Queens of the Thearte of the Oppressed

The Queens of the Theatre of the Oppressed is a 15-day training on the Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) methodology with a focus on the method of Forum Theatre. The target group are LGBTQI activists, human rights educators and youth workers. This method offers empowerment to disadvantaged groups through the innovative cooperative artistic expression. It facilitates communication of dividing topics and resolution of fueled conflicts. TO allows transformation of audience's understanding of the topics by active involvement of spectators into the process. It is an effective tool for a social change.

The goal of the training is to provide 24 participants with knowledge, skills and experience that will allow them to build and conduct a Forum on their own and independently practice it afterwards.

Even when the TO has it's roots in the 1970's it is not widespread and used around Europe. It has been rarely used to communicate issues of LGBT+ people. The Queens of the Oppressed training offers unique and rare opportunity to attend 60+ hours of classes on Theatre of the Oppressed concentrated in the two weeks with international group of participants working on LGBT+ issues.

The training is mostly build around practical exercises. Participants will learn through the experience of building Forum together during the training. They will examine various essential techniques and roles under the professional supervision. They will also gain historical and theoretical background of the method and it's relation to wider human rights education methods and tools. The participants will be encouraged to build their own Forum and supervised during the preparation process. They will get reflection of their work and tools to improve their performance.

The training will consist of 7-day and 8-day long phases with compulsory practice between the phases. The first phase (December 2018) will focus on the basic knowledge/skills/experiences of TO necessary for the participants to build their own Forum during the interval during the two phases. The second phase (March 2018) will continue with reflection on the practice and its improvement. The participants will deepen the knowledge base and add more techniques to their repertoaire. They will performe the Forum they build together during the trainings with live audience at the end if the second phase.

Trainer: The training will be led by theatre trainer and director Martina Čurdová. She has got MA in Drama pedagogy from Theatre Academy in Prague. Martina is an experienced trainer and performer in the TO method. She graduated semestral TO course at the Center Civíc Drassanes in Barcelona while providing trainings at a social theatre of Sant Adria Home for socially excluded youth. She also took three month internship in Center of Theatre of the oppressed in Rio de Janeiro and was giving workshops at local schools and community centers. Currently, Martina leads the NGO Laboratory of Theatre of the Oppressed in Prague and gives courses at for a community theatre.

Training hours: Training consists of 84 training hours. 59 hours are directly about the Theatre of the Oppressed (40 hours of practical exercises including performances, 19 hours of theory, history, reflection of practice and planning for the individual Fora building) led by Martina Čurdová. The other 28 hours include group dynamics activities, discussions with guest, NAOMIE, Non-formal education, Human rights eduaction, a trip and evaluation.

Dates (including travel days): First phase: 4 - 13 December 2018 in Czechia. Second phase: 19 - 27 March 2019 in Slovakia. The participants will be asked to build their own small-scale Forum during in between the phases. This practical experience of the participants is the main input for the second phase and development of their skills.