Biography

Early Years
Brazilian Augusto Boal was born in 1931 and raised in Rio de Janeiro, son of Jose Augusto Boal and Albertina Pinto Boal, Portuguese. When Boal grew up, Brazil was under th dictatorship of Getulio Vargas whose goverment was totlitarian in charater yet maintained friendly relations with the United States and other democracies(Bethell 1994).
Boal's early years were happy ones. His parents were economically comfortable and their attitudes liberal. Boal's love of theatre found expression in shows staged in the family dining room by the ten-year-old Boal, his siblings and their cousins, and in the first plays he wrote, using his mother's sewing machine as a table. As Boal represents it, his attitude then was characteristic of the approach he would later adopt as an adult practitioner. On his childhood literary efforts, he comments: 'When i read a story and did not like it, I would rewrite it', hinting at the philosophy he would later develop in the Theatre of the Oppressed.

In New York
He was formally trained in chemical engineering and attended Columbia University in the late 1940's and early 1950's. New York was attractive to Boal because it presented th opportunity to study plywriting with drama critic, historian and artist-producer John Gassner (1902~66), whom he greatly admired. Initially, Boal's engagement with both New York and his studies was overshadowed by overwhelming feelings of cultural dislocation, but involvement in the University's cultural programe and organisations such as the Writers' Group in Brooklyn helped overcome this. Since many of the artists Boal knew from his time at the University of Brazil were highly regarded in America, he was able to forge further connections.

While in New York, Boal had the opportunity to see an immense variety of plays and production companies. As for practitioners, Boal's most evident debt is to Bertolt Brecht(1895~1956). Theatre of Oppressed makes frequent reference to Brecht's proposals for an Epic Theatre; Brecht's political themes and anti-illutionist, 'critical' production style have found renewed expression in Boal's practice. But, less obviously, his work is also influenced by Konstantin Stanislavsky(1863~1938). If watching an actor create is 'the best wayto understand the human being', the Theatre of the Oppressed proposes, by extension, that participation in the creative processes of theatre is the best way to reveal the human being, and through this to understand one's self and one's society. Boal returned to Brazil from New York with a developed awareness of theatre'potentiality, a broadened theatrical vocabulary and an approach to theatre-making informed by principles of actor creativity, detail and dicipline.

At the Arena Theatre of Sao Paulol
Boal returned to Brazil in 1955 and was quickly hired by Jose Renato, artistic director of the Arena Theatre in São Paulo. His work at the Arena Theatre led to his experimentation with new forms of theatre that would have an extraordinary impact on traditional practice.
Boal's description of Arena's activities during his time there demarcates four theatrical phases. These are referred to as ' realist', 'beginning 1956; 'photographic', from 1958; 'nationalisation of the classics', from 1962; and 'musicals', from 1964.

Exile
A new military regime started in Brazil in 1964 with a coup d'état supported by the Brazilian elite, the church and the middle class, as well as by the United States (in fear of communism). Boal’s teachings were controversial, and as a cultural activist he was seen as a threat by the Brazilian military regime. In 1971 Boal was kidnapped off the street, arrested, tortured, and eventually exiled to Argentina, where he stayed for 5 years. Boal published two books: Torquemada(1971) and his much acclaimed Theater of Oppressed(1973).
In Theater of the Oppressed Boal develops a theatrical method based on Pedagogy of the Oppressed, a book by the Brazilian educator and writer Paulo Freire(who was also a good friend of Boal).

Boal's method (which has been implemented in various communities around the world) seeks to transform audiences into active praticipants in theater plays. The method seeks to transform spectators into "spect-actors."
In Peru Boal practiced his Theater-Forum method, in which spectator replaces actor to determine the solution to a given problem presented by the actor, which can also be a real problem someone in the community is facing. Boal also lived in Paris, France for a number of years, where he created several Centers for the Theater of the Oppressed, directed plays, and also taught classes at theSorbonne University. Boal created the first International Festival for the Theatre of Oppressed in 1981.

Back in Brazil
After the fall of the military dictatorship Boal returned to Brazil after more than 20 years of exile in 1986. He established a major Center for the Theater fo the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro (CTO Rio), whose objective was to study, discuss and express issues concerning citizenship, culture and various forms of oppression using theatrical language.
Boal's work in the CTO made way for the approval of a new law that protects crime victims and witnesses in Brazil. After having worked to transform spectator into author in Theater of the Oppressed, he became a city councilor. His term ended in 1996, but he continued performing legislative theater acts with different groups in Brasilia.
Boal also worked with prisoners in Rio and São Paulo. Boal argued that people in prison are not free in space, but that they are in time, and that the Theater of the Oppressed strives to create different types of freedom so that people are able to imagine and think about the past, the present, and invent the future instead of having to wait for it. All this was in order for prisoners to have "a healthier and more creative lifestyle."
In 2008 Augusto Boal was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and in March of 2009 he received the title of "World Theater Ambassador" from the UNESCO.

Influences
Most of Augusto Boal’s techniques were created after he realized the limitations of didactic politically motivated theatre in the poor areas where he worked. He found that his attempts to inspire the people living in poor or 'slum' areas to rise up against racial and class inequality were inhibited by his own racial and class background, since he was white and comparatively financially comfortable. His new techniques allowed the idea of rebellion and the impetus for change to come from within the target group. Much of his early work and teaching was inspired by Maxist philosophy, although through his career he had not been restricted by this and much of his work now falls within the boundaries of a centre left ideology.

Death
Augusto Boal died May 2, 2009 at age 78 in Rio de Janeiro. He died of respiratory failure after a long battle against leukemia. Critic Yan-Michlaski claims Augusto Boal is the most known and respected Brazilian "theater man" abroad.

References
by Doug Paterson (Current: 11/05)
by Frances Babbage
Wikidepia