Historic Artist Games

Theater of the Oppressed
Interactive Theater

Goal: To transform theater from a monologue to a dialogue between the audience and the stage

Theater of the oppressed consisted of three kinds of activities aimed at heightening senses, de-mechanizing the body, and actively engaging with other participants.

There are over 200 structured excercises, the three most common are:
Image theater where the group uses their bodies to create human sculpture. The goal is to use the body as a tool of representing feelings, ideas and relationships.
Forum theater starts with a protagonist and an antagonist, the group creates an improvisation of a situation of oppression and failing because of the resistance they are facing. Once one group has finished, they do it again and anybody can stop the play at anytime to switch positions with a character to change the way the situation works out. the goal is group discussion and the offering of multiple solutions.
The rainbow of desire is the third most common activity which is where a person will demonstrate a hardship they are facing and the group members watch. They then come forward and give advice and to express the physical image of the persons behavior. at the end of numerous suggestions, and pointing out strengths and weaknesses, the original scene is played out again in hopes that the oppressed will learn more about themselves and be better equipped to handle the situation. The goal is to use collaborative processes to get people to share and work through their introverted feelings and relationships.