Augusto Boal was a Brazilian theatre director, writer and politician. He was the founder of Theatre of the Oppressed (TO), a theatrical form originally used in radical popular education movements, where audience members could stop a performance and suggest different actions for the actors, who would then act on the audience suggestions. Audience members became empowered not only to imagine change, but to generate social action.
In 1971, after the publication of his first book, The Theatre of the Oppressed, Boal was arrested, tortured, exiled to Argentina and self exiled to Europe. He continued to teach his revolutionary approach to theatre, establishing several Centers for the TO. In 1981, Boal organized the first International Festival of the Theatre of the Oppressed in Paris, and, a year later he ran and successfully won the position of Vereador of Rio, which is like city councilor. In this role, Boal developed a forum type of theatre, the Legislative Theatre, to identify key problems in the city. Using this forum concept, he employed dynamics of the theatre to discuss what kinds of legislation needed to be enacted to address community problems. The resulting discussions and demonstrations became the basis for actual legislation put forward by Boal in the Chamber of Vereadors.
For his craft and political and social justice efforts, Boal has earned much recognition including the UNESCO Pablo Picasso Medal, the Cross Border Award for Peace and Democracy from the Dundalk Institute of Technology, and the Association of Theatre in Higher Education’s “Career Achievement Award”. Boal has also inspired others to harness the power of the theatre as well, like the Optative Theatrical Laboratories.