A special kind of theatre used to combat racism, hate and discrimination is coming to Burnaby.
On Jan. 18, the province announced $224,000 in funding through the B.C. organizing against racism and hate program. The money was split between 32 community organizations, including the Burnaby Together Coalition Against Racism and Hate, which received around $6,000.
The local group plans to use those funds to get Theatre of the Oppressed off the ground.
“It’s a type of theatre that started in the ’70s in Brazil and it’s a social theatre,” explained facilitator Angelo Moroni. “It’s a theatre used as a tool to explore solutions on how to respond to difficult social situations, whether it’s at the home place or work or on the street. It’s basically a conflict resolution tool.”
The idea is to recruit around 20 participants from the community – anybody who’s experienced racism, discrimination or hate, as well as people who want to do something about it. Moroni will then provide around 20 hours of training, and will help the group create scenes from their collective experience. A final play will be presented at the Shadbolt Centre on May 8 from 7 to 9 p.m.
“We all need to, in a safe place, explore these very difficult situations,” said Moroni. “In a safe environment, people get to figure out, what is the best way to respond to situations of hate and discrimination.”
What’s unique about this type of theatre is that the audience gets involved, too.
“Basically, the participants create the scenes and it is the audience that comes up to the stage, takes the place of some characters and tries to change the outcome of the scene for it to be more positive,” he said.
Michel Pouliot, executive director of Burnaby Family Life and co-chair of Burnaby Together, told the NOW the initiative “will absolutely help” in addressing racism, hate and discrimination in the city.
“There’s a lot of anti-immigrant sentiment out there in the community,” he said, pointing to the white supremacist flyers that appeared outside Burnaby’s Metrotown library last year. “Luckily, it’s not socially acceptable to sort of air those views openly. When you look at what’s happening down south, that is sort of giving licence to those folks that have very strong racist views to express them.”
Admission to the Theatre of the Oppressed production will be free. It will run in conjunction with Burnaby Festival of Learning, a week-long celebration full of performances, lectures and discussions.
