Augusto Boal

Augusto Boal ( born March 16, 1931 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, † May 2, 2009 ) was a Brazilian film director, playwright and theater theorist. He was the developer of the forms of theater " Theatre of the Oppressed ", "Forum Theatre " and " Invisible Theatre " and finally the " legislative theater". Boal, whose role models were, inter alia, Bertolt Brecht and Konstantin Stanislavsky, it was about changing the reality through theater to solutions of social problems and a democratization of politics through theater. He is considered an important theater educator and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Life

Augusto Boal studied theater and chemistry at Columbia University in New York. Between 1950 and 1960 he developed at Núcleo do Teatro de Arena in São Paulo, a new theater idea that spread throughout Latin America: the " theater of the oppressed". 1971, during the military dictatorship, Boal was arrested and tortured. After his release, he was expelled from Brazil. He lived from 1971 to 1976 in Buenos Aires in exile. In 1976 he was a visiting professor and director of the theater group A Barraca, Lisbon. From 1978 he lived in Paris and taught mainly play end in almost all European countries.

1986 returned Boal returned to Brazil and was from 1991 to 1996 Vereador ( city council ) of Rio de Janeiro. During this time he tested possibilities of a direct type of democracy ( " Legislative Theatre "). Under the influence of his long years of exile in Europe, he developed a number of new theater methods, so-called " prospective " and " introspective " techniques and in pedagogy, in theater education, in acting training, in the therapeutic range since the late 1980s have established in team development. In summary, these newer methods are under the title " The Rainbow of Desire " ( Rainbow of Desire ).

Augusto Boal died on 2 May 2009 at the age of 78 in Rio de Janeiro from the effects of leukemia.

Effect in Brazil

What had begun with so-called People's Theatre factories mid -1980s, developed into a political mandate for the working party Partido dos Trabalhadores PT, for he entered the Senate of the 7- million city of Rio de Janeiro. In cooperation with the citizens' initiatives in the districts of the Centro Teatro Oprimido developed many Forum Theatre scenes, which were then elaborated with the audience response to a legislative proposal. About 60 such initiatives have been launched, 13 of which were immediately successful, others such as the discrimination of homosexuals triggered initiatives to federal legislation from.

In cooperation with the democratic aspirations of the PT in other cities foundations for a participatory political work originated in the times of political disinterest while time shortage by neo- liberalization and globalization.

Effect in Europe

The specific experiments, in 1979 organized Boal occasion of the " theater of the world" in Hamburg with German actors are, though not as a failed method, but in the matter. Boal, who had fled in the 1970s before a brutal and inhumane military dictatorship in Brazil, though could transfer the technique of " invisible theater " one to one to Europe, but not achieve the expected widespread enlightened purpose at the theaters.

Augusto Boal's " Theatre of the Oppressed " is based on two principles: The viewer should be to activists act as a passive nature and object. The theater should not only deal with the past, but also with the future and its possibilities. In the discussions that followed the experiments, Boal conceded literally that " the suppression mechanisms in Germany are much too subtle to be made by the invisible theater ' visible. "

In all European countries there are groups and initiatives that use these methods, communicate and evolve, sometimes in regional movements, some in national associations (such as the Forumteaterföreningen i Sverige, ARGE Forum Theatre Austria ). Since the interfaces are both in theater education as well as in political education, political theater and in intercultural communication, it turns out there hard to think together the categories of this holistic awareness work, which refers to the foundations of Paulo Freire.

Awards

The UNESCO Augusto Boal recorded in 1994 for his work with the Pablo Picasso Medal and the University of Nebraska awarded him in 1996, together with Paulo Freire honorary doctorate. The " Theatre of the Oppressed " was recognized by UNESCO as a Method of Social Change. It was established by the International Organization of the Theatre of the Oppressed (ITO ), which he was president. In 2007, Boal received a Prince Claus Award, along with prize money of 25,000 euros. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by international initiatives.

Works

  • Theatre of the Oppressed, exercises and games for actors and non- actors, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt 1979 and 1989, ISBN 3-518-11361-5 ( the basic knowledge, the backgrounds of the emergence, examples of forum and the invisible theater)
  • With Jürgen Weintz: The Rainbow of Desire, Kallmeyer, Seelze ( Velber ) 1999, ISBN 3-7800-5811-1, reprint: Schibri, Berlin / Milow / Strasburg 2006, ISBN 3-937895-18-3 (the latest comprehensive compilation, especially the mentally - oriented methods )

Dramas

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