Forum and Legislative Theater Training with Adrian Jackson

This workshop, Friday May 3rd through Sunday May 5th, is a practical introduction to making Forum and Legislative Theatre, with a particular focus on healthcare and housing. This incredibly versatile theatre technique is probably the most used element of Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, deployed across the world in a wide variety of circumstances where groups are interested in using theatre to better understand their worlds and to challenge oppression where they meet it.

Please note the different timing for each day:

• Friday, May 3rd l 6-9pm
• Saturday, May 4th l 10:30am-6pm
• Sunday, May 5th l 3-8pm

Workshop overview: Over the three days of the workshop, participants will learn a variety of games and exercises to generate confidence and trust within groups, at the same time as mining ideas and experiences which can form the basis of Forum Theatre plays. Some basic ‘models’ of Forum Theatre pieces will be created, as well as reference being made to existing plays and the ways they have been used. Participants will also get to see examples of Forum Theatre in practice.

Who should attend: This workshop is particularly aimed at those with an interest with and/or experience of housing justice, but will be of value to anyone interested in using theatre for change. Whether or not participants go on to make full-scale Forum Theatre pieces with groups, free-standing techniques such as Image Theatre will provide a powerful resource for opening up important and difficult conversations within groups and societies, at a time when polarization is in danger of locking down debate.

More details: The workshop is suitable for all ages and levels of experience. Participants are advised to wear clothes they can move around in, but no feats of Olympic activity will be required. You may also want to bring a water bottle, and a journal for note-taking.

We ask that folks plan on all three days as this workshop builds on itself.

The content generated during this training will be shaped into a new performance in late May for stakeholders in the issues of health, care, and homelessness.

Some refreshments will be provided each day. To support people who are bringing the lived experience of homelessness, we offer:

• $10 Target gift cards each day (at end of day), while supplies last
• $50 Visa gift cards for attending all three days (at end of final day), while supplies last
• Bus tokens, while supplies last
• Assistance signing up. Contact our Company Manager, Esther, at: 612.760.4808

Workshop leader Adrian Jackson: Adrian Jackson MBE is a theatre-maker, activist, translator and teacher, with a particular expertise in the Theatre of the Oppressed. He translated five books by Augusto Boal into English and collaborated with him on many occasions in the 1990s and 2000s. He was also the founder director of a distinguished UK based theatre company, Cardboard Citizens, which made work with homeless people for over 30 years, touring Forum Theatre widely in the UK and abroad, and collaborating with organizations as diverse as the Royal Shakespeare Company and Shelter. He stepped down from that organization in 2021, starting a new formation, The School of Theatre of the Oppressed (STOP) and working on other theatre projects - notable recent projects include a large-scale musical for Coventry City of Culture and a version of King Lear for Auckland Festival in Aotearoa/NZ. His feature length film, Here For Life, won a special mention at Locarno Film Festival.

Host or Publisher zAmya Theater Project