One of my favourite Boal anecdotes is when he was working with about 80 homeless kids living in the streets of Brasilia, the Brazilian capital.
He had spent some time discussing with them what theatre meant to them and wondering what theme they should look at during their short time together. Some shouted ‘violence’ and others [...]
‘Knowledge acquired aesthetically is already, in itself, the beginning of transformation.’
Augusto Boal, 1995
Augusto Boal believed in the power of theatre to transform systemic social and internalised personal obstacles into opportunities for positive action. From the 1950s right through to his death in 2009, Boal continued to develop theatrical techniques that draw on the collective [...]
Imagine you have access to a diary entry that someone you care for has written. The words on the pages give you clues to their state of mind and situation - you are able to intervene before they do something tragic.
This is the ultimate aim of Act Out’s latest workshops, to stop a young person [...]
Alberto Perez, affectionately known as Beto, was a popular aerobics instructor in Colombia, who rocked up to his busy class one day only to find that he had forgotten his music. Thinking on the spot he went to his car and retrieved the sexy Latin music he had in his CD player and adapted the [...]
Act Out is currently working on a Youth Forum Theatre Peer Education Project funded through Community Arts Network WA’s innovation grant.
The Fremantle-based project combines Forum Theatre and Youth Peer Education on issues affecting young people.
7 young people are being guided and mentored to create a play that they will perform to their peers and their [...]
According to Otto Scharmer the essence of leadership today is the ability to facilitate a shift from the current model of operating from past experience to operating from ‘a future space of possibility’.
His social technology for leadership, Theory U, premises that in order for there to be transformation we need to access, understand and be [...]
A few weeks ago in Geraldton, WA, a group of community service providers came together for training on how to use Boal tools and techniques to enhance their work practices with their clients.
Over two days we explored a range of activities and their relevance to the work they do. Here are three of them:
“The Sun [...]
In her fabulous book, From Workspace to Playspace, Pamela Meyer, extols the benefits of developing a play culture within an organisation.
As a facilitator and consultant using applied theatre techniques, games and activities to help organisations innovate and transform, I read her book joyfully!
I am often asked, how will playing help this organisation? How can it [...]
For the last five weeks Act Out has been running a program with young women at Rangeview Juvenile Remand Centre. Over the last three years we have also conducted a number of one-off workshops at Banksia Hill Detention Centre with young men.
The program is using Boal’s participatory theatre games and techniques to engage the young [...]
Today’s organisations, institutions and businesses face the ongoing challenge of rapidly changing social and market forces. Similarly, communities throughout, are threatened by increasing exclusion, inequality and violence, in spite of escalated efforts to change this. Transforming existing situations, whether in communities, organisations, institutions or businesses, often encounter resistance and fail. Why? What are necessary components [...]