Skip to main content

LaurenSage Browning What a Riot Response

What strategies did she employ in her process of making in play with the youth? What approaches resonated with you? How was the play relevant to this specific community? What questions might you ask Mady and why? 
One strategy Mady used was the revival of the Joker System. A play that can be linked to the Theater of the Oppressed. She also integrates  other classic Boal structures (such as a nod to Greek Theater, which can be seen in the "Chorus" in "What a Riot!" She used the Joker System as an avenue for approaching and engaging intervention and the steps toward intervention. This was done through the stimulation of encounters and interactions with people who would be considered "other" to us.

 I resonated with her acceptance and awareness of her own outsiderness and how that brought her into a heightened state of Active Listening. I think this approach to theater creating is so fresh, rare, and beneficial. To make a voice on paper, you have to first listen to a voice in life. 

I would be curious to know more about how Mandy first gets involved with a community, and what the preparation may or may not look like. I am curious how much it is possible to prep for something of creation. I am also wondering what she does when the collaborators have no desire to perform.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rachel Tibbetts - What a Riot

Schutzman starts off this reflection with an excerpt from the play she created. The opening lines serve to give recognition and context to the subject matter by immediately dedicating the show to Rosa Parks. This is an extremely effective strategy to introduce the tone and subject matter of the piece. The addition of Claudette at the end was the “icing on the cake” to the introductory excerpt. Raising questions and therefore instantly opening up a dialogue. Schutzman approached the students by asking questions while also letting them choose the person/people they wanted to learn about and also depict in the play. I think entering a school with something to teach is the idealistic approach to interacting with students; when students are in class they are expecting to be taught and ask questions. This is the exact approach Shutzman used. This allowed her to familiarize herself with the student community and find their interests, question...
Post a Comment
Read more

Katharine Means What a Riot! Response

In 2005 Mady Shutzman was invited by CalArts CAP to write a play for the teenage participants Plaza de la Raza arts center in East Los Angeles to perform. At first I was intrigued by this, as my limited knowledge of Boal and Theatre of the Oppressed techniques has been around the participatory games, activities, and techniques used to build community. I know some about Forum and Legislative Theatre, but had little conception of what a TO play would look like. Shutzman's piece, UPSET! , was modeled using Boal's Joker System. There is a character called the Joker who probes the characters and audience during the play with the "ultimate goal to raise questions, offer multiple points of view, and encourage dialogue". Shutzman used this form as a "means to incorporate the teens curiosity, dismay, outrage, confusion, fear, and inspiration in relation to the subject matter of the play within the play." The teens decided upon Rodney King and Claudette Colvin (a youn...
Post a Comment
Read more