{"id":28843,"date":"2016-09-27T06:00:47","date_gmt":"2016-09-27T09:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=28843"},"modified":"2019-06-05T17:32:25","modified_gmt":"2019-06-05T20:32:25","slug":"entering-the-scene-empowerment-and-community-mobilization-through-the-theater-of-the-oppressed-in-mare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=28843","title":{"rendered":"Entering the Scene: Empowerment and Community Mobilization through the Theater of the Oppressed in Mar\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas\"\"<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Theater of the Oppressed (TO)<\/a> is an internationally\u00a0celebrated\u00a0participatory form of theater invented in Rio, in which there are no spectators, just spect-<\/span>actors<\/span><\/i>. TO was originally created by writer, director, and politician Augusto Boal<\/a> in the 1960s, first in Brazil, and then further developed during his dictatorship-era exile in Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBrecht used to say that the spectator has to remain alert. I think that staying alert isn\u2019t enough. The spectator has to say \u2018stop!\u2019 and enter the scene,\u201d Boal said. One of TO\u2019s most important techniques is “forum theater,” in which spect-actors reimagine the resolution of a scene by entering the scene and altering its course. <\/span><\/p>\n

Theater of the Oppressed in Mar\u00e9<\/b><\/h3>\n

Theater of the Oppressed began in Complexo da Mar\u00e9<\/a> in the 1990s. Currently, there are\u00a0three groups in Mar\u00e9. Marear<\/a> began on the front porch of Jana\u00edna Salamandra, the Joker (facilitator) of the group. Her daughter, Carina Santos, gathered some high school classmates\u00a0to do a TO workshop with her mother, and that experience kicked off the formation of the group. Soon after, the Center for Theater of the Oppressed (CTO)<\/a> located in the Lapa area of downtown Rio, with sponsorship from Petrobr\u00e1s, began the initiative\u00a0“Theater of the Oppressed in Mar\u00e9<\/a>.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Upon receiving funding, which went toward transport, snacks, props, and sets, the project formed two\u00a0other groups: Mar\u00e9MoTO<\/a> and Mar\u00e9 12<\/a>. At present, there are 35 young people participating in these groups, with sixteen in Marear, the largest group. Participants range from ages 15 to 23. The sponsored initiative wrapped up at the beginning of 2015.<\/p>\n

Gabriel Horsth, 19, of the Marear group, credits theater opportunities in Mar\u00e9 with his political formation. He started doing theater at age 13\u00a0through other community groups, and then began to do TO with Marear in 2011. Maiara Carvalho, 21, began TO just a couple of years ago, when a friend repeatedly invited her to participate. She initially insisted she was \u201ctoo old,\u201d at 18\u00a0at the time. However, when she attended her first TO performance, she found herself outraged\u00a0in the audience, and resolved to\u00a0enter the scene. This participation resulted in Maiara officially joining the Mar\u00e9 12 group by the end of the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Beyond their physical community, <\/span>Gabriel, Maiara, and other “multipliers” from the\u00a0CTO\u00a0are involved in a budding TO initiative in the <\/span>Rio de Janeiro Department of General Socio-Educational Action<\/span><\/a> (DEGASE) youth correctional system for adolescents<\/a> in conflict with the law.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Gabriel<\/a><\/p>\n

Mar\u00e9\u2019s cultural landscape<\/b><\/h3>\n

Gabriel and Maiara are quick to point out that the TO groups are part of a unique cultural landscape throughout Mar\u00e9 in terms of theater, <\/span>community journalism<\/span><\/a>, and community research. There are <\/span>around 100 social organizations in Mar\u00e9<\/span><\/a>, including <\/span>Observat\u00f3rio de Favelas<\/span><\/a> (Favela Observatory), <\/span>Redes de Desenvolvimento da Mar\u00e9<\/span><\/a> (Mar\u00e9 Development Networks), and <\/span>Conex\u00e3o G<\/span><\/a>, the first LGBT organization in a favela. In addition to cultural groups and other social projects, Mar\u00e9’s\u00a0<\/span>neighborhood associations<\/span><\/a> are also strong.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gabriel sees the totality of these groups as \u201cwhere the resistance<\/a> is [in Mar\u00e9]. Over the years, we managed to construct a very cool story, but it lacks so much. However, it\u2019s what makes it so that Maiara and I are here, young favela residents in this space. It\u2019s what formed us. Many young favela residents don\u2019t have this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Inspiring participation<\/b><\/h3>\n

Part of TO\u2019s power in inspiring community participation<\/a> is in the fact that it does not ask people to say what they think or feel, but to show it. As Maiara and Gabriel explain, forum theater seeks to avoid “characters.” Instead, it seeks to tap into sentiments and ideas its participants are not consciously aware of: \u201cEverything is said in that which is not said.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They stressed that the right moment for a spect-actor to enter a scene is after the main conflict\u00a0has occurred: \u201cPeople are already being killed and harassed. We have to focus on what we do afterwards, what the alternatives are.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To warm up participants, TO uses games such as \u201cthe machine\u201d or \u201csiren’s song.\u201d In \u201cthe machine,\u201d participants will create a “machine”\u2013for example\u00a0of the favela or of the military occupation<\/a> in the community\u2013with each participant doing a repetitive motion or sound that they think would be part of the “gears” of such a setting or situation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Afterwards, they come together to have a debate: Why that movement? Why that sound? What is behind it? Gabriel said the “machine” the Marear group\u00a0made of police occupation was \u201chard, heavy, and raw\u2026 when we start to debate this, you begin to see how our body speaks of our realities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Group<\/a><\/p>\n

In the \u201csiren’s song\u201d game, participants close their eyes and think of a personal story of oppression and then make a sound they associate with that oppression. After all the participants have begun to make their sounds simultaneously, the group joins together similar sounds in four groups. Each group shares their stories of oppressions, and typically finds very similar stories are behind the similar sounds. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy story could be the end of your story, or its beginning. Then, we know this group has a story to tell,\u201d Maiara explained. At that point, that story will be done as forum theater, \u201cnot because they deserve to be told, but because they have an urgency to be told<\/em>. My story is personal, but <\/span>our <\/span><\/i>story leaves the personal and moves into the social context.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The State present in its absence<\/b><\/h3>\n

Gabriel and Maiara\u2019s participation in TO in part stems from a conviction that Mar\u00e9 is a place deeply in need of alternatives. The expanded TO initiative\u00a0in Mar\u00e9 started during the <\/span>military occupation of Mar\u00e9<\/span><\/a>, which began prior to the 2014 World Cup\u00a0in April 2014<\/a> and brought military forces into the community, including 1,180 Military Police<\/a> officers (including BOPE<\/a> special forces), 250 marines with assault rifles, 21 armored tanks and four helicopters. The occupation was set to last four months, but went on for 15\u00a0months. In the first 15 days of the <\/span>occupation<\/span>, 16 people were killed, and 160 arrested.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe State is present in its absence,\u201d Gabriel quotes Mar\u00e9 community journalist Gizele Martins<\/a>\u00a0with this sentiment, and explains how it was a turning point in his thinking. \u201cI was always speaking out on wanting the State to be more present. But it is present. When it is present, it\u2019s present in this way, with tanks.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

In the article that Gabriel and Maiara collectively wrote about the occupation for TO print publication <\/span>Metaxis<\/span><\/i><\/a>, they describe horrifying scenes, such as the experience of another Marear participant, Tailane: \u201c[The military] asked me to wake up my son, who is one year old, and open his diaper,\u201d supposedly to see if she was hiding things there.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Gabriel<\/a><\/p>\n

This kind of practice<\/a>\u00a0was normalized during the occupation due to a sort of “<\/span>collective warrant<\/a>“<\/span>\u00a0established during the occupation. Gabriel describes his own movement between parts of the favela impeded by police officers who harassed him and his friends, sometimes hurling homophobic insults at them. He explained that the TO in Mar\u00e9 initiative faced challenges\u00a0for participants to get to rehearsals due to the tense environment.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the stated objective of the occupation was to pave the way for Pacifying Police Units<\/a>\u00a0(<\/span>UPPs)<\/span>, two years later, <\/span>the community has still not received a UPP<\/span>. In March, Rio de Janeiro Public Security\u00a0Secretary, Jos\u00e9 Mariano Beltrame<\/a>, said that the\u00a0<\/span>UPP would not be installed in Mar\u00e9 this year<\/span><\/a> due to the state budget crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Territory in Mar\u00e9 is disputed by three different drug factions<\/a> and militias<\/a>, and life has\u00a0returned to <\/span>pre-occupation norms<\/span><\/a>. Confrontations between police and traffickers are common, as are police operations closing schools<\/a>, daycare centers, hospitals, and businesses, and impeding the free movement<\/a>\u00a0of residents. <\/span>The frequency<\/a> and intensity<\/a> of these operations increased dramatically in the months ahead of the Olympic Games<\/a> and continued through the global event, sparking a community rights campaign<\/a>\u00a0in response.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Art<\/a><\/p>\n

Gabriel explains the current situation in Mar\u00e9 as \u201cresidue of dictatorship in these communities, which is heavy.\u201d He says that he will \u201cnever stop fighting. But living in a place where I could die any day, where sometimes I don\u2019t manage to go to work because of gunfire, and where stray bullets often pass through the wall, weighs us down.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Gabriel\u2019s family in particular has suffered from Mare\u2019s day-to-day realities. Two of Gabriel\u2019s brothers were killed related to trafficking, one killed in a police operation, and his youngest sister died as a result of medical negligence.\u00a0<\/span>Gabriel has written a play based on his mother\u2019s story, and that of other women in Mar\u00e9, called \u201cVarnish: They Killed My Son<\/a>,\u201d for a woman who has buried five sons, insisting that all their coffins were painted with\u00a0maroon varnish. The play won first place in a call for proposals by the Ministry of Culture. It will be performed in November in different private homes in Mar\u00e9 by Gabriel, Maiara, and three other participants from Marear, in an effort to deconstruct traditional theater. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Creating<\/a><\/p>\n

Beyond the occupation and police operations, Gabriel and Maiara explain how they feel the structure of the favela \u201cis made to go wrong,\u201d taking schools as a particularly strong example, and echoing some of the sentiments of students occupying high schools earlier this year in Brazil\u2019s \u201c<\/span>Student Spring<\/span><\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

They describe how Mayor Eduardo\u00a0Paes<\/a>‘ administration announced plans to build new schools between Nova Holanda, terrain of the Red Command (CV)\u00a0traffickers, and Baixa do Sapateiro, terrain of the\u00a0Third Command (TC) traffickers. The school that exists there does not have class much of the year due to crossfire, and has bullet holes peppered<\/a> throughout the doors.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor the favela to not \u2018come down from the hill’ [quoting the famous samba lyric<\/a>]<\/span>\u00a0you need a structure that is well set up to go wrong,\u201d Gabriel explains. Maiara qualifies\u00a0this: \u201cWhen we talk about \u2018coming down from the hill,\u2019 we don\u2019t mean in a violent way. It\u2019s people mobilizing, people speaking out, people protesting this system that is against this immense population of Rio de Janeiro that lives in favelas. We are always in the second plan, or not even in the plans<\/a>, but the day that we\u2019re in the first plan, a lot will change, in Brazil, in the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bottom-up lawmaking<\/b><\/h3>\n

TO in Mar\u00e9 works directly to get favela public policy agendas \u201cin the plans\u201d through “legislative theater.” Legislative theater is a TO technique\u00a0which employs the participatory forum theater, but in this case invites\u00a0policymakers to participate with the goal of formulating concrete\u00a0policy proposals.<\/p>\n

Each of the TO groups in Mar\u00e9 has a thematic focus: Mar\u00e9 12 has a focus on sexism<\/a>;<\/span>\u00a0Mar\u00e9MoTO has a focus on gender<\/a>; and Marear has a focus on spatial discrimination against favela residents with respect to the labor market. <\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, Marear did a forum theater piece inviting lawyers to participate and help the community understand what is legally possible to combat spatial discrimination, in which favela residents allege discrimination after they have revealed their addresses in hiring processes. After the scene, community members suggested proposals, lawyers reviewed feasibility, and three proposals were advanced to a community vote.<\/span><\/p>\n

The winning proposal was to impose consequences not for the employee guilty of discriminating, but for the entire company, obligating the\u00a0company to enter a “black list” for spatial discrimination. This would mean the company must donate money to social projects in the community, and that it be temporarily impeded from receiving certain government subsidies. <\/span><\/p>\n

Gabriel said, “while I\u00a0see politics in everything, [through legislative theater] was the first time I went to the State Legislative Assembly (Alerj). I had never participated so concretely in politics.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Performance<\/a><\/p>\n

Community reception to TO<\/b><\/h3>\n

TO in Mar\u00e9 has been welcomed with open arms by the community. Through forum theater, and its reimagined resolutions to commonplace situations of sexism\u00a0and other forms of violence, Gabriel and Maiara hear community feedback that helps participants see new strategies for responding to situations in their own lives, and strategies they plan to use.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is to continue mobilizing. It\u2019s not overnight, it\u2019s a process. [TO] is a preparation for reality; it\u2019s a wake-up call,\u201d Gabriel explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was particularly poignant in the case of legislative theater: \u201cYou see the community participating in the whole structure of public policy, the community being heard, and the law being advanced from that place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Moving forward<\/b><\/h3>\n

While the TO forum theater pieces take place in \u201cthe street, school, partner spaces, plazas, wherever we are invited,\u201d the TO actors do need reliable spaces to both rehearse and to store props and sets. Gabriel and Maiara say this has been their biggest challenge of late, particularly since the\u00a0initial Petrobr\u00e1s funding to expand the project ended last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the Petrobr\u00e1s project was passed, the groups expanded geographically beyond Nova Holanda<\/a> to the\u00a0Piscin\u00e3o\u00a0de Ramos<\/a> and Baixa do Sapateiro<\/a> areas. They have rehearsed in spaces donated by community partners to date, with Mar\u00e9 12 at the Americo Veloso community health clinic, Marear at the Observat\u00f3rio de Favelas, and Mar\u00e9MoTO in the Museu da Mar\u00e9<\/a> community museum. However, there is no longer space for them in the health clinic, nor in the school they moved to temporarily afterwards, and the Mar\u00e9 community <\/span>museum is facing eviction<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as we find a space, it\u2019s not long before someone asks for it back. And we have too many things to store that we can\u2019t lose. If we lost our sets, we wouldn\u2019t have the resources right now to reconstruct them,\u201d says Gabriel.\u00a0<\/span>Maiara adds: \u201cFor more young people to wake up, we need a space. Space for theater, sports, arts. Theater of the Oppressed has been a space of privilege for us. It\u2019s surreal. We became political citizens.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

To donate to the Center for Theater of the Oppressed,\u00a0Catalytic Communities<\/a>, the US 501[c][3] nonprofit that runs RioOnWatch, can also act as fiscal sponsor for those who would like to make a US tax-deductible donation in English\u00a0here<\/a>. You may follow up at\u00a0donate@catcomm.org confirming your donation is\u00a0earmarked for \u201cTheater of the Oppressed.\u201d<\/h4>\n

In Brazil, donations can be made directly using the following account information:<\/p>\n

Banco do Brasil<\/div>\n
Ag\u00eancia: 392-1<\/div>\n
Conta: 18075-0<\/div>\n
Nome: CTO-RIO ADMINISTRA\u00c7\u00c3O<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas Theater of the Oppressed (TO) is an internationally\u00a0celebrated\u00a0participatory form of theater invented in Rio, in which there are no spectators, just spect-actors. TO was originally created by writer, director, and politician […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":32832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1668,1277,1290,1268,1271,1503,329,1329],"tags":[1162,1144,245,756,258,280,910,504,2961,397,221,436,918,1160,37,281,1292,15,152,318,2243,809,270,1393,1403,319,1474,30,259],"writer":[1946],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-28843","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-participationwatch","8":"category-uppwatch","9":"category-civilsociety","10":"category-favelaculture","11":"category-favelaqualities","12":"category-opportunities-to-support-favelas","13":"category-solutions","14":"category-by-international-observers","15":"tag-army-occupation","16":"tag-baixa-do-sapateiro","17":"tag-beltrame","18":"tag-community-organizing","19":"tag-community-solution","20":"tag-complexo-da-mare","21":"tag-creative-organizing","22":"tag-culture","23":"tag-degase","24":"tag-education","25":"tag-favela-culture","26":"tag-gender","27":"tag-military-police","28":"tag-museu-da-mare","29":"tag-north-zone","30":"tag-nova-holanda","31":"tag-organizing","32":"tag-pacifying-police-unit","33":"tag-participation","34":"tag-performing-arts","35":"tag-piscinao-de-ramos","36":"tag-public-security","37":"tag-resistance","38":"tag-sexism","39":"tag-solution","40":"tag-theatre","41":"tag-theatre-of-the-oppressed","42":"tag-urban-violence","43":"tag-youth","44":"writer-anna-cash"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28843"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=28843"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=28843"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=28843"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=28843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}