An Open Letter To PTO – Pedagogy and Theatre of the Opressed

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Dear PTO Members,

My name is Simon Malbogat and I have been a PTO board member since 2009. I have been using theatre as a tool for social change since 1989 when I became artistic director of Mixed Company Theatre and especially since we became a centre of Theatre of the Oppressed in 1992 at the request of Augusto Boal. Even though I participated in Theatre of the Oppressed festivals and produced the Ripple Effect Festival I did not feel as connected to others who were doing the work as I would have liked. The connections were short-lived and in the
theatre world we are all scrambling to survive and who has the time!

In 2009 Boal had just passed away and I went to the PTO conference in Minneapolis, I was asked to join the PTO board. I felt a connection to the people attending the conference and I decided to accept my nomination to the PTO Board. This visceral connection made me feel that I belonged with this group and the work they were all doing. The people attending were questioning and observing with an eye for creating best practices in applied theatre to create positive change.

Since 2010, the PTO board has created a strategic plan which has been put into practice by holding telephone meetings once a month where members report on the activities which they are responsible for. Such as a beautiful logo and of course the new by-laws which incorporate where PTO is now and where we want to be in the future.

If you are a PTO member please think about joining a committee, become a regional representative, write for the journal or the zine and become part of the PTO movement.

It has been an absolute pleasure to serve with this hard-working, supportive and committed group of people and I look forward to continuing positive change through theatre.

Yours Sincerely,
Simon Malbogat

We invite you all to learn more about Pedagogy and Theatre of the Opressed.