The Brecht Forum The Institute for Popular Education The Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory 122 West 27 Street, 10 floor New York, New York 10001 (212) 924-1858 (212) 741-4563 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (e-mail) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (e-mail) The Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory presents An Introduction to Forum Theater Friday, February 23 from 6 to 9 pm and Saturday, February 24 from 10 am to 4 pm at The Brecht Forum 122 West 27 Street, 10 floor New York City Exercises, games, and improvised scene work developed by Brazilian director, popular educator, and Workers' Party activist Augusto Boal. Boal's innovative approach to public forums emphasizes physical dialogues, non-verbal imagery, and consensus-building and problem-solving processes. Preparatory theatrical games explore relations of power and group solutions to concrete problems raised by participants, transforming spectators into "spect-actors"--protagonists of the theatrical action. The aim of the forum is not to find an ideal solution, but to invent new ways of confronting oppression. This workshop will be led by members of The Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory (TOPLAB), a collective that has worked with Augusto Boal since 1990 and which presents Theater of the Oppressed training workshops for labor and community organizers, educators, mental health and human services workers, and political activists at The Brecht Forum and at other venues in New York City and the Northeast. Tuition is $50. This workshop is limited to 25 people and pre- registration is required. For more information, please call the Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory at (212) 924-1858. ***** On March 30, Augusto Boal, founder of the Theater of the Oppressed, will lead a workshop at The Brecht Forum. Boal is a political activist and major innovator of post-Brechtian theater. He served as Artistic Director of the Arena Theater in Sao Paulo from 1956 to 1971, and has collaborated extensively with Paulo Freire. In the 1970s, he came under attack by the Brazilian government, resulting in his imprisonment, torture, and subsequent exile. Boal has lectured, conducted workshops, and mounted productions on six continents, and has written numerous books. An activist in the Brazilian Workers' Party (PT), he resides in Rio de Janeiro and was elected to the Rio City Council in 1992. //30