Occupy LA - November 27th 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwr4pa0xDVw

Sophia Wang, Will Cotter, and myself went down to Occupy LA this afternoon. It was very inspiring. I was able to play some of my music. Love you all.

XO

- Saxon

Augusto Boal and Theatre of the Oppressed

I think that this method of theatre is beneficial to many people. It’s a smart way to get non-actors to move outside their comfort zone and talk about real issues. Clearly there is some sort of result as it is progressing and expanding across the world.

I did a form of this theatre when I volunteered at Miguel Contreras High School.

It was my job to organize a syllabus and teach the class entirely on my own. We played a bunch of theatre games in this tradition. I asked for suggestions for a scene from the class and a student said gangs. So I said “you are a mother and son and your son tells you he’s dropping out of school to join a gang”. The girl who played the mother looked terrified she kept looking at me for help. The boy who played the son was very adamant about what he was saying. He said that being in a gang is good because he has friends and people to protect him and his family and that if he didn’t know them then they would rape her. This sent a huge stir into the students. Then a girl from the “audience” says to the girl playing the mom, “tell him he could get killed” she ignores her. I then suggest that she steps in as the mom and they create some sort of solution. The son then convinces the mother to meet his gang member friends and at least see what they’re like. This to me is not a good solution. I was shocked that no one wanted to talk about gang situations and the “mother” didn’t even mention staying in school. That’s not on the priority list. I think I am very sheltered. I never had to deal with gang violence or dropping out of school. The biggest scandal at my high school was that a girl got pregnant and had to drop out, I was told that at their school girls get pregnant all the time.

After the class was dismissed, the teacher told me that when they don’t wanna do things, you’ll know. From her stand point and what she knew about them, it was a big success. Then at the very end something happened that really moved me. There was this one girl that throughout the entire class was incredibly shy when she was spoken to had a very defensive attitude. She seemed to just not want to be here. For most of the class I just let her be. She came up to me and asked about how she can get into acting. She said she loved the class and really wanted to become an actress like me. I was so thrown. I gave her a big hug, which she was reluctant about but welcomed, and we exchanged emails. I told her we should email each other and if she ever wanted to talk we could. That one short moment was the best part of my whole day. The one student who I thought I was lost on I ended up having the biggest impact on.

I definitely appreciate this form of theatre and had a great experience with this outlet. The response was amazing and I’m sure it would help in progressing the development of the class in further teachings. However for now, it’s not something that I seek out or have a great deal of interest in.

Agusto Boal & the Legislative Theater

Combining performance and politics is really a no-brainer to me considering about 60% of politics is performance based anyway. I do think though that officially bringing the theater into politics is a great idea, my problem with government is that it is always so serious. Life is too serious as it is so why we chose to impose even more seriousness and aggravation is beyond my understanding. "Some of us 'make' theatre - all of us 'are' theatre." Bringing creativity and this sort of lighter attitude to the government stimulates interest in politics in general, I remember a couple of years ago when writer/comedian Al Franken announced that he was going to run for legislative office the media made it into a kind of circus, but as anyone can clearly see Mr. Franken has been a great and even though satirical and comedic one a great representative for our people. Really when it comes down to it, theater-makers are philosophers, as all artists are, having theater people in government positions brings a more open minded approach to legislation and social constructs.

-Sam

Response to Mady Schutzman, TO, and Community based theater

I'll admit it, I am a cynical man. Most of the time I'll take opposition to something just for the mere fact that I like to argue. I LIKE community-based theater. I think its a great idea to use the performing arts to help people out of their problems or to help them open up and bloom into the people that we all have the potential to be. The problem I find with community-based theater is that it begins to sound preachy some of the time. Many people go into helping others really to help themselves and often times it shows. As for this particular piece of work, I think that CAP, and Plaza de la Raza did a splendid job encouraging the community especially the youth to further explore the history that we all think we know. Giving youth a chance to do any sort of creative and engaging work is the key to the future.

-Sam

Stacia Hitt What A Riot "UPSET" Late

In Upset we explore racism and resistance. Modeled after Augusto Boal we follow different people struggling in an unrefined system of hate. These events of the past can be presented and debated to encourage dialogue from the perspectives of the individual. It is important to ask questions and disagree! Too many times there are lies because no one wants to put themselves in a position of being wrong because of their ego power trip. Most times the violence comes from the people in power. These are the people with money to shut everyone else up. With everything I believe there is a yin and a yang, the joker system establishes a balance between the two to have a safe space to critically analyze. “The joker system is built to incorporate all varying points of view as they arise in the process of making the piece: questions, disagreements, even moral outrage, have a designated place (usually through the chorus) within the structure.” In every performance you will find criticism and Upset took heat for pushing ideas onto the youth but I bring up the fact that I think everything a person encounters is being taken in and changing that person in some way or another. Why not have the children in a setting like this analyzing and discussing human flaws that they will hopefully never have to run into. How could the writer not incorporate their politics and ideas into their work that’s like telling them to just stand in the room with your kids and not produce anything? Youth is going to learn from what they are experiencing. I think upset is a better outlet for the youth to express themselves in a group than them being on the streets doing what they are pretending to do in a show.

Stacia Hitt Legislative Theater

Theater of the Oppressed comes from not having a forum to speak. We see a protagonist and an antagonist in a life situation and then we freeze that moment and ask the audience how this oppressed situation could be changed for the better. Theater of the Oppressed is theater of change and revolution. It is political and environmental theater with a structure. A quote that stood out to me was “Theater cannot be imprisoned inside theatrical buildings just as religion cannot be imprisoned inside churches: the language of theatre and its forms of expression cannot be the private property of actors, just as religious practice cannot be appropriated by priests as theirs alone!” Theater of the Oppressed is for the community to come together. Actors I feel have a grave job to let the audience understand, change and grow. The power of images and community and the idea of forgetting that you’re doing theater are tools to help audience participants connect and step into the world of the open forum. Legislative theater expresses’ the truth in a messed up society and invites the truth to be shared amongst the masses.

Legislative Theatre Jose Estrada

When reading the excerpts on the Carnival I thought it was very interesting in the reasoning and the ideology behind bringing normal people together. This idea of games, fun and laughter being used to integrate normal people into theatre made sense because in a way it allows peoples to open up through laughter. It also makes people want to come back into a community of people that they usually never see. I think that allowing different people within a society to come together and be creative together not only provides a space for collaboration but a space for communication. THis communications allows for transparency in similarities in problems and issues that helps unite the people. I understand that maybe when these people go home and return to their everyday lives there may not be immediate action. But I do believe as word gets around and people begin to educate them selves and learn more through these Carnivals, it allows for more educated people within these oppressed places and the possibility for change in the future then becomes greater.

Legislative Theatre

Legislative Theatre

After this reading I am not sure how I feel about the Carnival, I also think I am persuaded by the video we watched in class on Theatre of the Oppressed. Although I am a visual and active learner, and I enjoy the idea of games, humor and this sense of this non-existing reality, I have to question if the idea of this freedom does much for anyone after they walk away. We are all creative people, who can have a wide sense of imagination, pretend, and act foolish when we are in appropriate place, but when does it become okay to use these ideas in reality and it make a difference. I see this urge to use the Carnival to draw people in, engage with people that might not normally involve themselves, to remind and teach them freedom, but when those people go home and they don’t have that same surrounding any longer, do it almost become impossible again. I love that this idea exists and I want to believe it can cause a snowball effect and create a social change. Even though I am not sure exactly how I feel I want to feel happy that the happy feelings, laughter, and humor inside of us can change the perspective.

Rachel DeROsa

Legislative Theater

Although the language of this week's reading is easier to read, I still have difficulty retaining the information. I don't know what it is but I have difficulty reading Boal. There is something about his writing that turns me off and keeps me constantly wondering when I'll be done. I think it maybe the layout of the information within the chapters.

However, I do enjoy some of his strategies for theater; especially the games. They are really are the magic to his whole process of getting non-actors to perform and collaborate on the creation of a play. When working with people who have to use personal barriers to protect themselves from their hostile environment, it is vital to get everyone on the same level. I don't want to say you need to break them down but rather allow them to open themselves up to a protective space.

I appreciate Boal's drive to use theater as a means of communities discussing and presenting the issues they face to others within their neighborhoods.

-isabel

Legislative Theatre

Thoughts about 'Carnival' in the reading:

The first question that came upon me as I was reading about Carnival, is what did the government think about these festivities? Were they afraid that because people were able to express themselves so freely, and thoroughly enjoyed this freedom, that they would begin to act like that in their personal lives? Was giving people too much freedom potentially dangerous to the established order of their society? If I was a participant of Carnival, my inkling afterword would be to upset the established order; cause a little chaos. It seems like the intoxicating freedom of Carnival was a wonderful thing that the people had the opportunity to experience, but what happened after Carnival was over? Does one simply return back to his minimum-wage job, asshole of a boss, and filthy one-room apartment so easily and without the urges of a potential rebellion against these oppressors in his life? Bakhtin, a Russian Philosopher, mentions that Carnvial "belongs to the borderline between art and life" This type of engagement in an activity, I imagine, would spark a whole lot of social change. It reminded me of Brecht's style in many ways; performing as a social examination, and no exact barriers between audience and performer.

On a lighter note, It is wonderful to think that the people of these societies were able and willing to participate in Carnival. People seemed to be able to drop their differences and co-exist in the most potentially human way possible. It just goes to show that people inherently want to be free--we are playful beings. The fact that Carnival is based upon laughter, even though it can seem a little 'cultish' when one first reads about it, is such an interesting notion. Laughter is beautiful. It keeps people healthy.

THE LEGISLATIVE

"The difference between humans and other animals resides in the fact that we are capable of being theatre. Some of us 'make' theatre- all of us 'are' theatre."

This quote stuck out to me a lot, because I realized it has a lot to do with us being artists, and having the ability to create and change scenarios. He later talks about wanting to change people's worlds by the theater, even after they leave the show. For them to want to take what they witnessed in the Forum into other situations and settings. I feel in terms of my acting that's the best outcome I could hope for. "Forum Theatre is a reflection on reality and a rehearsal for future action. In the present, we re-live the past to create the future." I feel that as actors the fact we can do that gives us the opportunity to change the outcomes of situations, and sometimes doing that through our acting we inspire people to take control of their lives and futures.

Augusto Boal

I am a big fan of Augusto Boal. He was one of the most influential people in bridging the gap between structured theatre and activism.

His contributions to theatre are an incredibly effective means of solution finding.

"The forum- helped the citizens to develop their taste for political discussion and their desire to develop their own artistic abilities."

When applied effectively to a community in need Augusto Boal's work can be a catalyst for positive change; A productive way to bridge gaps between people. Theatre of the Oppressed can be a way to incite an individual's involvement in social change.

-Jacob Friedheim

Yarn Bombing

Video of Yarn Bombing in New Zealand