her oppressor with the statue presented before
them. Remember that facial expressions should also be sculpted.
5. Once done, every sculptor will walk around to see every other sculpture. Sculptures, stay
in position. Notice the similarities between oppressors’ physical structure.
6. Return to your statue and make movements and mannerisms in silence for the
“sculpture” to follow.
7. After the sculpture has mastered his/her movements, the sculptors may walk around to
see everyone else’s oppressors.
8. Come back to your statue and whisper in his/her ear a phrase or statement.
9. At the count of three, the statues will say their statement and the sculptor will have an
opportunity to react against oppression by telling their sculpture what they never told
their actual oppressor.
10. Finish and discuss.
11. After a few minutes of resting, which you will need, come back to your two straight lines.
12. Now, the statue will become the sculptor and vice versa.
13. Follow the same procedure.
With that read, the exercise went into action. People’s statues started to have the same
characteristics a physical shape. Everyone would find it shocking that their statue would
resemble someone else’s. After the first half of the exercise had finished, I could tell some of
my students had been seriously oppressed in the past and this exercise had brought back
memories they probably never wanted to remember but their reaction to the statues was all

10. that I wanted. As they stood before the mimicked image of their oppressor, my students had
the opportunity to exclaim their feelings as a way to end that specific oppression that haunted
them personally. Now with their minds exposed to the reality of this oppressive world, I could
finally move along to day 2.
In this day, I decided it was time for my students to be exposed to Forum Theatre but before
I could do anything else I had to obtain a plot for my spectactors to perform. I created one
based on our play Love Shouldn’t Hurt because it was easier for these students to memorize it
since it was fresh in their minds but it was also full of oppression. I came up with this scene,
which I gave to some of my spectactors the day before for them to memorize:
Characters:
Pal- Girl’s good friend
Girl- Guy’s girlfriend
Guy- Girl’s Boyfriend
(Pal and Girl are conversing in the park about usual subjects such as movies, plans for the
weekend, etc. Enter Guy.)
Guy: Where have you been? Who is this?
Girl: This is my friend. We were just talking about… about…
Pal: Hey, I have to go. I’ll see you later. (Pal forgets book.)
Guy: What did I tell you about talking to people?

11. Girl: We were just…
Guy: I don’t care why. I love you and I don’t want anyone to interfere with us.
Girl: I love you too.
(Phone rings and Guy answers. Hangs up the phone. Guy returns.)
Guy: Get over here now.
Girl: What’s wrong?
Guy: Don’t act stupid!
Girl: I really don’t know.
Guy: I got news that my friend was arrested. Did you have anything to do with this?
Girl: No.
Guy: (Slaps her.) I know when you’re lying!
Girl: I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…
Guy: Shut up! (Shakes her to the ground) I think they’re gonna come after me!
(Pal Enters.)
Pal: Is this a bad time? (Pal picks up book immediately. Pal Exits.)
Girl: I’m so sorry…
Guy: Shut up! (Punches her and leaves her unconscious.)

12. This scene was obviously replete with oppression and after it was performed in front of my
students, I had to establish positions. Here’s where the face to face came along. I read to them:
If you think you’re in front performing as an actor or an audience member simply
watching another performance, you’re not. There is no room for a passive audience nor
for an entertaining performance, there is a time to observe but another to act. You are
therefore a SPECTACTOR.
I then moved on to explain the procedure and rules of Forum Theatre as I did before and
let the spectactors discuss. A few ideas were spoken about on how to end the oppression in the
scene, but once the performance began once more it ended where it had done before; no one
took action. As the “joker” I was bound to do nothing to intervene, all I could do was ask the
obvious questions as a means of influencing some sort of ideas. After the scene ended the same
way, the spectactors had learned a lesson; you have to take action. Through yet another
discussion, new ideas resulted but I had to intervene in determining whether they were rule
breakers or not. The performance started once again and this time someone actually called out
“freeze.” Being shy, she only stated her idea for someone else to consider and act it; this was
valid. Unfortunately, a character cannot simply change his or her way of being because of
someone else idea told them to do so; that’s just not a real-life occurrence. Therefore the
performance continued but, as a way to inspire the observing spectactors, I kept reminding
them that new characters could be incorporated. And so someone finally called out “freeze”
just before the girl was knocked out. Here the observing spectactor took matters into her own
hands and became a police officer to arrest the abusing boyfriend in the scene. This was valid

13. considering that police officers do indeed roam parks. With the scene almost resolved the
spectactor acting as the abused victim did something interesting as she improvised; she called
the Crisis Center, this is the center where domestic violence victims call to for help. I did
nothing to intervene because even though it seemed like a magical resolution, it wasn’t; both
the police and the Crisis Center are in fact the best answers for a situation of this sort. After the
scenario had finally been solved, we all discussed how Forum Theatre is very powerful in
teaching about oppression and how Theatre of the Oppressed can be used as a weapon to fight
our oppressed society.
Reflection
After having gone through that extensive time of workshop preparation and the
workshop itself, I was confidently standing before my students, who were also my peers, proud
with the fact that I had reached my objective of teaching them the right way to fight against
oppression and teaching them the much larger power found in every ounce of theatre. I saw
that I had done almost no mistakes because the reactions I was looking for I found. I saw the
epiphanies, I saw the tears, I saw the fear, I saw it rage, and I saw the learning. Every step I took
helped my students learn the essential foundations set upon Theatre of the Oppressed for them
to therefore realize, little by little, the fact that oppression rises even when a dialogue becomes
a monologue. They learned that in order to end oppression one mustn’t fight it with more
oppression; rather, they can help it diminish by converting every monologue back to free
dialogue.

14. Conclusion
Throughout this experience I’ve discovered the great amounts of people theatre can
possibly benefit. In further pondering, I’ve come to the conclusion that Theatre of the
Oppressed might possibly be a part of another of our domestic violence plays but this time we
won’t have another “conclusive viva voce;” instead, we’ll possibly develop a Forum Theatre that
can teach our community on the stage through their own mistaken choices. After all, if my
students managed to find the perfect solution to domestic violence on their own, why wouldn’t
other members of the community be able to?

15. Works Cited
Boal, Augusto. Theatre of the Oppressed. New York, NY: Theatre Communications Group, 1985.
Print.
Works Consulted
"Theatre of the Oppressed." Web. 17 Mar. 2011.
<http://www.theatreoftheoppressed.org/en/index.php?nodeID=3>. Web.
"Chair Power: Three Types of Power." Web. 18 Mar. 2011.
<http://www.trainingforchange.org/chair_power>.
"How to Work through Theatre Vs. Oppression with Children Training Module." Web. 17 Mar.
2011.<http://volens.be/IMG/pdf/Training_Module_Volens_how_to_use_Theatre_Vs_O
ppresion.pdf>