“Theater of the Oppressed”
This article had to do with many different types of theater that can inspire social change. Many of these I had never really heard of or thought of, and I don’t know if anything like this happens in my area. I can see why we would read this after watching “The Yes Men Fix the World” in class. What the “Yes Men” do is basically a similar sort of theater. They either act out things that they wish to happen (like Dow compensating for the Bhopal disaster), or they act out things in a silly way to call attention to how absurd some corporations can be.
I found the aspect of these types of theater using the audience as part of the act to be the most interesting. I can imagine that it is much more engaging for everyone when the spectators are interacting with the actors. In fact, it starts to blur the line between the “spectators” and the “actors.” Which is a main point brought up at the end of the article, that interactive theater can and should “humanize the spectator.”
Although I’ve never seen this type of theater before (to my knowledge), it seems like a good way to work through problems, by examining them visually and physically). Working through problems that way has never really occurred to me, but I was very interested in the “image theater,” where bodies are “sculpted” and language is not even used. It seems like a very different way to express and work out problems. This type of theater, and the others like it, also allow them to examine the many different approaches they could make towards a problem in a safe environment.
The scenario of the man eating the barbecue in the restaurant reminded me of a comedic performance group popular on the internet called “Improv Everywhere.” Improv Everywhere act out rehearsed scenes in public places, and often, the public is very much involved. So, that means that the actors have to be able to adapt to the reactions of the public. So, I suppose that Improv Everywhere act out a sort of Invisible Theater.