Lisa Jo Epstein (ACG ’09), Artistic Director of Gas & Electric Arts, will facilitate a four-day Forum Theatre intensive workshop from June 22-25, 2011, 9:30am-6pm, at The Brossman Center (7301 Germantown Ave). The workshop features an array of activities and techniques to gather themes, uncover needs, animate real stories and community issues, acknowledge emotional responses and build consensus around what needs to be changed. The workshop is geared towards educators, social workers, activists, artists, and other individuals working towards change in their communities. The fee is $325 and payment plans and financial assistance are available. The deadline to register is May 22, 2011. For more information, visit gasandelectricarts.org.
Calling all Teachers & Educators, Social Service Professionals, Community Organizers, Teaching Artists & Activists of all Kinds!
Step into Action, Initiate Change: A Forum Theatre Intensive
June 22 – 25, 2011
Wed – Sat, 10am-6pm
Location: The Brossman Center | 7301 Germantown Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19119
Engage in an array of exercises, games, image-making and improvisation to collectively identify and investigate thorny issues, exchange vital ideas, uncover needs and dreams, cultivate personal and group awareness while enlivening creative critical thinking, build consensus and rehearse problem-solving solutions to implement in the real world. Practice techniques for constructing, rehearsing, refining, animating and facilitating Forum Theatre performances.
Who is this for: Perfect for educators, social workers, activists, artists, community organizers, therapists, anyone interested in working towards change in their communities. For both those new to, or with experience in Theatre of the Oppressed. No theatre experience necessary.
This workshop will offer:
- Array of activities and techniques to gather themes, uncover needs, animate real stories and community issues, acknowledge emotional responses and build consensus around what needs to be changed.
- Techniques for constructing, rehearsing and refining a Forum Theatre piece.
- Practical exploration of how to facilitate a forum, be an effective, engaging “Joker” which is Boal’s term for the master of ceremonies-the ‘go-between’ actors and the audience–who brings out participants’ innate intelligence and creativity for solving their own hardest challenges.
Workshop Fee: $325
- Payment plans and financial assistance are available for those who express a true need. Registration deadline is May 22, 2011.
- Registration requires a 50% deposit. The balance will be due 10 days prior to the first date of the workshop.
- Workshop fee includes 40 hours of training, readings, continental breakfasts, snacks and beverages.
- On campus housing is available at very reasonable rates.
Sign up for a training today!
All skills are immediately applicable and widely transferable
to many areas where open, honest communication is vital: from personal change to community development, from youth work, education, activism and effective group collaboration to creative conflict resolution, cross-cultural dialogue, violence prevention, leadership training and more!
The transformative power of the techniques and their ability to lead us to awareness and new possibilities for change can only be understood if participants accept to be their primary source material. Participants should be open to utilizing their own stories and life experiences.
Questions? Contact Lisa Jo Epstein or David Brown:
Phone: 215.407.0556
Email: events@GasAndElectricArts.org
Mail: Gas & Electric Arts – 6703 Cresheim Road, Philadelphia, PA 19119
website: http://www.GasAndElectricArts.org
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Workshop Facilitator
Lisa Jo Epstein (Master’s & Ph.D. University of TX at Austin) is a professional theatre director, educator and community-based artist. She is the only Philadelphia-area theatre teaching artist who has trained extensively with Augusto Boal, founder of the Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) and Nobel Peace Prize Finalist, both in the US and at the Center for Theatre of the Oppressed in Paris France.
For over two decades, Lisa Jo has facilitated experiential TO workshops with a variety of populations around issues of identity and empowerment, community-building and social justice. She has worked in diverse locations-both nationally and internationally– from community centers to colleges and universities, public and private schools, from halfways homes to social service agencies. As one of Boal’s “multipliers,” Lisa Jo has trained countless people in TO techniques through regular weekend intensive workshops.
Gas & Electric Arts’ Theatre of the Oppressed-based theatre education program is a core aspect of our mission to use theatre to stimulate dialogue and social change amongst youth and adults alike. Some clients in Philadelphia have been: Freire Charter School, Boys & Girls Club of Wissahickon, El Centro des Estudiantes, Traveler’s Aid, BuildaBridge, ArtReach, Haverford Boys School, Abington Friends School, Bryn Mawr College, UPenn Graduate Program in Language and Literacy, and the Urban Nutrition Initiative.
Prior to founding Gas & Electric Arts, Lisa Jo was an Assistant Professor at Tulane University where she won awards for teaching and directing, both inside the university and for her work in the community. In Philadelphia, she has taught at several colleges and universities; currently she is an adjunct at Rutgers Camden where she teaches Movement and Voice for the stage as well as Theatre History.
http://www.GasAndElectricArts.org
Gas & Electric Arts courageously explores and pursues a hybrid of rigorous,
multi-disciplinary theatrical forms on stage and in communities as our means of
being active citizens searching to respond to an ever-changing world.
