by Libby Manly
The YEP team used popular theater techniques to enact everyday challenges faced by the young people at Opportunity House, and to practice new, creative, and non-violent ways of dealing with these challenges.
The difference between popular theater and traditional theater is in popular theater, everyone can act and everyone can watch. In traditional theater there is a difference between "the people acting" and "the people in the audience." In popular theater, there is no such difference.
Theater can be used to change our society. As Augusto Boal says, "Theater can help us build our future, rather than just waiting for it."
Methods of Popular Theater
Exercises
There are many theater exercises that a group can use that help build trust, foster discussions about important issues, create openness, and encourage input from everyone. An example of a popular theater exercise is sculpture or image theater, where a group makes a picture with their bodies that represents a shared viewpoint. Other popular theater exercises focus on listening, emotion, movement, and memory.
Invisible Theater
A short play is performed in a public place. The audience, of course, is not aware that they are an audience watching a play. The actors must be familiar with their goals and the action of the scene, in case a spectator steps into the action of the play. Invisible Theater can be done anywhere people gather (grocery stores, bus stops, fast food places, schools, parks, libraries, etc.). Scenes need not exceed a few minutes. Scene done at a number of different places will never be the same because every audience is different, and will react differently.
Invisible theater is good for a group to experiment with prior to doing a street theater piece. It should be emphasized that there is little to lose when doing invisible theater because no one know that the actors are acting. It is important, however, to rehearse the action of the scene and have a good idea of how the audience might react, in order to be prepared. Invisible theater is a good precursor to street theater, as it gives the group an idea of how the public might react to them. And invisible theater pieces can be adapted into street theater plays.
Street Theater
The main difference between street theater and invisible theater is that the audience is aware that they are watching a play of some sort. Street theater pieces are usually performed several times over, in the same location, and following each performance actors generally hand out information and talk to their audience. Often the actors remain in character while talking to the audience. Like invisible theater, street theater scenes should be about issues of great importance, but should be altered very little from audience to audience. Usually, a group spends a few hours on a street corner, on a college campus, in a park, etc. acting out the same scene for different audiences.
Forum Theater
Communities use forum theater to solve problems, form strategies, and plan for social change. In forum theater both the actors and the audience work together to figure out ways to improve their communities. The audience members are encouraged to participate in the play, even become one of the actors.
the YEP approach II what is popular theater? II great links II YEP central