I think that the next step in creating new dialogue that creates change would be do to continue to produce theatre that reaches new audiences. Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed does a good of this, but workshop-type performances such as image theatre seems to only be successful on a micro level. Similarly, invisible theatre seems to be more of a social experiment. In an example from our reading entitled Sexual Harassment, a group of performers engage in a “scene” (if you would call it that) that calls out gender discrimination as it relates to sexual harassment. Because of the way it is structured there is no moment where the actors say “ok that was a performance, how does that make you feel?” While this may be useful in starting a dialogue amongst theatre scholars and those who were a part of the performance, Im not sure that much conversation would be taking place from the bystanders/audience members, except maybe “wow, that was a crazy thing that happened on the subway today!” Anyway...all that to say I feel like we need to take the building blocks that are provided by Theatre of the Oppressed and expand upon them so that they reach a wider audience.
Im not sure I agree that theatre was ever necessarily the answer to any social problem such as genocide or war, but rather a reaction to them. Personally I feel that we can (and have in the past) used theatre as a tool for creating change by telling the stories of those who are oppressed and suggesting to our audiences that they become more openminded about certain issues. I think that theatre, or art in general, will always have a place in voicing concerns and bringing up problems in our society no matter the circumstance.
Very cool and interesting ideas with both questions. I totally agree that theatre for change only reaches small audiences at a time. I think that while Invisible Theatre has good intentions, and we touched on this in class, it's really kind of fucked up. Is it ethical? You manipulate people into having a response to something that's artificial, and almost want them to get up and do something. But in the subway example where people kept yelling to embarrass the man, the group of actors had to stall because that wasn't in their original plan. I feel like if you're going to try and execute something like that on that level, you need to be prepared for when the audience wants to intervene. That's what you're going for anyway, right?
ReplyDeleteAlso, genius that theatre was more a reaction to social issues rather than the answer. Great stuff.