Theatre With a Social Conscience

The International Theatre of the Oppressed Organization was founded by author, actor, and politician Augusto Baol. In 1971 Baol began the Newspaper Theatre to deal with local problems in his native country of Brazil. It was a form of communication between those who were oppressed and the people making the laws. Out of this beginning came the Forum Theatre which used Baol's methods and principles in Peru as part of a literacy program in 1973. The Forum Theatre methods are being used in about seventy countries worldwide. Baol's methods of using theatre to communicate among people spread to Argentina with additional political activity, and then other South American countries. Image Theatre was established to develop dialogue between the indigenous nations and Spanish descendants in Columbia, Venezuela, and Mexico.

In Europe, Theatre of the Oppressed ideas were used to create understanding of psychological problems and became known as "Rainbow of Desires." They also developed workshops to address an actor's need to create characters. Baol created Legislative Theatre in Brazil after he was elected to the office of Vereador (city councilman) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. He served one term and was not reelected.

Baol teaches that all humans are actors and spectators. He wants people to become the protagonists in their own stories. He says that all people use voice, body movement, and expression in their everyday lives just as actors do. We should use the Language of Theatre to engage everyone in the Game of Dialogue in order to create peace within ourselves and within the world. There are Centres for Theatre of the Oppressed throughout the world that teach Baol's techniques and hope to form a network for disseminating his ideas globally.