Augusto Boal

The Most Influential Man You Have Never Heard Of
Posted: HERE
05/11/09 | Michael Rohd

Augusto Boal died on May 2, 2009 at the age of 78. He was a theatre practitioner, a philosopher, an activist, an author, a teacher, a politician.

And, he was the most influential man you have never heard of.

Boal created theatrical techniques and a philosophy of performance that not only transformed the theater but became a vehicle for social change.

He was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. After finishing his studies in chemistry, he moved to New York City in the mid-fifties to study theater at Columbia University. When he returned to Brazil, he served as director of the Arena Theater in San Paulo from 1956 until 1971. It was there that he began experimenting with political theatre and the possibilities of engaging an audience through theatre as a "rehearsal for revolution."

Through trial and error, he moved from the classic agitprop message plays seen around the world in the 1960s to what would become his contribution to global theatre practice --Theatre of the Oppressed -- an approach, a book, and a set of tools that moved the performance from an experience of witnessing action to an experience of participation for everyone in the room.

In its earliest and most basic form, a story with a clear conflict would play out onstage, conclude, and then play out again from the beginning. In this second playing, a facilitator, or as Boal famously named it, "the joker," would offer the audience the opportunity to stop the action and step in, imagining alternative strategies for dealing with whatever obstacles the main character faced.

In 1971, Boal was jailed and tortured by Brazil's military junta for his activities. He was exiled to Argentina, and from there he moved to Europe, eventually teaching at the Sorbonne in Paris. It was in Paris that he started his first Center for Theatre of the Oppressed. After the military junta fell, he moved back to Rio in 1986. He set up another Center, and mobilized actors and non-actors to create companies around the city, utilizing theatre to challenge injustice and collectively tackle problems ranging from poverty to unfair housing practices to racism and sexism.

In 1993, he was elected to Rio's City Council and hired his theatre company as his staff. They used Theatre of the Oppressed to elicit nontraditional solutions to city problems. Then he proposed these solutions as law on the Council floor.

He published more books. He traveled the world training artists, students and community workers in his methods, and was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2008.

But the most influential man in the world you have never heard of?

* Across India, programs using Boal's Forum Theatre techniques fight alcoholism, dowry deaths, and explore accountability within village councils.

* In Scandinavia, counselors are using Boal's Cops in the Head techniques (which involve combining therapeutic tools with physical and improvisational performance exercises) to combat depression and domestic violence.

* Throughout Canada, First Nation communities are using Boal techniques for cross-cultural conflict resolution;

* Around the United States, high schools and colleges are using Boal's work to create service learning programs, peer-education anti-bullying campaigns, and violence-prevention curriculums.

* In South Africa (and Kenya, Nigeria, and other African nations), community development workers and health specialists are using Boal's tools to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS.

* In Australia, artists are using Boal's work to help homeless youth build the skills they need to move into jobs and homes.

Boal's work also influenced almost any cultural or civic activity that consciously breaks the wall that traditionally exists between the performer and the spectator. Any time someone suggests that the story you are witnessing can change, and offers you the chance to change it, in any medium (for example, if you've ever taken a job-related or corporate training workshop that used role-playing to develop communication or leadership skills), you've worked with someone who was utilizing Boal's work, whether he knew it or not.

Still, the most influential man in the world you have never heard of? Not any more, because now you have.

Augusto Boal's death resulted from respiratory complications related to an ongoing battle with leukemia. He is survived by his wife Cecilia and his two sons Julian and Fabian.

Michael Rohd is the founding artistic director of Sojourn Theatre in Portland, Ore. and on faculty at Northwestern University.