| "It’s a dialogue, not a monologue," is how Charlotte Mitchell describes All Nations Theatre.
The company was created in 1991 and continues to work in Calgary elementary, junior and senior high schools to create positive social change through the medium of theatre. Mitchell is an actor, facilitator and program co-ordinator for the company.
"We’re the only company that actually does forum theatre in Calgary,"
Mitchell says. "Augusto Boal came up with forum theatre. He developed it in Latin America in the 1970s to help people rise up against their oppressors – so it wasn’t developed for kids, but we use an adaptation of it."
Boal, a Brazilian director, created forum theatre as part of his Theatre of the Oppressed – a type of theatre aimed at empowering the spectator. The theory behind Boal’s work is that people can be the experts in their own lives and use theatre as a means to create change. Because theatre is a community-based medium, this gives participants a chance to connect with one another. As theatre is not limited by language, one may also use imagery to investigate alternatives to issues.
All Nations Theatre started with a version of forum theatre and then began presenting plays that dealt with social issues. The company has since returned to its roots. Today, its programming combines producing plays with facilitating forum theatre, which allows students and community groups to create work of their own.
This season, All Nations will be presenting two shows: The Other, a work by Calgary playwright-actor Doug Curtis based on the idea of being an outsider, and Skin, a play by popular Canadian children’s writer Dennis Foon in which characters relate to their experience of interracial prejudice. Other events planned include an anti-bullying forum show, an anti-racism forum show and anti-racism workshops in schools.
Mitchell says that All Nations is not trying to give people the right answers, or provide therapy – although forum-theatre work can be therapeutic. "We’re actors, so we can go in and help children create a show about the bullying that’s going on in their school." She believes allowing the kids to express themselves is much more effective in addressing an issue than if All Nations simply created its own play.
Forum theatre is both an unconventional form of theatre and of education, which is what makes it so effective, says company member Nathan Pronyshyn.
"The problem with theatre is that it has changed from something that we do to express ourselves, to something that we buy," he says. "Communities used to adapt, write and perform stories to express themselves. Now we buy theatre and we buy movies.
"We’re trying to move away from (traditional theatre) and more into residency work, where the real truth comes out. The things that the kids see are very different… so if we hire an adult to write a play (about) what they think it’s like to be a kid, and then we hire other adults who direct other adults, by the time it reaches the kids it is so far from what their experience is."
All Nations isn’t limiting its work to students. The company will be hosting a Theatre for the Living workshop for adults from November 17 to 22, to be led by David Diamond of Vancouver’s Headlines Theatre, an experienced practitioner of forum theatre. It takes place at the Salvation Army Centre of Hope (420 Ninth Avenue S.E.). For more information on this and other workshops, call 261 5877 or 615-7496. |
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