Imagining New Narratives Using Theatre of the Oppressed BY ALEXANDRA ESPINOZA This lesson was facilitated as part of the 2018 Artistic Team Retreat—a day-long professional development session for Philadelphia Young Playwrights' teachers and teaching artists. Resident Teaching Artist Alexandra Espinoza has shared the lesson—"Where's The Power?"—from her keynote session below. Theatre of the Oppressed has been a part of my work as a teaching artist since… well, since I became a teaching artist. My first job in this field was as an ESL (English as a Second Language) and Drama teacher in Hong Kong. In an effort to find ways to physicalize both the language of theatre and English itself, I stumbled upon some exercises called “Image Theatre,” which I later learned was just one subset of Theatre of the Oppressed, or TO. The practice of TO began in 1970s Brazil, where theatre maker Augusto Boal was looking for ways to combine theatre and the urgent political imperative of mobilizing members of marginalized groups in Brazil, a country that was ruled by dictatorship at the time. Boal was inspired by the work of educational philosopher Paulo Freire, whose book Pedagogy of the Oppressed was the intellectual and political framework upon which Boal based his work in the theatre. So, what does TO mean in practice? It means taking the traditional structures of theatre and upending them so that we hear the voices of the audience, the politically disempowered and silenced, and the marginalized. TO is a potent mix of the precision and bravery of political activism combined with the joy and exploration of theatre at its best. Why bring this work into our classrooms?
We are living in a time where our students experience power structures that exclude them everyday, be it the behavior of our political leaders, educational policy decisions, or quite simply the social hierarchies that they experience everyday as young people. We all need a language that allows us to address power without losing our capacity for fun, play, and collective excitement. The Where’s the Power lesson plan is an attempt to introduce TO principles to students, giving them permission to speak truth to power and to imagine new kinds of narratives.
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It's Deadline Day for the 2019 Mouthful Monologue Festival. Hundreds of students are submitting their monologues to PYP to be considered for the show. What now? Join the newest member of the PYP family, Mona the Monologue, on a journey from page to stage. 1. The ClassroomHi, I'm Mona! I was born in a classroom a few weeks ago, and I'm proud to announce: I'm a monologue. Each fall, Philadelphia Young Playwrights sends teaching artists and actors into classrooms to facilitate monologue writing workshops with students in grades 8-12. The actors perform past-winning monologues to illustrate what, exactly, monologues are and how we can vary greatly in tone and style. And trust me, we are all very different. It makes the holidays kind of hard (Uncle Manny has A LOT of opinions). ANYWAY: Once the actors finish performing, the teaching artists work with students to write monologues of their own. I came from the mind of a student from one of the 39 different classrooms where this year's workshops took place! A bunch of brand new monologues like me are now alive in the world, and we're headed to PYP. 2. The CommitteeOkay, so now I'm here at PYP with a big stack of other monologues. Hundreds of other monologues. It's crowded. And remember how I said we're all different? Well, we've got everything in here. There's even a kiwi threatening to take over the world. We were sent here by our writers to be considered for our big stage debut, and this is the next critical step. A committee of volunteer readers will read us in batches. A few of us will get recommended for one more round of consideration: the Final Committee! At Final Committee, another group of readers, including PYP alumni and staff, will decide which of us will go on to be developed and produced for a live audience at the Festival. Once we are picked, we get an actor, a director, and a dramaturg who will work with our writer to shine us up during revisions and rehearsals to get us ready for our big stage debut. You said "What's a dramaturg?" Yeah, I had to ask, too. A dramaturg can be a lot of things, but at PYP, it's someone who supports the playwright as they consider revisions—someone to bounce ideas off of to help guide you to strong, confident choices. 3. The Rehearsal RoomBetween January and March, our writers attend a series of Dramaturgy Days and rehearsals, where the directors and actors bring us to life. I've been told that reading me on the page is one thing, but hearing me out loud is something entirely different! It opens up a world of possibilities for my writer and presents the opportunity to make me even more specific and even stronger. That's where the dramaturg comes in, supporting my writer as they explore revisions and new choices. It's like a makeover, and the dramaturg... holds the mirror for the writer. WHAT NOT TO WEAR: MONOLOGUE EDITION. I'd show you a picture of me during this part of the process, but I'm kind of exposed, so... You'll just have to wait until opening night. 4. The StageIt's time. I've made it! I've made a full transformation from the page to the stage, and now I live in the mind, body, and mouth of my actor! Me and my fellow monologues will be performed for audiences, including the students who wrote us, their peers, families, and communities, for two weeks! There are lights, sounds, costumes, music... everything. I heard some of us might make it to a podcast. That'd be cool. From the classroom, reading and selection, to revision, rehearsal and performance, a long journey about the transformation of a sheet of paper into something more could be developed into a short, animated video set to song. Featuring six plays chosen from more that 700 submissions as part of Philadelphia Young Playwrights' Annual Playwriting Festival. Written by students, directed by theatre professionals, and performed by Temple undergraduate actors. FEATURING:
PHOTO CREDIT: Paola Nogueras Tell us a little about yourself. I was born and raised in the Northeast part of Philadelphia in Lawncrest. I went to a very secluded, strict charter school close to Bensalem where I felt very oppressed and like an outcast. Attending SLA has helped me discover who I am as a person as well as who I want to be in the future. After my senior year, I plan to attend university and study towards a career in engineering! I also plan to take up a minor in theatre to continue my playwriting career. What was it like to hear that you were a winner of the Annual Playwriting Festival? When I got that phone call and email; the joy and pride I felt was surreal. I have always had a really deep love for theater and everything about it. In my past, I never got the chance to showcase my writing, directing, or acting skills, and to have this kind of opportunity from such an amazing company such as PYP is a blessing, really. Tell us about Prom Queen. What inspired you to write it? Prom Queen is about a teenage boy at the peak of his senior year preparing to go to his Senior Prom! He is very excited about it, but deals with both external and internal conflicts. He has this desire to be himself and feel like himself wholly a this prom by wearing a dress instead of a suit. He is hesitant because he believes that his loved ones and others in his life won’t accept him for his identity and ways of expression. This play shows his emotional journey as well as the journeys of the others in his life. Prom Queen is inspired by the queer people in my life who go through so many struggles behind closed doors, and who feel like no one understands them or accepts them, when in reality there are so many people willing to support them. This play is for people who may be trying to find themselves, who may need to learn about the community more as an outsider, or for anyone who enjoys theater with deep, complex characters and plot! What has the process been for New Voices? What has been the biggest challenge? What is most exciting? The process has been quite the experience! I know some of the rehearsal and choreography process from my early theater days, so I was able to keep up with the rest of the team. The biggest challenge was making sure each character had their voice heard and was represented in a fitting way for both the story and the character themselves. I didn’t go against this challenge alone, though. I had my dramaturg Carlos by my side as well the director of my play Bi who both gave such great insight and questions for the story to help me make this story as complex and as amazing as it is now. Honestly, everything about the process was exciting! The struggles and the triumphs have all made such a roller coaster of an experience, and I have enjoyed every second of it. From meeting the actors to designing stage behavior and movement. What is one thing you are learning through this process? What stands out? Something I learned throughout this process was the importance of collaboration between a team when creating a work on stage. Everyone involved can have a different viewpoint and amazing ideas to collaborate on and develop together as a team to make the whole production better than it could have been if one person had been calling the shots. This interview is PART ONE in a series looking at
one play from three perspectives. Prom Queen by Lily Rivera is included on Bill One of the 2018 New Voices Workshop Productions beginning October 25th. All performances, running through November 5th, are Pay What You Decide. Reservations are required.
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