Theatre of the Oppressed NYC partners with communities facing discrimination to inspire transformative action through theatre.
Theatre of the Oppressed is a global practice based on work developed by the Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal. Theatre of the Oppressed NYC (TONYC) is a New York City-based organization that focuses on community practice of Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) in ongoing Forum Theatre Troupes, as well as in workshops to organizations and trainings for individuals. Our Forum Theatre Troupe programs have run for 6-11 years at our community partners. In these programs, community members devise and perform plays based on their challenges confronting economic inequality, racism, and other social, health and human rights injustices. At each performance, actors and audiences engage in theatrical brainstorming with the aim of catalyzing creative change on individual, community, and political levels.
You can see videos of our work here.
Want to get involved? Sign up to volunteer!
Theatre of the Oppressed NYC is a member self-directed nonprofit, and a member of ArtsPool, and the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives/NYC Network of Worker Cooperatives.
What's the history of TONYC?
TONYC was founded in 2011 by Katy Rubin, who trained with Augusto Boal in 2008 in Rio. After returning to New York and discovering a lack of effective "popular theatre" — interactive theatre created by communities facing oppression — Rubin helped to form the Jan Hus Homeless Theatre Troupe, later renamed Concrete Justice, the flagstone troupe of TONYC. In the early years, TONYC’s organization was set up by a founding core team: Becca Orton, Kate Clark, Lucille LeoNimm, Moon Lowrey, Rae Messer, and Sulu LeoNimm.
Since its founding, TONYC has grown in response to a real need from communities in crisis for social change. Our team of Jokers — the people who facilitate workshops and performances — collaborate with TONYC’s troupes to create and facilitate public and private performances and workshops in New York City and beyond every year.
As of 2024, TONYC is transitioning into a membership-based worker self-directed nonprofit. Within this structure, members participate in TONYC's operations and governance; share key decision-making responsibilities; and support the mission, vision, and goals of TONYC. All members serve on at least one of three governance circles: steering, operations, and programs.
TONYC's members include Gariyana Williams, Harrow Sansom Choi, Julián Pimiento, Liz Morgan, Marcela Artunduaga, Max Raymond, Philip Santos Schaffer, Sulu LeoNimm, and Tab Lopez.
Below is the membership of each circle:
- Programs: Liz, Marcela, Max, Sulu, Tab
- Operations: Gariyana, Harrow, Julián, Liz, Philip
- Steering: Gariyana, Julián, Marcela, Max, Philip
What are TONYC's community programs?
TONYC’s main programs are focused on the creation of Forum Theatre, at our program partner sites. These programs rehearse each spring and fall at our partner organizations, and the actors are community members at those locations. Our current partners programs are at The Ali Forney Center, Breaking Ground, Housing Works, The Fortune Society, and the Red Hook Community Justice Center. Our past partners include the AIDS Center of Queens County, the Center for Court Innovation, Neighbors in Action, and more.
TONYC has two in-house Forum Theatre troupes: ESCUCHA and Rapid Response. Actors in these troupe are recruited from our community partner programs.
Finally, TONYC provides workshop and trainings to organizations and individuals interested in applying the tools of Theatre of the Oppressed in their work.
How do I get involved with TONYC?
TONYC is not a traditional theatrical producing house and does not hold auditions. We are named Theatre of the Oppressed NYC because we are one of many organizations around the world using the theatrical methodology known as Theatre of the Oppressed (T.O.) as the foundation of our work. TONYC uses T.O. to devise shows with clients from service organizations throughout NYC about their experiences facing oppression.
Though TONYC's actors are recruited exclusively from clientele of the service organizations we partner with, we always welcome new volunteers! You can sign up to volunteer here.
What is ESCUCHA?
ESCUCHA is TONYC's in-house Spanish-language troupe. Recent performances by ESCUCHA have included La Casa Mafalda, about an undocumented worker facing discrimination and workplace abuse after returning to work post-COVID reopening, and El Espejismo Americano, about newly arrived immigrants discovering that the American Dream is a mirage. ESCUCHA also recently partnered with New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) to devise a performance theatrical piece for The Day Of The Fallen Worker.
ESCUCHA is currently devising a new show to debut in fall 2024. Want to be the first to hear about it? Sign up for our mailing list!
What is Rapid Response?
Rapid Response, launched in 2018, is an in-house troupe that specializes in last-minute work, from engaging press and officials at rallies to presenting street performances that spark community engagement. Unlike our other troupes and residencies, which typically develop their shows over the course of multiple months, Rapid Response mobilizes quickly to generate smart, savvy monologues and scenes for rallies, demonstrations, hearings, school walkouts, and more. Rapid Response shows are built by young people and adults who are directly impacted by the shows' central issues, like housing and economic justice, the criminal justice system, and the school-to-prison pipeline.
Rapid Response's aims are as follows:
- Brainstorm solutions to systemic problems: Use interactive theatre to highlight lived experiences and engage new voices in community campaigns.
- Build solidarity across communities: Show, rather than tell, policy-makers and New Yorkers how policy issues exist in human contexts.
- Formulate next action steps: Rehearse new advocacy strategies and spark creative interventions.
How is TONYC funded?
Our current funders and grantors include the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation, the Tikkun Olam Foundation, the New York Women’s Foundation, The Howard Gilman Foundation, and The Ms. Foundation.
In the past four years, operational expenses have drastically increased, but our funding has not. While TONYC has an abundance of community enthusiasm for our work, we still need $252,000 of funding in 2024. A donation of any amount will support our organization in a shifting funding landscape.
What is Theatre of the Oppressed?
Theatre of the Oppressed is a methodology that was created in the 1970s by legendary Brazilian theatre director and activist Augusto Boal, who was himself inspired by Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed. A form of activism and artistic practice, it is a theatrical format that engages communities in social change, an interactive process used to investigate alternative responses to oppressive situations. Today, Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed is used in over 70 countries around the world.
Though there are many Theatre of the Oppressed techniques, TONYC mostly practices the technique of Forum Theatre. At TONYC, participants from affected communities come together as actors, directors, playwrights, designers, and producers to create — and eventually facilitate — their own original Forum Theatre performances.
What is Forum Theatre?
In Forum Theatre, the actors perform an original play depicting unresolved problems resulting from systemic oppression, which they have devised from their real lived experiences. This performance is followed by a "Forum" (open discussion), in which a trained "Joker" (facilitator) facilitates dialogue about the potential of alternative approaches to the obstacles depicted, and what social, legal, legislative, and/or institutional changes could make various alternatives viable. Then there is an "Intervention," in which the Joker invites audience members to take on the role of "Spect-Actors" by stepping into the play and performing a proposed alternative approach in the context of the play. The play's actors are prepared to improvisationally respond to the audience member. The goal of this process is to identify problem-solving strategies that communities can use to fight back against the oppressions they face. Interactive Forums have proven to be an effective, inspiring way to engage audiences in a laboratory to "rehearse" practical, creative actions for challenging systems of oppression individually and collectively.
Theatre of the Oppressed NYC has established Forum Theatre troupes all over NYC in collaboration with a range of local communities, including unhoused adults and youth, people living with HIV/AIDS, immigrants, veterans, justice-impacted people, and court-involved youth. An active TONYC troupe usually creates one to two shows per year to be performed in theaters, community centers, shelters and drop-in centers, as well as at conferences and festivals.
What is Legislative Theatre?
Legislative Theatre brings a Forum Theatre performance in front of an audience of legislators, community policy-makers, and the impacted community with the intent to develop policy ideas generated by the impacted community. Legislative Theatre and the arts as an agent for change are vital tools for educating policy-makers, engaging constituents, challenging the status quo, and altering policy for the better. Read TONYC's report on the impact of Legislative Theatre here.
How does Legislative Theatre work?
WATCH original plays based on the actors’ lived experiences.
ACT on stage to brainstorm alternatives to the problems presented. Jokers open the stage to Spect-actors to rehearse new ideas. Everyone writes their ideas on notecards that are processed and sorted by the Policy Advisory Team.
VOTE with government representatives. Policy-makers present proposals based on the collected ideas. The crowd debates each idea. All present vote on the proposals. If the majority of people accept the idea as presented, the government representatives make a promise to act on those ideas after leaving the theatre.
One hour before a Legislative Theatre show, audience members meet with community partners and activists to get prepared to engage on the issues being presented.
TONYC'S PAST LEGISLATIVE THEATRE FESTIVALS AND EVENTS:
2019: Compromising Positions: Stay & Pay
2018: Apartment Complex