Trainings & Workshops
Participatory Theatre for Peacebuilding
Theatre for Living workshops for NGO staff and volunteers
This training is designed to give development workers, peace advisers, field workers, and volunteers a solid introduction to participatory theatre methods that support conflict transformation and peacebuilding. This training is especially suitable for NGO staff working nationally or internationally, in domains of psychosocial support and education.
Participants will learn and practice techniques from David Diamond's Theatre for Living and Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed, with a focus on Image Theatre, Forum Theatre, and Rainbow of Desire. Elements from sociometry, drama therapy, and playback theatre may also be layered in. The training is grounded in values of non-violence and social justice that help promote knowledge, skills and attitudes that prevent the occurrence of conflict, resolve conflicts peacefully, or create social conditions conducive to peace. I have experience working with groups to create forum theatre performances on issues of migration, social inclusion, LGBTQ, and gender-based violence, among other topics.
Training is customized to the needs of the organization or agency. Some of what I offer:
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Basics of Theatre for Living and Theatre of the Oppressed. This includes theoretical background and principles guiding the work, as well as practical games and exercises and an introduction to forum theatre.
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Advanced Theatre for Living and Theatre of the Oppressed techniques, including Rainbow of Desire and Cops in the Head.
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Guided practice in facilitation ('jokering') skills for forum theatre.
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Remote or on-site mentorship and monitoring.
Peace Education in Youth Work
Applied theatre workshops for youth workers and teachers
Forum theatre intensives
Build your own forum theatre ensemble
These workshops will guide participants through a creative process to a final forum theatre performance over a period of days or weeks. I will then support you in creating a sustainable forum theatre ensemble in your educational institution that can multiply the work and have even greater impact on the community. I have experience working with groups to create forum theatre performances on issues of migration, social inclusion, LGBTQ, and gender-based violence, among other topics.
Workshops for youth workers/teachers
These workshops introduce youth workers and teachers to non-formal, participatory theatre methods that support peace education and conflict transformation in educational contexts. Participants will learn hands-on techniques from Theatre for Living, Theatre of the Oppressed, and/or Playback Theatre (or other applied theatre methods) that can be used to promote group dynamics, deepen connection, and explore issues of social justice that matter to the groups you work with.
I customize the programming, but a taste of what I offer:
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Basics of Theatre for Living and Theatre of the Oppressed. This includes theoretical background and principles guiding the work, as well as practical games and exercises and an introduction to forum theatre.
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Devising a forum theatre performance, to be performed before an invited audience.
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Guided practice in facilitation ('jokering') skills for forum theatre.
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Guidance in building your own forum theatre ensemble.
Forum theatre for participatory processes and civic engagement
Policy theatre for social movements
Policy & Legislative Theatre for Community Organizers
This training equips community organizers and activists with two powerful theatrical tools for community building and direct action. Participants will learn and practice techniques from David Diamond's Theatre for Living and Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed, with a focus on Image Theatre, Forum Theatre, and particularly Policy & Legislative Theatre. I also integrate practices of Social Presencing Theatre, a form of 4D stakeholder mapping, and simulation games. Training is customized to the needs of the organizers and constituencies, but what we will cover is:
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Basics of Theatre for Living and Theatre of the Oppressed. This includes theoretical background and principles guiding the work, as well as practical games and exercises and an introduction to forum theatre and policy/legislative theatre.
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Basics of Social Presencing Theatre as it intersects with TfL, TO and community organizing.
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Devising a forum theatre performance with members of your community/constituency.
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Guided practice in facilitation ('jokering') skills for forum theatre.
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Guidance in building your own forum theatre/policy theatre ensemble.
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Devising a policy theatre performance with those directly affected and involving other stakeholders.
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Remote or on-site mentorship and monitoring.
People Power!
Forum theatre workshops-to-performance for the public
These workshops are for anyone interested in tackling issues of social justice and wishing to build a better world through the power of the performing arts. Participants will be guided through a creative process to a final forum theatre performance over a period of several weeks.
Usually in collaboration with a partnering organization, we work on a specific social issue and put out a public call inviting any member of the public with lived experience or strong links to that issue, to join us in our workshop-to-performance process leading to a forum theatre event. In the past, I have worked with groups to create forum theatre performances on issues of migration, social inclusion, LGBTQ, and gender-based violence.
For those who wish to carry on, I can support you in creating a sustainable forum theatre ensemble that can multiply the work and have even greater impact on the community.