What is Forum Theatre? 

Forum Theater takes the form of a conventional play but reflects the participating community’s lived experience regarding a chosen issue and culminates in unresolved crisis. It aims to engage the public audience in understanding and exploring creative solutions to the issue.

The History of Forum Theatre

Forum Theater comes from the Theatre of the Oppressed. Theatre of the Oppressed was a term coined by Augusto Boal
(1931-2009) a Brazilian director, which was inspired by Paulo Freire (1921-1997), founder of the critical pedagogy movement. During the 1960s-1970s many Latin American countries were experiencing extreme levels of poverty and were under the suppression of dictatorships and many conflicts. This was when Augusto Boal decided to dedicate his works to the oppressed people, this upset the upper class leading Boal to be exiled and forced to be in Argentina. Boal created Theatre of the Oppressed performing centers in Argentina, Peru, and Ecuador before he could go back to his home country and create the Center for the Theatre of the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro which is now the official home of Theatre of the Oppressed.

How is this Different from “Regular” Theater?

There are many ways that Forum Theatre is different to “regular” theater. The biggest difference is the role of the spectators. In traditional theater spaces, the audience stays the audience and their participation is regulated to what the actors want. In Forum Theatre, the spectators become the actors when they are asked to participate and change parts of the show. The structure of Forum Theatre is different, instead of a director that sets the actors exactly where they want them to be, a facilitator is the role of director. However the difference lies in that the facilitator is not meant to direct just guide the spectators (now actors) through the scenes. The facilitator is called the Joker, they are the guide for the actors and the spectators to follow. It is important for the Joker to know the problems that is trying to be solved in the Forum Theatre. According to experts when putting on Forum Theatre these are the things the Joker and the actors in the scenes need to know:
• You are trained in Forum theatre;
• You are trained to play the Joker (if no Joker is available);
• You acknowledge your own understanding of power and bias;
• You are a firm believer in social justice, equality, dialog, consensus;
• You are inclusive and respectful of differences;
• You can facilitate group decision and mediate conflicts;
• You can be friendly, but also firm with small or large groups.

The spectators are encouraged to change the scenes they see however they feel and noise (clapping and cheering) is allowed which differences greatly from the applause after dramatic scenes in traditional theater.  Forum Theatre is meant to help the community solve the problems presented. It is a discussion that involves everyone’s vision and not just the visions of the actors, directors, or playwrights.

For a detailed information about how Forum Theatre works this paper is incredibly detailed: https://www.anpcdefp.ro/library/Rapoarte%20%C8%99i%20analize/Ghiduri_CONNECTOR_2017/Ghid%20Teatru%20Forum_EN.pdf

Smoked Out’s Forum Theatre 

Smoked Out’s Forum Theatre worked roughly the same to traditional Forum Theatre. However, the beginning part of Smoked Out was a traditional theatre show, there was the use of an actors, structured applause times, a director, and a playwright. The beginning of our Forum Theatre consisted of the actors acting out vignettes that the spectators will then change. The scenes went: 1. A conversation between Morgan and an insurance adjust accusing him of trying to stall on his pre-clearances 2. Morgan speaking to the PG&E employee about new powerlines 3. Morgan and a friend discuss the hardships of building a new house over coffee 4. Morgan tries to file paperwork with an unhelpful Santa Cruz Country Bureaucrat. Each 0f these vignettes are able to be changed by the spectators. The most common ones changed became the ones with the bureaucrat and the friend. Most of the spectators choose to change how files were shared between departments. Legally departments have to have ones consent to share documents between departments, many spectators tried to override that. The law when it comes to privacy is very tricky and would trip people up when it came to changing that vignette. The friend scene was much more comical in that most people simply changed the coffee order to something more effective.

Apart of my dramaturgical help was making sure that the actors knew about all the little laws and things people could possibly say to give Morgan the best shot. All of that information is located in the actors’ packet section of the website.