The Theatre of the Oppressed workshop by Yale-NUS Improv was designed by Ryan Yeo Ken Hui and facilitated by Dylan Lee Pak Han, Ryan Yeo Ken Hui, and TK Bean. The workshop was based around the theatre games of Augusto Boal, which were designed for starting conversations and exploring solutions to interpersonal and social issues that affected disadvantaged communities. 

Knowing the Body and Making the Body Expressive

Facilitators started the class with exercises for getting comfortable with expressing themselves physically and generating group reciprocity. These included exercises like Pass the Clap, Following the Leader, and Stage Walk. 

Boal Theatre Game 1: Simultaneous Dramaturgy

We then proceeded to playing some of Boal's theatre games, where the goal is to break down the barriers between "spectator" and "actor". In Simultaneous Dramaturgy, the class was asked to share interpersonal problems that they had encountered recently. Based on the suggestions, improv facilitators acted out the scene to the point where the problem reaches a crisis and needs a solution. The scene would pause there for students to offer potential solutions, following which facilitators acted out each solution to its conclusion. Afterwards, facilitators led students through a discussion of each solution. 

Boal Theatre Game 2: Image Theatre

For Image Theatre, the class collectively decided on a larger problem in the world to explore. After a personal sharing session, the issue of housing insecurity was selected. In this game, improv facilitators would be non-verbal "statues", and students would have free reign in coming forward to "sculpt" the scene by directing the statues towards an actual image of what housing insecurity looks like in the current world. Afterwards, students would direct the statues towards an ideal image, or what housing would look like in a perfect or ideal world. Finally, they would direct the statues towards a transitional image, which would show an in-between stage that would allow us to get from the actual image to the ideal image.

Boal Theatre Game 3: Forum Theatre

In the final section of the workshop on Forum Theatre, improv facilitators would act out the scene described in the actual image. Here, students were encouraged to call freeze on the scene and step up to replace any one of the actors in the scene. By stepping into the scene, they could try out their own solutions to the issue and see if any surprises or complications unfold.