Friends of Tibet organizes a workshop with ideas from 'Theatre of the Oppressed' in Dharamsala.

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When Brazilian theatre activist Augusto Boal created this new interactive
theatrical mechanism and called it "Theatre of the Oppressed" who would have
imagined that one day it would be brought to Dharamshala by two Indian Tibet
supporters for the use of young exiled Tibetans?

Friends of Tibet organises a five-day theatre workshop in Dharamshala for a mix
of 20 Tibetan and Indian youngsters living in Dharamshala. "We don't have to
shout our lungs out all the time, we can act and demonstrate our pain and give
voice to our frustration through drama. Theatre is also a process of self
introspection for the self and to the society and it becomes a collective
expression at the time of public performances", says organiser Tenzin Tsundue,
who is himself a theatre freak. "Some times we can just come out into the
streets and laugh at giant China's paranoia and fear of one Buddhist monk" he
added.

For the purpose of training, Friends of Tibet has roped in two of the most
experienced and active India theatre activists Jaya Aiyer and Ishtiaq who are
especially experienced in the Theatre of the Oppressed. Augusto Boal's Theatre
of the Opressed is studied and used in many places in India for both social and
political causes like communalism, environment protection and AIDS awareness.

Founding director of the Center for the Theatre of the Oppressed, University of
Nebraska Prof Doug Paterson says "Boal's explorations were based on the
assumption that dialogue is the common, healthy dynamic between all humans,
that all human beings desire and are capable of dialogue, and that when a
dialogue becomes a monologue, oppression ensues. Theatre then becomes an
extraordinary tool for transforming monologue into dialogue."

In the five-day theatre workshop the participants will learn voice modulation,
body language, sense of space and whole gamut of theatre languages and
mechanics. There is also an active yoga training every morning.

A group of Indian and Tibetan youngsters will undergo the theatre training
camped at an Indian village called Garoh seven Kilometres down the valley from
Dharamshala. The Indians and Tibetan youth will later give a performance at the
end of the workshop in Dharamshala.

This event of Friends of Tibet is supported by Foundation for Universal
Responsibility, New Delhi.

To know more, email: tenzin.tsundue@friendsoftibet.org or call: +91.9418079832

. . . . . . . . . .
Friends of Tibet, PO Box: 16674, Bombay 400050, India.
. . . . . . . . . .
Friends of Tibet is a people's movement to keep alive the issue of Tibet
through direct action. Our activities are aimed at ending China's occupation of
Tibet and the suffering of the Tibetan people. Friends of Tibet supports the
continued struggle of the Tibetan people for independence. To know more, visit:
www.friendsoftibet.org