Augusto Boal\u27s Theatre of the Oppressed in the Public Speaking and Interpersonal Communication classrooms

In this study, I document and analyze how I applied Boal\u27s Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) techniques in introductory Public Speaking and Interpersonal Communication (IPC) courses. In the first chapter, Boal\u27s democratic praxis is discussed in terms of critical performance pedagogy and Brecht\u27s social aesthetics. I identify the qualitative social scientific method of data collection and analysis I used and base the significance of the study in my testing of TO in non-performance educational contexts and in the integrated communication studies curricula that resulted. In Chapter Two, I summarize Boal\u27s career as an interactive theatre practitioner. My review includes synopses of his practices and the books he wrote. In Chapter Three, I document and discuss the two Boal based assignments I developed for the Public Speaking course. In the first, Boal\u27s newspaper theatre exercises and Gregory Ulmer\u27s mystory method are applied to a self-introductory speech assignment. In the second, Boal\u27s cop in the head exercises and Joker System are adapted to a group project titled The Persuasive Speech Forum. In Chapter Four, I document and analyze my application of TO to three IPC course assignments. In the first, Boal\u27s concept of Image Theatre informs an assignment in which students show their understanding of IPC concepts of selfhood in a shadow box they create and present. Boal\u27s Invisible Theatre practices are used to test nonverbal norms in the second assignment. In the third, a fusion of Boal\u27s Forum Theatre and Joker System techniques are used by students to investigate interpersonal conflicts and management strategies. In Chapter Five, I summarize the study and my findings, applying myself to the merits, drawbacks and possibilities of the assignments I developed. Lastly, I discuss the role and function of the educator as a Joker figure. The Appendices offer course handouts and representative examples of the students\u27 work which I draw on throughout the study to discuss and evaluate the merits and limitations of the assignments