This time, the festival was the closing of the Theatre of the Oppressed Qualification Course and an opportunity to discover the Berlin based groups WIR SIND HIER! and Sabotage Theatre Collective.
KURINGA presented the last production “Neighbours, democratic dialogue in times of war” and invited the public to do collective interventions to look together for concrete alternatives of action.
Feminist Theatre of the Oppressed
This is an initiative in which practitioners of feminist Theatre of the Oppressed come together to deepen into the methodology, share their knowledge and experience, learning, multiply the method through workshops with young people and create networks of empowerment.
During the first meeting hosted by KURINGA at the festival Aesthetics of Solidarity in September 2021 at the Ufer Studios in Berlin, we produced the forum theatre play “Noises of Silence”, directed by Bárbara Santos, in memory of all the women who were killed by patriarchal violence.
In the process of collective creation we asked ourselves, why do we keep silent, even when we have discovered feminism as a practice of freedom?; how can we get out of the trap of individuality that isolates us?
Thanks to the support of the Erasmus+ programme, we have been able to launch the project with the participation of the associations Pas à Passo – Théâtre de l’Opprimé (France), Spai La Tregua (Spain), Kulturno umetnisko drustvo Transformator (Slovenia), GTO LX – Grupo de Teatro do Oprimido de Lisboa (Portugal), Centar za kazaliste potlacenih POKAZ (Croatia).
The next part of the project will take place in Ljubljana in September 2022.
pic by @kativagloria
This Forum Theatre piece deals with the challenges, a democratic society is facing in our times. After overcoming individualism, fear and social isolation the characters dare to participate in a choreography of encounters, agreements and disagreements, which offer the discovery of affinities, diversities and differences. Both the pleasure and the difficulty of being in an open civil society lead some of these characters to understand the need to establish spaces for dialogue in order to mediate conflicts. At one moment an orchestrated invasion of propagandas, fake news and manipulations is coming to polarize them and create authoritarian dynamics, which disturb the democratic dialogue.
NEIGHBOURS is a metaphor about the challenges faced by citizens who wonder, how to protect democracy against visible and invisible invasions. The audience will be invited to discuss the topic after the play and improvise their own strategies, how to protect democracy.
Directed by Bárbara Santos and Till Baumann
Autumn season, time for Forumtheatre
We were really glad to present the last production directed by Barbara Santos and Till Bauman in spaces committed with independent art and culture.
After the great success in ACUD-Theater, a storical house for independent theatre scene in Berlin, Neighbours was performance at Grüner Salon and Berlin Global Village
We still processing the strategies developed by the audience and their compromise to seek for collective alternatives to face the reality shared on stage.
Thanks to all and each of you : to the ones who hosted the forum play , ACUD Theater, Roma Trial , Berlin GLobal Village, for trust this format so different to classical theatre.
Thanks to all the fantastic cast, who play once and again a situation of injustice searching for ways to transform it.
Thanks to the audience who opened the dialogue, who tried their strategies, who perform ways to transform the reality, who exchanged with the ones sitting close to them and were thinking with us .Thanks for your voices and your silences.
KURINGA FORUMTHEATERFESTIVAL – Kunst | Aktivismus | Aktion
13.-19. September 2021, Uferstudios, Berlin-Wedding
Das KURINGA Forumtheaterfestival ist ein internationaler dialogischer Raum, in dem Künstler*innen ihre Realitäten auf die Bühne bringen und das Publikum eingeladen wird, Ideen zur Transformation dieser Realitäten einzubringen. Alle gemeinsam suchen mit ästhetischen Mitteln nach alternativen Wegen, Solidarität zu entwickeln.
Nach einer langen Zeit der Pandemie wollen wir Kunst | Aktivismus | Aktion feiern und unsere Communities und Netzwerke wieder miteinander in Kontakt bringen. Wir möchten auch in einer polarisierten Welt Räume schaffen, in denen Dialog stattfinden kann – in einer Welt, in der mit Lügen und Fake News Rechtspopulismus, weiße Überlegenheitsvorstellungen und toxische Männlichkeit verbreitet werden. Während des Festivals wollen wir Interaktivität im Theater anregen und entwickeln, um Kunst und Politik miteinander zu verbinden und Botschaften der Solidarität zu verbreiten.
Mit dem Festival feiern wir auch den 10. Geburtstag von KURINGA – Raum für Theater der Unterdrückten in Berlin. Hier ist durch das Qualifizierungsprogramm und die Verbindung mit lokalen Theatergruppen und mehreren Netzwerken eine große internationale Community entstanden. Während des Festivals werden lokale und internationale Theatergruppen Forumtheaterstücke zeigen, die sich basierend auf eigenen gesellschaftlichen Erfahrungen und politischen Kämpfen mit dem Thema Solidarität auseinandersetzen, um dann über theatrale Interaktion gemeinsam mit dem Festivalpublikum konkrete Aktionen erproben zu können. Das Festival wird mit einem Stück zur Frage “Wie kann Solidarität nach der Pandemie aussehen?” eröffnet werden, das zuvor von einem internationalen KURINGA Ensemble entwickelt wird.
Das KURINGA Forumtheaterfestival möchte die Grenze zwischen Bühne und Publikum durch kollektive Interventionen einreißen, indem die Zuschauer*innen angeregt werden, gemeinsame Strategien zur Überwindung der Unterdrückung zu entwickeln, die auf der Bühne dargestellt wurde.
Neben Theateraufführungen umfasst das Festivalprogramm eine Straßenparade, ein Theatersymposium, Dramaturgielaboratorien (basierend auf Stücken aus dem Festival) und den Austausch über Praxiserfahrungen.
The Okinka Pampa collective in Bissau will be hosting the IV Meeting of the international network Ma-g-dalena Theatre of the Oppressed.
From 20 to 30 November 2022 will take place the fourth international meeting of theatre of the oppressed and the first to be held on the African continent.
The feminist theatre of the oppressed has been developing for years in Guinea Bissau, where the collective Okinka Pama is holding workshops all over the country.
Feminist theatre practitioners from all over Guinea will gather with representatives of groups from Brazil (Coletivo Madalena- Anastasias), Mozambique (Madalena Maputo) and Europe (Madalena Berlin, Madeleine Amiens, Magdalenas Granada and Les Coulants- Maddalenes Barcelona).
The international network Ma-gdalena is struggling to facilitate the attendance of latin american companions due the high travel prices and the social and political intestability which breaks the continent.
Each meeting is a way to reinforce the transfeminist and anti-racist political work that RMI carries out through the methodology of feminist theatre of the oppressed. Through internal work in the form of seminars, as well as public presentations of performances and forum theatre, the meeting is an opportunity for learning, exchange, listening and mutual empowerment, which the participants commit to continue sharing and multiplying once they return to their localities to continue the political and social intervention for an equitable world.
In organising this large gathering, many obstacles had to be overcome, such as high travel costs and visa requirements for women from the global south.
Thanks to the support of the Centre for Theatre of the Oppressed in Bissau, KURINGA, Pass a Passo, the Centre for Theatre of the Oppressed in Brazil, individual donations as well as collectives such as L14, a hausprojekt that was unjustly evicted in 2011 in Berlin, the RMI makes this first meeting possible after the social distancing caused by the pandemic.
All support to the work done by Red Ma-g-dalena Internacional with so much commitment for more than a decade is welcome. You can collaborate in this PayPal account:
madalenasberlin@gmail.com
Theatre of the Oppressed Qualification Course 2023
This course offers theoretical and practical bases for the understanding of the Theatre of the Oppressed method as a whole, underlining its feminist perspective for the development of its praxis: critical analysis and aesthetic representation of the reality for the creation of spaces for dialogue.
The theoretical part includes the main concepts that structure the core of the method which is an essential content for the adequate development of each of its several techniques.
The practical bases are composed by exercises, games and techniques that constitute aesthetic strategies allowing the identification and investigation of the areas of interest of the target groups. The methodology aims at investigating the contextual dimensions of the problems identified in order to frame the question of the group and produce its Forum Theatre play.
The Qualification Course is based on the Aesthetics of the Oppressed and is structured by the dramaturgy of the Theatre of the Oppressed, using various techniques such as Image Theatre, Forum Theatre and Newspaper Theatre.
The course is open for everyone who wants to deepen their knowledge and develop a practice in Theatre of the Oppressed using its feminist perspective and is interested in the Aesthetics of the Oppressed.
The Qualification Course 2023 is composed by:
Each Online Meeting will have a set of articles, films and videos related with each of the online course. The contents will be offered in advance for the participants. The discussion is based on the material and on questions by the participants.
Theoretical contents:
At the face-to-face course the theoretical concepts studied in the online course will be practically applied during the development of different techniques.
Practical contents:
The artistic process of producing a Forum Theatre Play offers the possibility for combining all theoretical and practical contents of the course. It will also be a concrete journey by way of Feminist Theatre of the Oppressed specificities as contextual approach, aesthetic proposals and the innovative way to develop the dialogue with the audience through the Collective Intervention. During the public presentation it will be possible to understand the specific role of the Kuringa (facilitator of the discussion with the audience) in this kind of Forum Session.
Language: English
Registration: qualification@kuringa.org
Location: UferStudios Berlin-Wedding (Studio 14)
Badstr.41a 13357 Berlin (U8 Pankstraße)
*Further information, possibilities of participation, questions of payment, please contact us by E-mail
KURINGA Theatre of the Oppressed Qualification Course is designed by Bárbara Santos, who was colleague of Augusto Boal in Brazil for two decades as general coordinator of the Centre of Theatre of the Oppressed (CTO) working in the design, implementation, coordination, supervision and evaluation of training programs in several countries and as a collaborator in artistic productions, as well as in the investigation, conception and development of Legislative Theatre and Aesthetics of the Oppressed.
The Qualification Course in Berlin is implemented with Christoph Leucht and Till Baumann, long-term collaborators of Bárbara and co-founders of KURINGA – Space for Theatre of the Oppressed.
The KURINGA Qualification combines the theoretical deepening with practical experiences, contributing to the consistent development of the praxis of the method. This initiative aims at producing a base for a consistent and reliable curriculum for permanent qualification in the Method of Theatre of the Oppressed and to stimulate the groundwork for the transformation of reality through formation of and exchange between TO community groups.
Knowledge and experience are developed through collective artistic productions, which are a practical application of the theoretical concepts, and can become a reference for the multiplication process.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOAL, Augusto. Técnicas latino-americanas de teatro popular, São Paulo, Hucitec, 1988.
___. Teatro do Oprimido e outras poéticas políticas. Rio de Janeiro, Civilização Brasileira, 1988.
___. The Rainbow of Desire: The Boal Method of Theatre and Therapy. London and New York, Routledge, 1995.
___. Legislative Theatre. London, (also USA and Canada), Routledge, 1998.
___. Hamlet and the Baker’s Son. London, (also USA and Canada), Routledge, 2001.
___. Games for Actors and non-actors. London, (also USA and Canada) Second Edition. Routledge, 2002.
___. Teatro como Arte Marcial. Rio de Janeiro, Garamond, 2003.
___. A Estética do Oprimido. Rio de Janeiro, Garamond, 2009.
SANTOS, Bárbara. Identity in Diversity. Scripting Power: Jana Sanskriti On and Offstage. Edited by Dia Da Costa. Kolkata, CAMP, 2010, pp. 159–170.
___. Percursos Estéticos – abordagens originais sobre o Teatro do Oprimido. São Paulo, padê editorial, 2018.
___. Theatre of the Oppressed ROOTS & WINGS a theory of praxis. Los Angeles – USA, KURINGA in conjunction with UCLA Art & Global Health Center and UCLA Prison Education Program, 2019
___. Teatro de las Oprimidas – estéticas feministas para poéticas políticas. Buenos Aires, Ediciones del Signo, 2020.
Augusto Boal was born on 16th of March, his birthday has become the International Day of the Theatre of the Oppressed. We want to celebrate Boal and Theatre of the Oppressed with videos, discussions and forum theatre.
Video Premiere:
Aesthetics of Solidarity 2019
Feminist Theatre of the Oppressed:
Book presentation (Bárbara Santos) and network
Forum theatre:
Masculinities Lab
The event will be in English.
Free entry.
18-30 August 2020
with Bárbara Santos & Christoph Leucht
5-16 May 2020
with Bárbara Santos & Till Baumann
