The Playgoer: Augusto Boal

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Sunday, May 03, 2009

Augusto Boal

One of the leading international figures in modern political theatre, Augusto Boal, died yesterday at his home in Rio de Janeiro. Boal developed his theories of agitprop street performance and guerilla theatre into his "Theatre of the Oppressed," which you can read more about here and here.

He was able to return to his native Brazil only when the military dictatorship there dissolved twenty years ago. But he remained a large presence on the international alternative-theatre scene.

2 comments:

Tom Loughlin said...

I have been looking for some kind of additional confirmation on this. Everyone has been quoting the AP story, and it is surprising that at this writing no obituary or news story at all has appeared in the NY Times. This seems a bit odd. Anyone know (or suspect) why?

Playgoer said...

Indeed, how unsurprising about NYT.

But if it's just confirmation you're looking for, I recommend the official Theatre of the Oppressed website, a virtual Boal fan page:
http://www.theatreoftheoppressed.org/en/index.php?useFlash=0