Forum Theatre

Forum theatre is what Boal used to empower his audience. To teach them how to take a stand for themselves and how to gain the courage to step up and face the problems/overcome the obstacles they were faced with.

In our world, there are honestly not that many intense or hardcore issues to deal with. Nothing seriously damaging or pressing in our society. We live in a community that does not have problems with intense poverty or with severe economical restrictions. There is hardly any gang violence, traffic flows naturally, the geography is fine, the landscape beautiful, and we are hardly ever subject to natural disasters. We live not in a war-zone or battleground. So for forum theatre, what issues are there to address? We toyed with the idea of taking on something like alcoholism, or divorce, or maybe an issue within the school that angers everyone. Like crowded freshman hall. Haha. :)

But in the end, my group chose to address child abuse.

The subject caught me off guard when Scott mentioned it because it is an issue very close to my heart. I played the role of the abusive mother, who shouted and yelled at the daughter who "could not do anything right".

I know the purpose of forum theatre was to empower those in the audience, but even as a part of the act itself, it really hit me deeply.
Being able to play the role of the oppressor, rather than the oppressed, was more inspiring than I expected it to be. And it showed me that the oppressor has the power to change the situation as well, if only they look inside their own heart and see what is right and wrong.