ATHE Conference (1992)

Augusto Boal talks about his journey as a director and the history and methodology of the Theatre of the Oppressed In this lecture from the 1992 ATHE Conference. Boal discusses the different types of oppression he encountered in Europe and how he came to develop the Rainbow of Desire technique—exercises based on the internalization of oppression, what he called “the cop in the head.” Boal also presents and discusses three drawings— “‘What is Theatre?”; “What is a Human Being?”; and “What is an Actor?”—as a way to emphasize the Theatre of the Oppressed as a methodology employing exercises, games, images, and techniques to restore the human capacity to do and be theatre.