Theatre of the Oppressed: Transitioning Feminist Pedagogy from Theory to Praxis

Bell Hooks states in her text Feminist Theory: From Margins to Center that there is a missing link between feminist theory and praxis (113). This creates a tug-of-war mentality in higher education between practitioners and academics (hooks 113). Paulo Freire also challenges education structures with his critique of the banking system in his text Pedagogy of the Oppressed (72). In 1971, Augusto Boal created a venue of theatre founded on these educational challenges called Theatre of the Oppressed that allows for discussion, participation, and a shared experience between actors and audience members. In this research, I demonstrate the use of Theatre of the Oppressed at Minnesota State University, Mankato (MNSU) in March 2012. In order to study how this style of education contributes to feminist pedagogy, a performance titled When... was presented on the MNSU campus. The topics addressed in the production are relationship violence, consent, risk reduction, and bystander intervention. Survey and focus group interview research methods were used to gather audience members\u27 and actors\u27 responses to the production. The results display the success of When... at MNSU and explore areas for continued research with Theatre of the Oppressed and feminist pedagogy. Key theorists used in this study are Augusto Boal, Paulo Freire, and Bell Hooks