It’s Up To Us!

Introduction to Theatre of the Oppressed methodology and Forum Theatre

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The Theatre of the Oppressed is a powerful method for activating social groups facing social oppressions. It creates a space for social dialogue. It allows participants to develop social skills, communicational skills and supports personal development in areas like: self-expression, self-awareness, building self-esteem, self-confidence, entrepreneurship and social skills, contributing to social cohesion. Despite the effectiveness of the method, there are very few courses available preparing for the role of the facilitator of these processes, known in the Theatre of the Oppressed as ‘the Joker’.

That’s why Partner Organizations of this Strategy Partnership Project under the Erasmus Plus Program created the idea of the Long Term Training in 3 stages which will help to understand the complexity of the Theatre of the Oppressed process: from group building, through building the story, acting and multiplying.
In that way, you will learn very practical tools to empower different social groups. You will have an opportunity to exchange good practices and share your knowledge and skills from the area of Forum Theatre with other trainees from different European realities. At the end of the course, you with the rest of the participants will plan the follow-up and ways how you are going to use this complex experience in your local communities.
The aim of the project is to develop competences of youth workers or activist settings in the use of Forum Theatre by exploring Theatre of the Oppressed concepts, with particular focus on Forum Theatre as a tool for building dialogue and creating space for social change. This three-part project is a space for developing complex competences for the Joker in Forum Theatre in different areas: as a facilitator, moderator, director, joker of forum, motivator, mentor, manager and coordinator. During the course, participants will discuss the oppressions they encounter in their local communities.

BASIC INFO ABOUT THE It’s up to US – MULTIPLYING THE THEATRE OPPRESSED METHOD WORKING FOR SOCIAL CHANGE PROJECT

Trainers experienced in the Theatre of the Oppressed will equip PARTICIPANTS with the necessary competences to use Forum Theatre to make a social change in multiple local communities in Europe through:
1. First international workshop in Poland, Mikuszewo 6-14.09.2021
– getting experience of forum theatre play as actor/actress – learning different stages of TO method
games, image theatre, Forum Theatre leading to making a presentation to participants’ local
communities
2. Local action – implementing the knowledge and multiplying Forum Theatre
3. Second international workshop in Poland, January/February 2021 – TC – learning the competences of the Joker
4. Local action – implementing the knowledge and multiplying Forum Theatre
5. Third international meeting in Portugal – evaluation seminar
6. Local action – multiplication of the methodology