New

York University
Program in Educational Theatre
Fall 2015-Intro to Theatre of the Oppressed
Instructor: Alex Santiago-Jirau


Devising Guidelines for Creating a Forum Theatre Anti-Model

1. Clarify what is the central idea.

2. What is the basic scenario/story?

3. Who is the central oppressed person? What does s/he/they want?

4. Who is the main oppressor? What does s/he/they want that conflicts with the needs of the central
character (main oppressed person)?

5. What actions occur to prevent the central character from achieving /getting what s/he/they want?

6. Remember that the protagonist must attempt to break the oppression but fails in the end.

7. Make sure the central character could do something other than what is shown in the original
story. Are there other choices or possibilities? Remember that we want to engage an audience to
come provide interventions.

8. Review (and then rehearse) where spectators will be able to intervene and do something
different!

9. Make sure the model contains characters that offer the possibility of help (or hindrance)
according to the way they are approached, recruited, etc. It is very hard to act/make changes
alone!

10. Cast the anti-model. Who are the MAIN OPPRESSED, OPPRESSOR, ALLIES or POTENTIAL ALLIES,
and the JOKER? The Joker should not be in the original performance but might become part of it
during interventions.

11. Improv and theatricalize the whole scenario, adhering to the shape and dynamic we have
explored.

12. Work to write/document/script the forum theatre piece you have devised through improvisation.
As with any other piece of theatre, scripting the play can allow us to return to it in the future.

13. Be creative! You are welcome to use sound, movement, props, image theatre and other theatrical
techniques.

14. Identify strategies for (a) the oppressor(s) (b) anticipate the strategies of spect-actors who
intervene. How will you respond? Remember to listen and to challenge but not to break the
intervener!

15. Rehearse as much as possible!
1

 Functions of the Joker
1. To stimulate, enthuse, challenge and help spectators/spect-actors. A source of energy!

2. To focus the spectators/spect-actors collectively and individually. What do they want to change?

3. To control the interventions (i.e. to stop them if they get bogged down; to check that the
interveners have had sufficient opportunity to try out their strategy).

4. To activate the debate in the audience by eliciting the different options about the interventions.
Was there any sense/meaning in them? What have they achieved? What was the strategy?
Remember that the forum is a collective inquiry.

5. To support and validate the efforts of the interveners but also to encourage them to be critical of
their own actions.

6. To articulate the concrete achievements of the interventions if they have been missed (i.e. This
has now happened-what do you think about it? Let the audience place the value on it.

7. To stop the forum from drifting. To make choices as to what should be explored when, in order to
clarify, to discover further possibilities, and to investigate consequences.

8. To help the audience distinguish the essence from what is circumstantial (i.e. a change of attitude
from a change of action (not that both may not be important).

9. To help the audience broaden its frame of reference; to make connections; to move from a
contemplation of the specific phenomenon to an understanding of the general laws. For
example, this employer behaves like this because he/she/they feel thiswant this, etc. Employers
will act in accordance with their class and financial interest.

10. To have a political position of their own, to emphasize the political nature of the forum enquiry
but not to impose their political view.

11. To continually problematize; to reveal contradictions; not to offer solutions.

12. To support actors. To make sure they know what it is we are exploring next; where we are
starting, where we are pausing/finishing.

13. To assist the theatricality of the forum. The language of the forum is artistic and rational.