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Leadership Theatre Event
David M. Boje
MAIN SITE: LEADERSHIP OUT OF THE BOX
Page Index: | Image Theatre | Invisible Theatre | Forum Theatre | Writing up Team
Commentary | Purpose and Process of the Leadership Theatre Event (skit) | Brecht's
Epic Theatre | See Boal Games of Power with McDonalds examples | Study guide for
conducting Boal with bit of Brecht workshop 2003 | McDonald's, McDonaldland, &
McDonaldization main web site |
Web Directory: |Assignment Schedule| Leadership Theatre Resources | Syllabus|
This page contains help and hints on designing effective in class Leadership Theatre
skits. For the basic roles of the skit and how it is evaluated, see Purpose and Process of
the Leadership Theatre Event (skit). For a cool project, try creating a Matrix Story
Game (does not have to be done with dice and board, just create character cards and use
some Rules of Matrix Story Games
Background - Inspiration for Theatre of Leadership owes much to Augusto Boal
(1979); first in his book Theater of the Oppressed, translated from the Spanish Teatro
de Oprimido (1974a); a more recent collection of his talks and training approaches, in
Games for actors and non-actors (1992); and his latest take, Rainbow of Desire, The
Boal Method of Theatre and Therapy (1996). Boal’s theory is we are part spectator
and part actor, and when we cross the divide between audience and stage, to join with
the actors, this makes us spect-actors. Boal designs three kinds of theatre that we can
apply to leadership: Image, Invisible, and Forum). Note there are more choices for
designing your skits; see Boje's (2001a) for a Dozen more Experiential Exercises in
Theatres of Leadership.
Introduction - Leadership is theatre. We begin with a brief overview of Aristotle's
Poetics, then turn quickly to Boal's (1992) three kinds of theatre (Image, Invisibility, &
Forum) we can apply to leadership training. Leaders perform all six poetic parts of
theatre that Aristotle (1450a: 5, p. 231) wrote about in 350 BCE. But, I shall
hypothesize that their ordering has changed in this postmodern world, where spectacle
has more value than plot. The following lists the elements in the order of importance
Aristotle gave them:
1. Plot - Aristotle believed story (plot) the most important of the six
parts; plot is a combination of incidents and is the purpose of the
theatrics; the incidents arouse pity and fear in the spectators (e.g.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
seeing the suffering by some deed of horror), other times
amusement or irony. In comedy, the bitterest enemies walk off
good friends at the end of their conflict.
Character - The second is character, "what makes us ascribe
certain moral qualities to the agents (actors)" (1450a: 5, p. 231).
Characters reveal the moral purpose of the agents, i.e. the sort of
thing they seek or avoid (1450b: 5, p. 232). Moral purpose of the
character is revealed by what they say or do on stage (1453: 19,
p. 242)
Theme - The third element is thought (i.e. theme), shown in all
the characters say and do in proving or disproving some
particular point, or enunciating some universal proposition.
Dialog - Fourth, is the diction (dialog), the verbal and non-verbal
exchanges among characters. This is resource to express
character, plot, and theme.
Rhythm - Rhythm can be fast or slow, repetitive or chaotic,
gentle or harsh. I.e. The leader character can be a workaholic
making everyone work at fast and harsh pace. The rhythm can
slow down or build up to give emphasis.
Spectacle - Aristotle thought spectacle, though an attraction, to be
the least artistic of all the parts, requiring extraneous aid (1450b:
15, p. 232 & p. 240); it is the stage appearance of the actor; what
the costumier does; pity and fear may be aroused by spectacle,
but better to arouse these emotions in the spectators by the plot,
the incidents of the play (1453, 13, p. 239).
Since Aristotle's day, spectacle has moved from sixth place to first, and leadership has
become more about conducting spectacle than plot and character; the scenery has
overtaken attention to the story (or plot). For More Intro to Leadership is Theatre,
please click for THEATRICS OF LEADERSHIP. For more on spectacle, see
SPECTACLE STUDY GUIDE. Next is an overview of three types of theatre (Boal,
1992). Incorporate just one type per skit.
Image Theater (Silent Theatre in Animated Body Sculpture).
Image Theater sets up a stage, in which we can see the body motions and interactions,
in what is known as a body sculpture. Image Theater is a silent theater, a great stage to
begin leadership training.
With Image Theater we could act out the qualities Ritzer (2000) describes in
McDonaldization; the efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control that comes
from combining Max Weber’s bureaucratic-authority with Henry Ford’s assembly line,
and Frederick Taylor’s principles of scientific management. It is this process of
rationalization, repetitiveness, and routine that we may overlook as a quite terrifying
theater.
In Image Theater, once we have worked out the aspects of Fordism, Taylorism, and
Weberism on stage, and we can visualize in Visual Theater some of the oppressions on
stage, we can rescript the poses, interactions, and get some discussion of what a more
ideal visual image would look like.
McDonald's Example: A presenting team might stage an Image Theater of McDonald’s
that would be collective, animated, body sculpture. Script writers could research the
McSpotlight web site and enact a scene from the famous McLibel trial
http://www.mcspotlight.org/. There are other alternatives, such as taking a conflictevent from a team member's experience of bad leadership; or, how about two famous
leaders caught in an everyday situation of oppression, such as sexual harassment,
dealing with a character who is aggressive, a boss who is drunk or some kind of pain in
the butt workaholic? Possibilities for skits are infinite, but usually involve a situation of
conflict between characters, some kind of oppression is present. The McDonald's
situation, is just an example; choose your own scene (Read up on the McDonald's
example).
Actor's Roles - The skit begins with characters taking their STATIC IMAGE on stage.
Each actor claims a space on the stage. The scene is frozen, waiting for the Director to
clap and bring it to animated, dynamic life. Someone could depict the statue of a young
teenager, smiling and about to say a scripted greeting from behind a counter (mouthing
the words, but not actually speaking). Another person would be flipping burgers,
another stuff bags with fries. A few would be pretending to wear headsets so they can
multi-task (produce and take orders from the drive-up window). Other bodies would
form statuesque poses of customers waiting in lines acting bored, or seated at tables
pretending to eat. Kneeling actors could pose as children engaged in play.
Director's Role - Director gives the signal (clap) to animate the model of McDonald’s
on stage. Director can also freeze the actors (e.g. Simon Says "Freeze your pose" but
again no words are uttered; its all body language). The director coordinates the sequence
of episodes in the skips with some GRAND CLAPS (Loud and directed at the entire
group of players). Secondly, there are a series of softer claps done in rapid or slow
succession to control the rhythm of a specific episode. It will take practice to get
characters and director into coordination.
Scene 1: Strike a Pose - Cast members could, for example, assume statue poses of
various worker, manager, owner, and customer roles (and processes) that make up
McDonald’s fast-food factory. enact the various scenes, scripts, and poses of
McDonald’s Theater of Leadership Robots.
Scene 2: Director Claps for 1st Dynamization (RHYTHM) - With a clap of your
director, the static pose, animates and becomes dynamic. The Rhythm of the
dynamization is fast, repetitive, and mechanistic; be the machine. McDonald's Theater
could be scripted as a bureaucratic and Tayloristic assembly line tragedy. This
production theater is a highly bureaucratic and scientific management script, a fast food
assembly line. In 1st Dynamization, the spectators see a collection of individuals on
stage, each doing their own rhythm, but not interacting. Throughout the skit, the
Director can clap fast to speed up the rhythm, or clap in slower pace to slow it down to
a stall, to a freeze frame; then clap more rapidly to speed it up.
Scene 3: Director Claps for 2nd Dynamization (CHARACTER) - With this grand
clap, the interaction begins. The individual Character begin to interact with each other.
It is all non-verbal (no speaking roles; no narrator). Good skits have a conflict;
interaction brings this out.
Scene 4: Director Claps for 3rd Dynamization (THEME)- The theme of oppression
starts to be dramatized by the players, as they interact. The point is to make the
oppressive image become as real as possible.
Scene 5: Director Claps for 4th Dynamization (PLOT). Here is where the pity and
fear emotions get evoked in the spectator. Its time to call forth the enactment of the
tragic flaw, the one spectators seek to avoid in their own life, so they do not have the
same fate. Rehearse the skit - try out a oppressive scene, then ask, "what is the
consequence" of this leader (or other characters oppression) on each other character?
And how will each character react? Show acts of submission and resistance in the
characters being oppressed and dominated. More variations - the Director could clap
with more vigor and the actors who are oppressors could oppress more, intensifying
their oppression; and the oppressed could be more resistant to the oppression with each
rapid series of claps. Use succession of claps to keep the rhythm in the pace you are
seeking. Bring it down to a standstill, to accentuate the shift in audience attention to the
next step.
Scene 6: Director Claps for 5th Dynamization (RESOLUTION). How will the
oppression being staged be eliminated? You could fire the leader (not usually). You
could train the characters to be more organic and less robotic (but that would change the
theme of McDonaldization). You could add some new characters that change the
chemistry of the performance. You could picket, boycott, or revolt (maybe there would
be change). The point is to try out a resolution and see what reaction it gets from the
spectators.
Rescripting Leadership Theatre of McDonald's. One variation would be, for the
Director to enact three magic wishes. For example, the director could wave a pretend
wand over one of the oppressed characters, and extend the hand with three raised
fingers, so both audience and character see the gesture. With each wish, the actors on
stage start to change the motions and repetitions to try out alternatives to robotic
leadership, so the spectators (in the audience) and spect-actors (on stage) can see what a
change here or there would mean to McDonald's leadership.
Example, transform the real McDonald's model of leadership into an’ ideal model,’ in
which the oppression (to customers, workers, animals, and managers) has been
eliminated.
Curtain: Stop the Skit - when all liberation possibilities have been explored; all
conflicts are resolved; if you like a happy ending go for that, otherwise, let the tragic
flaws of the characters reach their tragic ending. After all these are character traits, and
traits, do not change.
Post-skit, COMMENTARY - Now the discussion begins. Words are absent in the skit,
but not during the commentary; make the discussion as rich and interactive (with the
spectators) as possible. The commentators relate the skit, as performed, to the reading
assignments for that week. For example, the 1st Team is doing a skit with topics such as
supermen/women; Machiavelli; McClelland, etc. Commentators could relate the skit to
how "will to power" of supermen/women plays out in the oppression or the manner of
its resistance; there could be a Machiavellian character; or someone could comment
upon McClelland's 'need for achievement,' 'need for power,' or 'need for affiliation.'
You don't have to cover every aspect; pick out what is interesting for you and the class
to explore. The bigger question we explore in this week, is about "traits" (what are the
traits of leaders, both oppressive (tragically flawed ones) and romantic (heroic ones).
Commentators can make the plot, characters, rhythm changes, theme, dialog, and
spectacle clear; can also ask the spectators for script-changes, other resolutions, etc.
Here are some additional ideas:
What conflict? E.g. McDonaldization is a theater resisted by workers tired of minimum
wage and being treated like robots with only unskilled job options; resisted by managers
who also perform like robots following very tightly coordinated scripts; and by
consumers who hate fast food (others love it, think its like church, very routine; worship
at the Golden Arches). Other conflicts: animals who do not like to become fast food;
child labor making those toys that go into the Happy Meals (see Invisibility Theatre).
Background:
Complaints from employees range from discrimination and lack of rights, to
understaffing, few breaks and illegal hours, to poor safety conditions and kitchens
flooded with sewage, and the sale of food that has been dropped on the floor
(McSpotlight, 2001a).
How to apply Aristotle's Six Elements of Theatre to the Leadership Skit (Good
stuff to do in post-skit commentary):
1. Plot: The McDonald's plot is to deskill workers and managers so they become robots
in the machine. Good plot evoke pity and fear in the spectators; the spectator says in
their head, "Dude, I do not want to be a cog in a machine." In seeing tragic theatre, the
spectator is being taught a lesson; they do not want to end up experiencing the same fate
as a character on stage, who has a tragic flaw.
Subplot - depict just how scripted to its very core the modern corporation is, and how
resistant we as consumers, workers, and managers are to changing those scripts.
2. Character - The moral purpose of each "character" is revealed by what they do or
say (note: it is body speak, no words or sounds; it is image theatre). Typically, some
characters are oppressed; others are oppressors (each has their unique moral purpose).
Oppressors comes in many types: the angry boss, the bureaucratic rule follower, the
pompous jerk, the workaholic boss trying to impose that rhythm on everyone else, the
aggressive leader, the Machiavellian leader, etc.
3. Theme: Aristotle's third element is THEME, and the theme of this sample skit is
McDonaldization. The McDonald's Theme of an Image Theater Event, for example,
would be a performance of McDonald’s (or Burger King, Wendy's or other fast food
place) is to depict, not only its Weberian (Max Weber), Taylorist (Frederick Taylor),
and Fordist (Henri Ford); it is the terror of being a robot in the machine. In English,
when we give up our theatrical authenticity and become McDonald's leaders, we give
up our personal power, and it becomes theatrical capital for others to control; owners
who get rich from our robot leadership.
4. Dialogue - Each actor acts out a McDonald’s theme of oppression. But, there is no
spoken dialog. Just body language, the give and take of interaction, that constitute the
episodes.
5. Rhythm - Body movements and rhythmic motions of body parts depict each episode
of oppression. E.g. Could depict in McDonald's body sculpture, the standardized leader
performance script, the routinized jobs, the same thing, same time, same place staging
of working and eating games, makes it possible for us spectators to analyze the
mechanistic aspects of McDonald’s. It is moving sculpture of the McDonald’s model of
production and consumption. It depicts the repeated motions and scripted interactions
between workers, between workers and managers, and between workers and customers.
The rhythm is machine-like and the people are robot-like in their repeated motions and
interactions.
6. Spectacle - This would be costuming; props and scenery. Not necessary to an artistic
performance. Redundant says Aristotle.
Instructor Follow-on to this Script - The instructor (Boal calls his role the ‘joker’)
consults the audience and removes actors from the stage that have no apparent function
or convey no meaning. The instructor might ask others to join the players on stage, or
ask the audience what other characterizations are needed, or other forms of oppression,
or other resolutions. Here is a basic structure (modify and adjust as needed).
Getting the entire audience to take parts in a full class animated body sculpture of
McDonald's leadership.
Instructor (Joker) signals participants to inter-relate their body motions to form the
McDonald’s machine, live in class.
Modeling various kinds of oppression, suggested by the audience.
Read up on McDonald's example
Invisibility Theater
Invisibility Theater is not
realism; it is reality (Boal,
1992: 15).
Invisibility can add some verbal dialog, but the scenes should carry themselves with
mostly the body language. Invisibility Theater brings the absent reality (most oppressed
character) on stage; it becomes visible, no longer hidden or taken for granted reality.
Note, you may want to start with a short scene of Image Theatre, to give the audience a
good sense of the situation.
Purpose: To act out real life, live situations of leadership, where the Theatre of
Leadership is on center stage, where carnivalesque protest leadership resist status quo
leadership. To get people in the real life theatre to debate their roles and plots in their
day to day drama; to see the scripts they live and take for granted. Why? To subvert
taken-for-granted normal behavior in a public space into reflected and debated roles and
scripts. Its dramatic, its real, its alive, its passionate, and these are situations that require
lots of leadership skill to address. Most of all, we can use Theatres of Leadership, on
live stage, to try out solutions. Its about solutions, its not about ragging on corporate
greed (always fun, but not the point).
There are two types of Invisibility Theatre:
Type 1: Inviting Invisible Characters on Stage - Invisibility Theater brings the
absent characters, those with roles in global capitalism onto the stage, so they become
visible to the spectators. Here we continue the McDonald's example (you might want to
try Taco Bell; demonstrators are now on tour protesting Taco Bell in cities across the
land (Click here for Taco Bell info) ; why? - over their oppression of farm workers;
another site). You don't have to do McDonald's or Taco Bell. These are mere examples
(you could choose to do something on Disney, Nike, USAS at NMSU, or some other
corporation, whose leadership is always in the spotlight). Choose whatever situation
suits your fancy. Note: the example that follows is for illustration. You choose your
own plot, theme, and subplot. You can rehearse Type 1 theatre scripts, then take them
on the road, into the "real" in Type 2 invisibility Theatre.
Example of Type 1 - SWEATSHOP FASHION SHOW Spect-actors are instructed
toward articles of Reebok, Adidas, Nike, or New Balance (or others such as Kathie Lee
Gifford clothing, Guess, Gear for Sports, Patagonia, Game, etc.). For background
reading on sneaker companies, consult http://cbae.nmsu.edu/~dboje. See USAS at
NMSU site. Have each member of the class wear one high-priced garment to class, that
they think was made in a sweatshop.
Step 1 - Each spectator/model picks an article of clothing from wardrobe, made
in a third world country.
Step 2 - Instruct spectators to research the conditions of work, the health, safety, and
human rights in the country from which their garment comes (tell them to look at the
tag and do some research). Consult
http://cbae.nmsu.edu/~dboje/nike/nikewithmap.html for factory listings in sneaker
industry. For other factories - do Google or other search for [ENTER these terms -"work conditions" AND "country name" AND "boycott"]. Do another search on
"Boycott" and "factory name" -- This will get you info on activist research on the
company and country.
Step 3 - Each spect-actor writes up an index card about the working conditions of the
country and/or factory where their clothing or sneakers are made. They also write down
their own name, the country, the factory location on the card. Each card is several
sentence, but not longer, since that would get boring.
Step 4 - Hand the card to the Master of Ceremonies of the anti-Sweatshop Fashion
show. MC will read your card as you do a fashion runway walk in your sweatshop
garment. The theatre begins as the master of ceremonies, using a microphone or
megaphone, reads from each card as the actor crosses the stage. The point of the show is
to provoke the audience into becoming spect-actors, to verbally express their view in
debating the cohorts planted in the audience.
Cohort Roles - In the audience, strategically seat several members of the team as cohort
Actors. Their role is to agitate the audience into becoming spect-actors. Half play the
role of those in favor of sweatshops, and half play the opposite role, against sweatshops.
In sum, your team has several roles (a Master of Ceremonies, Floor models to model
sweatshop goods, cohorts in favor of sweatshops, and cohorts against sweatshops.
INTRO TO SWEATSHOP FASHION SHOW:
"Welcome to our Sweatshop Fashion Show, a combination of political theater and
educational comedy. Today, you’ll see our models displaying some of the latest
fashions made in Asia, Latin America, the United States, Australia, and Canada” (from
script I am writing). Instead of supermodels in barely clad silk dresses costing
thousands of dollars, these garments are made in sweatshops, sold at our campus
apparel store or local Wal-Mart. In such shows, staged on college campuses, on city
streets, and in at the mall, models enter and walk across the catwalk wearing the latest
Nike, Disney, Guess, Gap, Van Heusen, Tommy Hilfiger, and Wal-Mart brands as
announcers comment on poverty wages and abusive working conditions. Your
university has no doubt hosted similar Sweatshop Fashion shows highlighting working
conditions in the garment industry in not only Latin America and Asia, but in
metropolitan cities. Maquila Solidarity Network (2001a) even provides fashion show
script ideas."
"This is Monica, she works in a Reebok factory in China. She earns 26 cents an hour for
10 hours work. She works 20 days straight and then has a day off. She lives in the
factory dorms with 9 other women. She is 22 years old and wearing the Reebok
sneakers she can purchase after 30 days of work, assuming she had no deductions for
food, dues, etc. (original)."
Cohort 1 - "Man this is bogus. Who cares if their clothes are made in sweatshops. We
buy the label. The label is what matters? Nobody cares!"
Cohort 2 - "Women work for 20 cents an hour or less in China to make these clothes.
That is not enough to feed anybody."
Cohort 1 - "Sure it is. It costs a lot less to live in china than here."
Cohort 2 - "Right, you mean to starve, don't you.!"
Our next model, Sheila, is wearing body-hugging Guess jeans that were made in
Mexico. Doesn’t Sheila look great? The Guess brand image is hot and sexy… Actually,
"hot and sexist" is probably a better description of working conditions for the women
sewing Guess products. Hot as in sweatshops, and sexist as in supervisors. An
investigation of four Guess contractors in Mexico in 1998 found evidence of forced
overtime, violations of child labor laws, unsafe working conditions, discrimination
against pregnant women, poverty, repression and fear. Thank you, Sheila.” (MSN,
2001a) [See Boje, 2001g for references].
Cohort 1 - "People just want to look good. They don't care about sweatshops. Get a
clue. Nobody is going to change their fashion habits because of this fashion show!"
Cohort 2 - "I care. I think other people care. We want to know who makes the clothes
on our backs. I want to know why executives making millions of dollars a year, are so
cheap they pay heir workers chump change."
A word to the MC: Keep the descriptions short and sweet so as not to bore the
audience.
The point of the Invisible Theatre is to make some oppression visible on the
stage, and most of all, to get the spectators involved in the debate, so they stop
being silent passive uninformed spectators, and start debating the oppression.
The point is to make an invisible oppression visible; it is to make the
unconscious conscious of the theatre they are already within. That is, to make
the theatre of global capitalism visible theatre, where spect-actors debate the
script, roles, and enter into the dialog.
After the anti-sweatshop fashion show, conduct discussions between the fashion,
cohorts, fashion models and the rest of the spectators in the audience. Ask what could
cohorts do to provoke more discussion among the spectators, ways to seduce them into
being part of the dialog, instead of passive consumers.
Type 2: Making the Invisible Theatre Visible - Life is theatre. But, when Invisible
Theatre is ready, it is not performed in a traditional theatre (Boal, 1992: 6). So instead
of staging your play in an artificial place called a theatre or a classroom, you take your
show on the road, and enter the public theatre of 'real' life (of course classes are real
life!). Augusto Boal, for example developed scripts with roles for actors, then did the
shows in the Paris Metro, on ferryboats, in restaurants, and on the streets of cities such
as Stockholm. This type of Invisible theatre "involves the public as participants in the
action without their knowing it" (Jackson, 1992: xx). The public moves out of its sleep
walking role to become active spectators, who act in a piece of theatre; they become
spect-actors in their own life; through the play, they reflect on their roles and life
scripts, and dirty little plots they take for granted. While Invisibility Theatre happens
and even after the event, the spect-actors do not know it is "theatre time" rather than just
more "real life." How? For example, Child Labor - Beneath the stage, girls in their
early teens use fake ID’s, their tender age ignored by bribed officials, are working 16 to
20-hour days, for about twenty pennies, in Third World sweatshops to produce
McDonald’s toys, sold to consumers who save a few cents.
Snoopy, Winnie the Pooh and Hello Kitty toys sold with McDonald's meals in Hong
Kong are made at a mainland Chinese sweatshop that illegally employs children to
package them… The children, as young as 14, work 16-hour days for the equivalent of
about $2.95 -- barely the cost of one McDonald's meal in Hong Kong, the Sunday
Morning Post reported (The Associated Press Date: 08/27/00 22:15).i[i]ii iiiSee more on
McDonald's example
In Vietnam, there are similar allegations of child labor used to make Disney toys sold at
McDonald’s, but these children earn only 6 pennies an hour and work seven days a
week. Corporate theater becomes a set of staged acts and performances scripted to
mislead the spectators, when a scandal breaks. For example, the National Labor
Committee also alleges Happy Meal toys produced at Keyhinge factories in China have
mandatory 14 to 15 hour shifts, such as the Chi Wah Toy factory, where in 1992, 23
workers were hospitalized and three died after benzene exposure.
Example of an Invisible Theatre Type 2 Script - Several actors rehears a scene and
they play it in a public space. For example, rehearsing a scene about child labor used to
make Happy Meal toys, then taking that play into the public space of a McDonald's
restaurant. The customers, employees, managers, and owners of the McDonald's do not
know they are an audience about to be seduced into becoming spect-actors. The goal is
to get the public involved in an argument or provocation staged by the actors.
First Actor presents a Happy Meal toy and says, "This Scooter Bug toy has an
antenna, that can break off and choke my child. I read that Fisher Price has
asked that we return this toy to any McDonald's restaurant. I am returning it for
a replacement toy. Hand them this flier (U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission or this Channel 3000 article or Channel 7 article). (If you do not
have a Scooter Bug, bring back a Lord of the Rings toy, Toy Story II, Bug's Life,
Poh Chi II, Snoopy World, or Monsters, Inc. toy, See Toy List; 2nd list; 3rd list;
4th list).
Second Actor, standing next in line - "I heard that Happy Meal toys are made by
teenage laborers making 6 cents an hour. I don't think parents should give
children toys made by other children working in sweatshops in Vietnam and
China till 3AM. .
Third Actor, also standing in line - "I collect Happy Meal toys. Its my Hobby. I
don't think McDonald's employs kids in sweatshops. If they do, its a ay for poor
folks to earn a living
Second Actor - "Living. You call 6 cents an hour a living. McDonald's is cheap.
They can afford to pay a decent wage, like 22 cents an hour to kids in China
and Vietnam." (this is said while looking at others in line, to invite their
comment.)
Third Actor - "How do you know what a decent wage is in Asia. Maybe six cents
an hour is a pretty good wage there. It sure beats starving to death.
McDonald's is good sound free enterprise. You don't know what you are talking
about. Do you?"
First Actor - "Look I just want to get a different Happy Meal toy for my kids. My
kids don't care who makes these toys. They just want them. Do you have those
new Mighty Kids Meal toys?"
Second Actor - "Lots of Kids in America care that their toys are not made by
slave labor."
Third Actor - "What are you talking about. There is no slave labor. These kids
have a choice. China is a Free Trade Country; no one is forced to work if they
don't want to, not in a McDonald's factory."
First Actor - (facing Second Actor) "Listen, since you don't like it here, can I
have your Happy Meal toy if you are not gonna keep it?"
Second Actor - "Children in China and Vietnam slave away to make these toys.
Third Actor - "Listen America has more serious problems than worrying about
child labor in Asia. We have to take care of our children here first"
Second Actor - "Oh I get it, you want little kids to work during recess by putting
together Happy Meal toys. Maybe some of those Monster Inc. or Lord of the
Rings stuff, since everyone like those toys so much. Besides, they're young,
and have nimble fingers and all, and it's not like child labor's that bad a thing,
hello? Hello? Get a clue."
Third Actor - "You talk like these kids are workin' like those kids in a (bleep)in'
Charls Dickens novel! What's your [bleep]in' problem? You deprived of Happy
Meal toys when you were a kid?"
First Actor -"My kids love their Happy Meal™ toys. My daughter loves Dr. Laura
Beanie Baby doll. Push the dot and it makes the cutest face. My kids don't really
care where the toys come from or who makes them. They are kids."
Second Actor - "Hey, show your kids the video When Children Do the Work (1,
2, 3), which graphically portrays the harsh conditions of McDonald's and Disney
toy-makers' sweatshops and how some children are robbed of their childhood.
Your kids need to know that other kids work in not only China but in El Salvador
and Honduras, in areas Zoned for Slavery.
Third Actor - "I'll bet you the kids in El Salvador, working in those factories, are
glad to have even 12 cents an hour. I suppose you want people everywhere in
the world to be paid the same as Americans?"
Second Actor - "Works for me. Why should there be mega gaps of wealth
between countries?"
Third Actor - "Get a clue. Its called the Free Enterprise system."
First Actor - "What does it have to do with me if a Vietnamese 10-year-old is
chained to a machine or if children are exploited in Honduras? I just want to get
a Happy Meal toy for my kid."
Second Actor - "Its Zoned For Slavery, not Free Enterprise!" (1)
ETC. - The point of this type of Invisibility Theatre is to take your play into the
public space of democratic discourse, to invite public citizens to enter into the
dialog and debate. You as actors set up the dialectic arguments, keeping the
scene moving with point and counter-point, looking to the spectators to join in
and become part of the action.
Augusto Boal (1992: 6) says "One point must be clearly understood: Invisible
Theatre is theatre; it must have a text with a scripted core, which will inevitably
be modified, according to the circumstances, to suit the interventions of the
spect-actors." Before heading to McDonald's or some other public space,
rehearse your script then be ready to improvise as the spectators become
spect-actors. I have developed McDonald's as a sample script. Pick an issue
that for your team of actors is of burning importance, something that will be a
concern to spect-actors.
It begins with setting a realistic scene on stage. If we construct an Invisibility Theater
we want to bring some characters into the restaurant, normally uninvited, such as the
child labor making the toys for the Happy Meals, the animals on their way to the
slaughter house, the trees in the disappearing rainforests, or the indigenous who can no
longer live off the land they can no longer own, or the family farmers who have sold out
to take a job on a factory farm or given up. The many so-called victims of
McDonaldization would become visible performers in Invisibility Theater.
Variations - Besides animals and kids making Happy Meal toys being absent characters
(Carol Adams uses term 'absent referents), there could be scenes with sexism or racism
as the absent referent. Note: I am not saying the McDonaldization involves these
variations (just some suggested themes for skit scenes).
Sexual Harassment - There could be a feature added, such as sexual harassment. The
theme might be the vulnerability of males or females in robotic roles to sexual
aggressors. A bit a leg nudging between a manager and a worker is enough to evoke
the scene of sexual harassment. Be sure that characters agree before the skit, what
kinds of touching or intimidation is allowable (respect human boundaries of
characters). Other aggression can be shown without touching, with the verbal banter,
where actors stare at one another, the guarded poses, etc. Find a public place, and act
out a bit of harassment, having one of the actors' defend man's right to harass, another
actor, ask that opposite role. Boal's group performed sexual harassment plays three
times in the Metro in Paris, on the Vincennes-Neuilly line (1992: 6). At each stop on
the Metro, an actor or two would get on a particular car. One actor played the Female
Victim, who sat down, as various other actors took seats in other parts of the subway
car. At the third subway station, a Male Aggressor, got on board, sat down opposite
the Female Victim, and started nudging his leg against the young woman's thigh.
Another male actor defended the man's right to harass, saying the woman looked so
beautiful, she begged for such attention. Another actor, took the view that women,
beautiful or not have the right not to be harassed on the subway or anywhere else.
The Female Victim kept up her protest, but in several staging of the play, not a single
by stander intervened. A new play was constructed; this time a good looking Male
Victim was harassed by two Feminists who got on at another subway stop. As the
various other actors got on the car, the debate unfolded, much like the first example.
However, this time, the by standers no longer stayed silent, they objected to the
harassment of the Male Victim.
Racism - Could elect to act out a situation where characters of a certain skin color,
eye color, ethnicity, hair style, etc. are being oppressed by a person playing the role of
racist oppressor. You could show the usual kind of pairing of people of similar
character traits, being opposed by those with other traits. Interesting and conflictful
dialogs could ensue as actors enact and defend racism. Boal (1992: 12-14) gives the
example of a group of actors that boarded a boot headed for a zoological garden in
Sweden. A Black Woman actor took a seat in a visible spot. An Italian Male actor and
a female playing the role of a Drunkard sat near by. The actors wait until the boat is
quite crowded. The Italian Male begins the provocation by asking the Black Woman
actor, "what are you doing here, sitting while white people are standing, without
seats. An angry Black Woman gets up and give a White person her seat. The
Drunkard Woman actor confronts the Italian Actor and says,
:You said that this was a land for whites - fair enough, this is a land for whites, white
Swedes; and you're Italian. Get out of that seat" (Boal, 1992: 13).
An actor playing the role of an Office Worker approaches the drunkard Woman and
insists she get up and give him her place, because though the Drunkard is Swedish, she
is drunk and unproductive as a human being, of questionable value to the human race.
You can image the extraordinary effect this performance had on the crowd of
passengers. They all started arguing at once, about the relative differences in human
rights among different nationalities, races or economic classes of people.
There are many other variations, such as age, gender, disability and other issues.
The point of Invisible Theater is to bring the off stage and the beneath the stage up
front and personal onto the center stage. It is to get people on the street to enter into a
self-reflective debate about taken-for-granted oppressions all around them. There could
be delicious and oppressive episodes. The finale, is to invite reflection (in the
commentary), and to enact some leadership solutions to problems raised (in post
commentary, act II of the skit - not required just an idea).
This example is a leadership struggle in two forms of theatre: spectacle and carnival.
The McDonald's example, is a clash of the Spectacle of McDonald's leadership caught
in conflict with the resistance of Carnival leaders (protesting various causes). For
example, animal rights, ecology, vegetarian, feminist, anti-sweatshop, and anti-globalist
activists would become customers at the McDonald’s, their theatrics would be
carnivalesque, full of parody, protest, and satire. They would be waving signs with
slogans like McMurder, McGreed, and McJob. The owners and managers (maybe
workers) would resist the carnival, bring in the police, have the carnival actors arrested,
send them to jail, and even put them on trail (these are examples, do not do them all).
The scenes could also move from toy factory, to rain forest, to slaughterhouse, and all
these scenes would be juxtaposed with the scene of a family giving their order to the
McDonald’s clerk. Animal rights activists would want to gut a cow on stage and let it
bleed on the stage, but family values spect-actors would prefer imitations to the real
thing.
More Sample Scenes - Picture Ronald McDonald trying to get the spectators in the
audience to notice his clowning around, to focus their attention on chasing all the
Burger heisters from the main stage. To keep the focus of audience attention on the
clown, and away from the Invisible Theatre being performed on stage. This is not the
silent theater of Image work; here spect-actors would say provocative things like”
“Ronald, do you kill the animals yourself?”
“Ronald, how many trees are cut to make these packages?”
“Ronald, do you think your have the right to cut down the rainforests to make grazing
land?”
“Ronald’s how many chickens live in a cage?”
Ronald, of course, would not respond, but just keep on distracting the audience. Ronald
is a spectacle character. This is a provocative engagement, an on stage encounter
between spectacles of corporate power and the carnival of resistance movements. And
it is corporate power that is in the McSpotlight.
Another Example: New Mexico State University - Suppose a group of actors such as
United Students Against Sweatshops, set up an Invisible Theatre scene at an NMSU
basketball game. As you know various college sports teams at NMSU are sponsored by
Nike, Reebok and Adidas. The garments our college teams wear are made in
sweatshops by mostly quite young women (mostly teens 14 to 19 years old). They make
garments for the $30 billion apparel market, and the $2.5 billion collegiate garment
industries.
"Check out those Swooshes on those Uniforms!"
1st action
A group of Actors take seats near one another, right in the middle of a crowd at a
basketball or volleyball game. They arrive one at a time (prepare by reading up on
United Students Against Sweatshops to make a script before heading to the game). For
example:
2nd action
Two actors begin to grumble, saying, "Why are our team players wearing sweatshop
uniforms?" "Don't our players know their uniforms are made by teenage women
working for poverty wages in sweatshops?" Keep in mind this is a non-violent
disturbance, meant to provoke dialog among the sports fans at the game. People at
games do shout out things at the game. It is part of the social convention.
3rd action
Two students chant "STOP Stop Terrorizing Oppressed People." STOP wearing the
Swoosh! Two other Actors play the role of spectators who just want to watch the game.
They respond with "Nobody cares where the uniforms are made or who makes them; we
just want you to be quiet so we can watch the game." "We are here to support our
team."
4th action
A sort of contest and debate develops between the protestors and the fans, but parties
trying to convince the spect-actors around them to support their cause. "I suppose you
want us to boycott Nike!" "No, not a boycott, just want better wages for women making
those uniforms. Is that too much too ask?" "If it is not a boycott, what is this?" "Hey,
we think that our universities can demand better working conditions from the factories
making our uniforms." Etc. As the scene unfolds and spect-actors join in the argument,
improvise the responses you make. "How much money do our coaches get to make our
teams wear those symbols of slavery?" One variation is to raise a banner or poster
saying, "No More Sweatshops" or STOP.
More info see United Students Against Sweatshops
For more info on constructing Theatre projects on this theme, see: Dozen more
Experiential Exercises in Theatres of Leadership
Rescripting - Invisibility Theater (type one, played with a knowing audience) once it
has established its oppression claims, can (like Forum Theatre) then turn towards
solutions. The audience participates in rescripting the oppression played out on the
stage. Vegetarians would want more salads, soy substitutes for chicken, fish, pork, and
beef. These new scenes could be acted out to test worker, owner, and customer
reactions. A more festive Invisible Theater can be staged, one where people can move
their tables and chairs, make special orders, take their time and eat and talk for hours.
This would attract the slow food folks, but may alienate the vegetarians and animal
rights activists who would want to change the menu to non-meat and for vegans nondairy cuisine.
Possible Theme and Script - We do not need to go to Vietnam or China to find
examples of McDonald’s employing children. The U.S. Department of Labor's most
recent six-month child labor enforcement sweep, netted several McDonald franchises
and corporate stores:
McBee Enterprises, which operates a McDonald's Restaurant franchise in West
Bridgewater, MA, was fined $6,750 for employing ten 14/15 year old minors contrary
to the hours standard…
A McDonald's Restaurant corporate store in Milford, MA, was fined $1,800 for
employing two minors beyond the hours permitted…
Pabenco, Inc., operating a McDonald's Restaurant in Brockton, MA, was fined $4,000
for the unlawful employment of twelve minors UUS Department of Labor Wage and
Hour Division, 2000).iv[ii]
Rescripting - reenact scene with adult workers, not children; with non-robotic leaders'
fire the clown.
Forum Theater
Forum Theater is a sort of fight or game, and like all forms of
game or fight, there are rules (see example of Forum Theater).
We also had some fight or game in Invisibility Theatre. But, in
Forum Theatre, the rules of the game are made much more
explicit. The game rules can be modified, but they still exist, to
ensure that the players are involved in the same enterprise, and to
facilitate the generation of serious and fruitful discussion (Boal,
1992: 18).
Another key difference between Invisibility Theatre and Forum
or Image theatre, is that the audience gets much more directly
involved, crossing the line to becoming actors on the stage, or
making the whole room a stage blurring all the boundaries. Actor
and spectator fuse, to become "spect-actors." In Forum Theatre,
the spectator becomes the protagonist (crosses the proscenium
arch to go on stage), trying to overcome the oppression presented
by the antagonists (oppressors). The boundary between audience
and actors is no more; they are now just spect-actors, all helping
to stage the game: trading roles, suggesting rule changes, and
script changes.
The point of Forum Theatre games is to get beyond the antagonist
and protagonist, win versus lose, good guy versus bad guy rut.
The point is also to do leadership on stage, to experiment and
transform oppression on stage, and to take that resolution beyond
the training ground, to change the world. The goal is to open up
pathways of liberation that can result in less spectacle, and more
festive organizations in a must less predatory capitalism.
Each character, as in Invisibility Theatre, is presented "visually,"
in such a way as to be recognizable, independent of any spoken
script (Boal, 1992: 19). In Forum theatre, the starting script
delineates the moral purpose of each character, so the spectators
(not yet spect-actors) can easily recognize each ideology
performed. The theme is a "social error: which is being analyzed
and explored during the Forum skit.
Forum Theatre takes up where Image and Invisibility Theatres
left off. To start the game, you may want to do a short Image
Theatre scene to set the context, or a brief scene of the Invisibility
of certain stakeholders to a situation. At a point where the
audience gets the sense of the game they are about to play, the
spectators, one by one are invited on stage to become spectactors. You collectively turn to crafting solutions, on stage and
live. Here is a sample sequence of staged events for Forum
Theatre
Scene 1 - Start off with an image theatre, a certain image of the
world is presented by the main actors to the spectators (here the
audience is in their seats, and the actors are on stage, as in
traditional theatre).
Scene 2 - Second Clap by the Director - The oppression in the
scene is made obvious. A director signals the players to animate
and if need to have some dialog and interaction to enact the
theme of oppression. Good script writers are needed to make
Forum Theatre workable. That is, the game much be set up so
that catastrophe is not the only outcome possible for the
protagonist. For example, if the theme is pure physical
aggression, then there are not many options beyond karate, kung
fu fighting, or running away. In short, these scenes do not set up
oppression that is of much use for Forum Theatre exploration, or
to hone leadership skills. Rather, script more internal,
psychological oppression scenes, where physical aggression is
not the only option. If the only result of sexual harassment is
rape, then it is not a great topic for Forum Theatre. However, if it
could have been stopped along the way, then it has possibilities.
If the situation is a strike by the workers, then how could it have
been avoided becomes the theme, and various plots can be
scripted.
Scene 3 - The director claps to signal the protagonist in the scene
to act out a planned solution to the oppression in the scene.
Scene 4 - Clap again, to freeze the performers into a static pose.
The director then asks the spectators if they agree with the
solution advanced by the protagonist. Probably not. The director
informs the spectators they are all spect-actors. All the spectactor has to do is yell "STOP" and go onto the stage, assume the
position of the protagonist (who heads to the sideline, and can
coach the spect-actor as needed, or keep it real, i.e. "generally
McDonald's owners are not great fans of animal activists,
vegetarians, etc."). Then the Director claps, the scene continues,
but the actors react to the new character now on stage.
Step 5 - The main actors replay/continue the same exact scene,
but the spect-actors come onto the stage and intervene to change
the vision of the world presented by these actors into a world as it
could be. If no spect-actors change the world, then the actors
keep playing the theme of oppression without any resolution. In
other words, audience members, are invited to take the role of the
protagonist and play out their idea of a resolution.
Scene 6 - The Director can clap rapidly, to indicate to the main
characters to intensify their oppression. This is the game that is
being played. The spect-actor tries to find a new solution, to
change the world - by resisting the intensified strategies.
Protagonists can be inventive, such as by bringing other spectactors on stage to play the role of lawyer's police, judges, parents,
customers, etc. This is the game, the spect-actor (protagonist) trying to find a new solution to the oppression and aggression
presented by the actors. For this to work effectively, the actors
must be able to give and take, to respond to the various dialog
and action presented to them by the protagonist.
Scene 7 - The spect-actor can give in, give-up, or drop out of the
game, then a new spect-actor rapidly heads for the stage, by
yelling "STOP." The Director then Claps loudly to get the scene
rolling again.
Scene 8 - If a spect-actor wins the game, and breaks the game of
the game of the oppressors, then that spect-actor gets to replace
one of the actors, and act out their idea of a more intensified
oppression.
The Joker (instructor) and Director of the skit, can also elect to
add realism to the event. For example, asking a character or
spect-actor to dare a little more, to who what they are capable of
on stage. Joker and Director provoke people on stage to stretch a
bit more in their acting, and dare to challenge leadership
assumptions.
It could happen that in the Forum Theatre game, no solutions
work. However, it is still awesome Forum event if a good debate
happens in the discussion.
A McDonald’s (just an example) Forum Theater takes the confrontation between
antagonists and protagonists to a new level, and allows for stop-action script changes,
and revisions to the plot, scripts, and games so that transformations can happen. This is
done in the above steps by having the main character stay in their oppressor roles, and
inviting spectators, now spect-actors to try out various resolutions, and win the game.
In Forum Theater, more than the other two, spect-actors can call STOP to the staged
performances, make a change in the actors, develop a new script, or change directors.
Any spect-actor can stop and restart the scene. Scenes are played again and again, with
different lines, props, and characters, to fine-tune tactics and strategies to overcome felt
and manifest oppression. Forum Theater is solution oriented, a place also to test the
consequences of a script change.
Changing the rules of the Theatre game. The game of confrontation between protagonist
(spect-actor) and antagonist in Forum Theatre has rules of engagement. This allows the
game to be played with a change in the rules, new rules, and new tactics can be tested
for limitations and consequences.
The point is to explore a model of action that might, in this example, improve
McDonaldization, or replace it with a new more festive game.
Post-Forum, COMMENTARY - In the commentary portion, the script writers and
director debrief. They explain the plot, the theme, etc.
Here is an example of Forum