T.O. is an exciting and powerful way to explore the senses, enhance the mind-body connection, and to observe and learn in the context of relationships and community. Participants are invited to explore feelings of safety and discomfort by invitation and to engage in community dialogue and creative problem-solving focused on a topic. 

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In today's world many of us have become come disconnected from the natural world; including our own bodies and emotions. This cuts us off from accessing valuable information and wisdom - and can leave us feeling disconnected in our relationships and under resourced in times of crisis, conflict, and when facing day to day challenges. T.O. helps to re-establish and strengthen these connections through embodied practices, interactive theater exercises, and play. 

 

Through participation in theatrical exercises, story-telling, and witnessing participants gain a better understanding of the issues their communities are facing - and their own power and potential to create change. 

 

T. O. utilizes a variety of theatrical formats and exercises including but not limited to:

• Image theatre - is a performance technique in which one person, acting as a sculptor, molds one or more people acting as statues, using only touch and resisting the use of words to form an image that tells a story

• Forum theatre - in this process, the actors or audience members could stop a performance, often a short scene in which a character was being oppressed. The audience members can than change the scene and practice interrupting the oppression by coming on stage and trying a new solution or calling out suggestions to the actors who would then improvise the changes on stage.

• Invisible theatre -  is a theatrical performance enacted in a place where people would not normally expect to see one—for example in the street. The performers attempt to disguise the fact that it is a performance from those who observe and who may choose to participate in it, encouraging the spectators to view it as a real event. 

• Cops In The Head - is  form of theater used to explore internalized oppression through exploration of the different parts and voices within a character. Often acted out and embodied by multiple actors on stage. 

• The Rainbow of Desire - is a type of theatrical performance where actors use movement, gesture, and physical expression to communicate and embody the various emotions, fears, and desires represented by the colors of the rainbow. The performance can be created in real-time, with the actors responding to each other’s movements and creating a shared experience between performers and audiences. 

• Legislative theatre - is similar to Forum Theater, but it uses roleplaying and the creative process to engage community members, advocates and policymakers in identifying solutions to unjust and inequitable systems and institutions, then translates those ideas into proposals for new laws, and builds support for new legislation.

 

This work engages our minds, bodies, and hearts in the learning process. Bringing our whole selves into this process - we reclaim the exiled parts of ourselves that will support us and examine our shadows (and any subconscious behaviors that no longer serve our highest potential) so that we can come into greater awareness of ourselves and our impact on others.

 

One of the things that makes T.O. so transformative is that it creates a space where we can explore and observe both our personal and collective consciousness and our subconscious behaviors.  As we role-play scenarios that we might encounter in real life it allows us to see how we (and others) might re-act based on default and learned survival and coping mechanisms - and then to practice responding to those situations in ways that are more aligned with out values and that lead to healthier and more positive outcomes for ourselves and others. 

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We play together and get to know each other. We tell stories and we listen to each other. We create imagery that resonates with our core emotions. We examine our biases and we practice disrupting patterns of behavior and structures that create and/or perpetuate oppression and dysfunction in our communities. We explore our edges and discover new possibilities. We make mistakes, we learn, we laugh, and we grow together.