Forum Theatre is an interactive approach that involves the audience in developing real-time strategies for dealing with social and personal issues.
In a Mixed Company production, a story representing an issue is created, rehearsed and performed. The story is then presented again—only this second time, audience members can intervene in the story, as “spect-actors,” to create a positive alternative ending. A trained Forum Theatre facilitator (the Joker) prepares and encourages participants to replace the actors on stage and to change the story in a constructive way.
Although many of the methods used by Mixed Company were researched, developed and adapted by internationally renowned theatre director and author Augusto Boal, several aspects of the work come directly from Mixed Company artists, as well as others in the Forum Theatre community. The Sweet Medicine Teachings of the Metis Medicine Society, in particular the tyrant oppressor wheel, as well as Simon Malbogat’s Masks of Manipulation, have contributed to the model of Forum Theatre used by Mixed Company.
Forum Theatre is a powerful tool that must be used responsibly. The desired result of this creative theatrical process is positive change, but the purpose of Forum Theatre is to create theatre, not personal therapy or psychodrama. To ensure a safe, appropriate environment, a Forum Theatre Facilitator must be a trained professional. Please contact us for information about Forum Theatre facilitator training workshops.