Theatre of the Oppressed

Augusto Boal (1931-2009) was a Brazilian theatrical director, writer, and politician. Boal attended Columbia University, where he was introduced to experimental theater and the techniques of practitioners like Bertolt Brecht and Konstantin Stanislavski, who used theater to engage in political discussion. Boal was struck by the ways in which the traditional model of theater drew a line of separation between the actors and the spectators. Boal is said to have been inspired by a story about a woman who offered a suggestion to a character, but when the actor could not understand what she was saying, she charged the stage to act it out herself. Reflecting upon this example reportedly convinced Boal to allow audience members a more participatory role in his performances.

His first two plays—The Horse and the Saint and The House across the Street—debuted in 1955. After graduating, he directed plays in São Paulo and began experimenting with new forms of theater. To address the societal and political concerns of a Brazilian audience, he reimagined classic plays, such as the adaptation of John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men, for which Boal won the Direction Revelation Award. While at the Arena Theatre in São Paulo, Boal also established a Seminar in Dramaturgy for young writers.