Sunday Morning

This past week has been unbelievably overwhelming and exciting. Overall, it has been a positive experience for me to able to take some time away from the chaos of the educational system in Los Angeles and truly reflect on my practice as an educator. I went into teaching bright-eyed, ready to change the world but over the last four years I have found it an uphill battle having to deal with the politics and complexities of education that they don't necessarily teach you in grad school. These experiences have made me stronger and wiser, but I know I still have a long way to go. Being here in New York and with this workshop has reminded me that no matter how difficult the fight may seem, it is a cause worth fighting for. Theatre of the Oppressed is most certainly a "weapon" that I didn't know I needed,  but i'm glad I've had the opportunity to find it.

Kayhan Irani 

This week I learned that Theatre of the Oppressed is used as a "rehearsal for the revolution." It's about giving the  power back to the oppressed people and discovering ways in which change can occur. There are multiple theatre techniques in TO, but I believe the one that is most associated with TO is Forum Theatre. I will attempt my understanding of it so far: a group of actors present a scene in which oppression has occurred and the audience, the spect-actors, participate by presenting alternative solutions in which the oppressed individual, the protagonist, can overcome this particular situation. On Thursday, we had the pleasure of working with Kayhan Irani to develop our own Forum Theatre scenes to be presented on our last day of the workshop, Tuesday. It's exciting to actually put the knowledge in practice. More on that soon!