Lesson Five—Forum Theatre Reading Day
Objective: Students will understand the purpose and possibilities of forum theatre by deciding on a possible topic and community they could lead a forum theatre workshop in.Materials Needed: Some extra blankets or sweaters, a platter of delicious home-made cookies and napkins. Milk and plastic cups. Enough copies of “Theatre of the Oppressed in Europe” from Games for Actors and Non-Actors (attached) for each student to have one.
Lesson 5 Supplement.TextbookHOOK:Have cookies, napkins, cups, and milk set on the center of stage. Surround them with blankets. Ask students to gather their sweater/blankets, a piece of paper, a pencil, and head up to the stage. As they head up, hand them a copy of the chapter. Tell them to get comfortable, but to a place where they can pay attention and be engaged. Allow them to eat a cookie and pour some milk.
INSTRUCTION:
Step One—
TRANSITION: Define the following terms and have the students write the definitions on their sheet of paper. Forum Theatre, Spect-actors, Joker. Tell them an understanding of these terms will be important to all future discussions and projects.
Step Two—
DIRECTIONS: Tell students we will go around in a circle reading accounts of Augusto Boal’s experience doing Forum Theatre or Theatre of the Oppressed. As you all read, ask students to think of a setting or community that they could use forum theatre in. Ask them to think of possible oppression in these settings that could be addressed with forum theatre.Step Three—GROUP PRACTICE: Go around the circle reading. This should take most of the period. Make sure and leave time at the end for discussion.
Step Four—
PARTNER DISCUSSION: What do you understand Theatre of the Oppressed/Forum Theatre to be? What struck you as interesting about Forum Theatre? Do you think this kind of theatre has a place in our society today? Why? What does Forum theatre allow that a regular discussion would not? Have students answer these questions with a partner.Step Five—GROUP DISCUSSION: Have students come back to group. Repeat the questions and have students share the ideas they came up with in their partnerships.CLOSURE/ASSESSMENT: Leave enough time at the end for students to write down on their piece of paper a setting or community they are familiar with that they feel Forum Theatre could be effectively used. What would be addressed with Forum Theatre in that setting? Allow students to share their answers and collect all at the end of class. As a class, decide what topic they’d like to tackle as they create a workshop that could be used on their peers.