Forum Theatre as an Effective, Empowering Means of
Problem- Solving in a Corporate Setting

It is no secret that as of late, many companies and organizations
have begun to put a concerted effort into the health and well-being of
their employees. Why?  Sure it’s nice to have Gym in the office building
and creative off-sites to rock-climbing centres, but doesn’t this just
distract employees from their real work? If an entire office is
attending a 2 day “creativity in the workplace” seminar, doesn’t
productivity become an issue? Doesn’t everyone just have to play
catch-up for the rest of the week? Aren’t these things more trouble than
they are worth? Why are so many companies doing this?

The answer is because a company’s success comes down to people.  It
is not strategy nor forecasting that affects the overall efficacy of an
organization so much as it is employees. It comes down to Al from
accounting and Susan in HR and they need to feel that they have a real
reason to come into work every morning. They need to feel that their
perspectives matter, are heard and appreciated and that they are part of
something greater- a real team with an important function within a
larger company that has a reputation to uphold.

If employees feel that their company cares about them as individuals
and the daily contributions they make, then employees will in turn care
about the company they work for and contribute as best they can. It
comes down to people and their willingness and ability to listen and
communicate effectively with one another, to adapt to change, to
establish trust between co-workers and clients and to see the value in
working together. It comes down to people and this is why employers are
willing to spend much time, energy and resources investing in off-sites
and guest-speaker seminars.

How effective, though, can a 1 day or 3 hour lecture/seminar be? Is
that enough time to bring a team together?  To solve long-standing
issues that plague the workplace?

Those of us who are in the business of designing and facilitating
these workshops know that “off-site” time is valuable. We appreciate
that we have to convince you quickly that what we are saying is relevant
and applicable to your personal work situation.  There are many
“experts” out there, ready to waltz into your boardroom equipped with
power-point presentations and colourful graphs and statistics. That’s
not how we work. True as stats may be, when it comes to problem-solving
and learning about communication and trust, sitting and listening to a
lecture is simply not the best way to spark meaningful, memorable
discussions or to effect real change in the days and weeks following the
workshop.
To leave a long-lasting and tangible impression, workshops must be
catered to suit all learning styles. This is why, at Anderson- Sabourin,
we always balance lecture style facts with participatory on-your-feet
exercizes and detailed follow up discussions. We state the facts, engage
with each other, make surprising discoveries and discuss these findings
in relation to the every-day reality of your workplace. For us,
successful workshops are those that are engaging throughout and result
in a concrete outcome that is relevant to all participants.

One of our recent discoveries, in working closely with our friends,
The Extant Jesters Theatre Company, is a format that does just this;
“Forum theatre.” The Extant Jesters are expert actors, improvisers and
seasoned professionals when it comes to Forum Theatre. The Extant
Jesters model themselves after the traditional court jester. Like the
joker card in a deck, the Jesters have no fixed rank in any given
company’s hierarchy.  They come from outside, bearing a unique, more
objective perspective. They work in the guise of entertainers but all
the while bear inspired, observant and truthful messages. They use wit,
candour and creativity to entertain and provoke in a non-threatening and
humourous manner.  They answer not to the king, of course, but to
corporations who wield the real power in today’s world.
The Extant Jesters, as far as we can tell, are the only ones in North
America who have adapted and are actively using the Forum Theatre format
in the workplace.

While the practice of using Forum Theatre to encourage active
problem-solving, leadership and teambuilding within organizations and in
corporate training is fairly new, the invention of the Forum Theatre
format has been around since the early 1960s when Brazilian
artist-activist Augusto Boal first founded Theatre of the Oppressed in
Latin America.

Boal believed that theatre had real potential to bring people
together, to engage both the heart and the mind, but felt that the
traditional institution of theatre was not fulfilling this potential. 
In his popular book “Theatre Of The Oppressed,” Boal takes issue with
the Aristotelian system of tragedy that he considered coercive.

“Aristotle’s system of tragedy survives to this day, thanks to its
great efficacy. It is, in effect, a powerful system of intimidation.”  
Boal felt that so long as an audience was made to sit passively,
projecting themselves onto the protagonist, and following the journey
vicariously through to its cathartic moral ending – audience members
would walk away feeling fatigued, frightened, obedient – but not
empowered.

Boal, highly influenced by the writings of Paolo Freire, sought to
use theatre as a tool for social change, and to create plays that could
open dialogue between actors and audience. He believed that audiences
deserved to have an input on the action they were watching, were capable
of being part of the drama, and could help one another explore all
possible ways of solving a problem.

“It is fundamental to Boal’s work that anyone can act and that
theatrical performance should not be solely the province of
professionals. The dual meaning of the word ‘act’, to perform and to
take action is also at the heart of his work.”

Boal labeled audience members “Spect-actors,” scripted provocative
scenarios featuring common, complicated instances of oppression and
invited viewers to stop a scene in the middle to offer the characters
suggestions that might lead towards a more positive outcome.  During one
such performance, so the story goes, an audience member got so
frustrated that the actor wasn’t following his instructions, that he got
up out of his seat and took the actors place on stage. Unbeknownst to
him, this impassioned audience member sparked the invention of a new
kind of political theatre. From that moment on, Boal adapted his format
to encourage audience members to actually step into the action unfolding
and replace a specific character. The other actors improvise around and
react in character to the audience member’s new tactics.

In his native Brazil, Augusto Boal focused on the overt forms of
political oppression and oppression resulting from race/class
inequalities that audience members were familiar with. In these
instances, it was always clear who was in the role of power-holder and
who was the victim. When he attempted to transfer his format to
countries in North America and Europe, however, he found that ideas of
“oppressor” and “oppressed” were not as cut and dry as they had been in
Latin America.  In Europe and North America, Boal discovered,
interpersonal relationships were latent with status-shifts and
oppression that lurked beneath the surface and was often the result of
individual egos caught up in a web of mis-communication. Oppression took
on a whole new meaning, and had to be considered at various levels. 
This is something that Boal practitioners like Julie Salverson struggle
with daily: “How do we handle that huge contradiction between
empathizing with the oppressed within the oppressor?”

Also, Boal noticed, in Europe and North America oppression was
frequently internalized, caused by excessive self-critique. This lead
him to coin the term “Cops in the head” to refer to the subtle ways in
which people tend to sabotage their own potential, and hold themselves
and others down. These “Cops in the head” are subversive and can lead to
misunderstandings that have dire, long-lasting consequences. Forum
Theatre scenarios in affluent countries and within big businesses often
focus on examples of this subversive status-shifting and manipulation,
and the end results of such behaviour.

As our clients know, we at Anderson Sabourin incorporate
improvisation into many of our workshops. Even the most basic improv
exercizes help our clients find unique ways to asses themselves and
their actions, to listen more deeply, remain calm under pressure, give
up control, learn to take risks, and to view one another in a different
light.  Forum Theatre goes one step further. It reflects the real life
reality of a specific workplace and situation, it highlights the
complexities and conflicts at hand, and gives participants an
opportunity to step into the action and “rehearse for reality”
attempting to problem-solve their way to a more positive outcome. A
process that he called “dynamization” was essential to forum theatre for
Boal, as he considered it a new kind of catharsis wherein the
spectators purge of the fear it takes to intervene rather than purging
of their desire to act through passive, vicarious identification with
the protagonist.

For the forum theatre experience to be as effective as possible, a
few key things are necessary.
(1) The presented scenario must be realistic and reflect the reality of
audience members.  Prior to the workshops day, much consultation and
preparation goes into writing the script and creating the characters,
including gathering reports from managers and employees, and consulting
with various team members about what they see as the most pressing
issues.  The writers pay careful attention to the nuances and vernacular
of each workplace and seek to incorporate these subtle elements into
the written scenario. Before presentation, the client is encouraged to
sit in on rehearsals, give feedback and make the necessary changes to
ensure all information is accurate and that the scenario does reflect
reality. On the presentation day itself, if the audience decides that
several aspects of the scenario are not in fact realistic, then the
players need to adapt on the spot until the group agrees on an accurate
picture.

(2) There are no right answers.  The host (labeled the “joker” by
Boal) must work to make the stage a welcoming and safe space and
encourage as many “spect-actors” as possible to step into the action and
offer their personal perspectives.  The joker must honour the
suggestions made by each audience member.  Sometimes unexpected tactics
meet with surprise success, but it is the jokers job to de-brief each
and every intervention with the group at large, and always ask: “Who
wants to try something different?”

(3)  “Magic” solutions are too simple. “Magic” in Forum Theatre,
occurs when a suggested solution is too easy and doesn’t take into
account the full reality of the staged scenario. For example, perhaps
there is a scene where a shy character, new to the company and afraid of
loosing his job, is trying to confront his boss about a racist remark. 
An audience member may have the impulse to step up and say: “Well, I
know.  He just needs to tell him off!” And so proceed to approach the
boss character aggressively, yelling, telling him exactly how he feels
underappreciated, disrespected and is “gonna sue his pants off…” Sure,
in the moment this sort of intervention can make for a real Oscar-worthy
performance, and can be liberating for the participating audience
member and the group alike. But in this case the joker must turn to the
audience and ask whether or not they believe such an intervention was
“magic.”  Would a man who has always been shy, and is afraid of being
laid off, actually be courageous (or foolish) enough to do something
like that? The audience decides.

Forum Theatre is a highly effective way to empower employees, and
help them to view everyday obstacles from a distance, thus enabling them
to more accurately asses multiple perspectives on given situations and
actively find new solutions. Forum Theatre is a memorable addition to
any training workshop, as it deals directly with delicate issues that
effect employees, involves them in body and mind in the problem solving
process and engages the group in follow-up discussion. It is a profound
and effective rehearsal for reality.