“Queer Conscientização” and “Again and Again and Again” (May 20)

Sunday, May 20 in two sessions
New York, NY

Session 1
Queer Conscientização: Foundations for Understanding Anti-Queer Oppression
11:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Session 2
Again and Again and Again: Playing with Structures of Oppression
3:00 PM to 6:00 PM

$35 for each, $60 for both (sliding scale, service donations and scholarships available)

The Forum Project will be heading to the Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Conference in Berkley, California and will be presenting several workshops and panels. But before we go, we’d like to share some of this work with you. Both workshops below will be presented by TFP at the PTO conference. Come and see what we’re up to!

Session 1
Queer Conscientização: Foundations for Understanding Anti-Queer Oppression

How do gender-based assumptions and expectations restrict and oppress? How do you recognize anti-queer oppression within a multiplicity of contexts and life experiences?
What tools can be used to challenge oppression based on gender and sexuality? Theatre of the Oppressed techniques are powerful tools to engage in substantive dialogue,  create deep understanding and to build tools to challenge oppression. We demonstrate this in our  workshop, Queer Conscientização. This  workshop will use TO techniques to engage participants in dialogues about anti-queer oppression. We will explore such topics as gender and gender expression, sexual identity, transphobia and heterosexism, trans and queer language and terms, and power.

Overall, the session seeks to explore the complex relationship between trans and queer personal and political identities to help practitioners grasp more fully the equally complex forces that shape queer experiences in the world. The facilitators will focus on the ways that participants can deconstruct transphobia and heterosexism to understand how they function in society, paying particular attention to oppression within the U.S. political and cultural context.

Session 2
Again and Again and Again: Playing with Structures of Oppression

How can Theatre of the Oppressed activities be used as a tool for discussing structural oppression? In what was can repetition be used for deep discovery and dialogue? Developed for engagement with Occupy Wall Street organizers, this exciting workshop presents a unique series and some of The Forum Project’s newest work.

Theatre of the Oppressed has always been a useful tool to draw out understanding of the structures of oppression. We use this workshop to focus tightly on this outcome: to build an understanding of the underlying and interconnected systems of oppression that support injustice. We will primarily utilize one exercise–Colombian Hypnosis and its many variations–as a model to dialogue about systems of power. Participants suggest new structures, configurations and ways to engage in the activity. These changes–similar to interventions in a Forum Theatre performance–allow the group to deepen the dialogue about all the different ways power functions in society. The result: dynamic engagement, rich discussion and, as always, a lot of fun.

Use the form below to register for either or both sessions.