The GTO LX is the Theatre of the Oppressed Group of Lisbon, an NGO engaged in stimulating active and conscious participation of the citizens in the construction of society. We implement community intervention projects in critical neighbourhoods where we work directly with the population in order to provoke an awareness process about their realities and encourage individual empowerment. Our methodology incentives the beneficiaries to create Forum Theatre plays based on their issues and personal realities. These plays are then presented to the whole community, creating a common ground where shared problems are discussed and solutions explored, promoting social empowerment. In Forum Theatre, the audience is invited to enter the stage in order to replace the protagonist and improvise alternative ways to deal with the presented situation.
The community is thus actively and directly involved in the analysis, debate and resolution of the problem, developing a group conscience and a proactive concept of citizenship. Throughout the process of social empowerment, the participants learn to master the techniques of the Forum Theatre as they create plays based on their reality and actively engage the community through the public presentations.In an advanced stage of the process the participants become the multiplying agents of the methodology, training other groups that want to promote social transformation within their own communities.
“MULTIPLICA” is a network created by GTO LX that integrates all the groups actively engaged in this process of empowerment. Trained and certified by GTO LX, these community groups use the Theatre of the Oppressed methodology to intervene in their own community. The network currently integrates 12 active groups in various parts of the country and formed by different types of populations, such as at-risk youth, early-mothers, women, people with mental illness, elderly, immigrants or legal expatriates. In addition to the process of empowerment, from its mobilization to their autonomy, the GTO LX also promotes regular meetings, festivals and training that enable the sharing of experiences among different members of the network.
Our process of training consists in the implementation of the Forum Theatre techniques as a tool that promotes individual and community empowerment. We work directly with disadvantaged populations, training them in the forum theatre techniques and acting as facilitators in their empowerment process. We also organize regular trainings in the Theatre of the Oppressed techniques directed to those who wish to implement this methodology in their communities, or that simply want to learn more about the techniques. Everyone is welcomed, since social workers and educators to theatre students and curious people.
Our open trainings cover:
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