| This thesis discusses adaptations of Augusto Boal's interactive improvisational Theatre of the Oppressed for North American praxis through two projects. First, the March 2004 production Practicing Democracy of Headlines Theatre Company, dealing with policy issues surrounding cutbacks to social services and how the municipal government of Vancouver can be more proactive in protecting citizens affected by these cuts. And second, the Theatre of the Oppressor and Anti-Racism for White Folks programs of the Mandala Centre for Change, in Port Townsend, Washington and New York, New York respectively, two programs that attempt to disrupt asymmetrical power relations through working with the powerful. Bourdieu's theory of the habitus is used as a foundation for thinking through how cultural and behavioural patterns are generated and maintained. The Theatre of the Oppressed is introduced as an embodied pedagogy that works from the hidden knowledge of the body to understand social dynamics, and through physical play to rehearse more liberatory social action. |
