B oal, A ugusto (b. 1931)

Abstract

Brazilian theater activist/theorizer Augusto Boal is best known for his development of the Theater of the Oppressed during the 1950s and 1960s. The primary objective of his life's work was to incite audiences into action, emphasizing the inherent nature of theater and performance. Boal was engaged in theater from a young age, and his earliest professional work was at the Arena Theater in southern Brazil. It was at the Arena where Boal began to explore interactive and political theater, which led to his arrest, torture, and ultimate exile to Argentina in 1971. Greatly influenced by Paulo Freire's book Pedagogy of the Oppressed , Boal titled his first text Theater of the Oppressed , an exploration of how theater gives voice to subjugated peoples. The book attacked Aristotelian elitist ideals, insisting that the Greek philosopher's theories were coercive, paralyzing people rather than inspiring them to proactive ideas and behavior. Boal's text, eventually translated into 25 languages, shared his preliminary theories on employing theater to foster social change and transformation through protest and activism.