Theatre of the Oppressed NYC , despite its title, is a place of empowerment, vibrancy and activism right in New York City. It is a format of theater activities and performances that engages communities in social change. Just this March, the theater welcomed a group of artists from Frân Wen, a Welsh language theater company for young people based in North West Wales. And in April, the theater presented its Red Hook Community Justice Center troupe’s performance of Perfect Family: Smile for the Camera at P.S. 001 in Brooklyn. May featured a presentation of Get Rooted: A Community Showcase at MCC Theater, which included performances by three Forum Theatre Troupes — Breaking Ground, Red Hook Community Justice Center, and The Ali Forney Center — and some amazing catering by Adrii’s Kitchen.
It’s been a whirlwind for Max Raymond, who came on board as the Communications Director last June. Theatre of the Oppressed NYC, or TONYC, partners with community groups facing discrimination to form acting troupes, all of whom create performances that inspire transformative action. These troupes devise and perform plays based on their challenges “confronting economic inequality, racism, and other social, health and human rights injustices.” After each show, both actors and audiences engage in Forum Theatre, or theatrical brainstorming with the goal of catalyzing creative change on the individual, community, and political levels.
“I'm very lucky to have joined a team with so much combined institutional knowledge to share with me, especially because I still have so much to learn about Theatre of the Oppressed as a methodology” he says.
In order to expand their reach they rely on their digital presence. Raymond says the original website URL was”: theatreoftheoppressednyc.org, which was long and hard to spell. “When the opportunity to get a .NYC URL came up, it was exciting because NYC is part of our acronym, so we thought it would be a natural fit. So we got tonyc.nyc.”
Here, Raymond shares how he came to join the Theatre’s mission, the story behind founder Katy Rubin’s quest for interactive theater, and the organization’s lively summer ahead.
How did you come to join Theatre of the Oppressed NYC? What was your career beforehand and what led you here?
I'm a multidisciplinary theatre artist who has been working in theatre administration since 2017, and this opportunity came along at just the right time. I was itching to better integrate my activism with my theatre practice, and I was excited by the prospect of joining an organization that is using theatre as a tool for direct action, building true-to-life theatre for social change with local communities, staging performances and facilitating conversations within those same communities. Forum theatre, which is TONYC's usual show format, is a special theatrical brainstorming format that involves Joker (facilitator)-moderated post-show debriefs and opportunities for audience members ("spect-actors") to step into an actor's role and improvise a different outcome to the scene. Forum theatre is exciting because it collapses the barrier between actor and audience that is present in traditional U.S. theatre. It is collaborative. It says, "Actually, what if our roles were reversed? Would you try something different? Let's explore some options together." I love that.
Who created Theatre of the Oppressed NYC and why?
TONYC was founded in 2011 by Katy Rubin, who trained with Augusto Boal in Rio, in 2008. After returning to New York and discovering a lack of effective "popular theatre" — interactive theatre created by communities facing oppression — Katy helped form the Jan Hus Homeless Theatre Troupe, which became TONYC's Concrete Justice troupe. Since 2011, TONYC has grown rapidly in response to a real need from communities in crisis for social change. Our team of Jokers — the people who help facilitate workshops and performances — now collaborate with TONYC’s troupes (including troupes like the Ali Forney Center, Breaking Ground, and Housing Works troupes) to stage Forum Theatre performances throughout NYC. Forum performances confront everything from economic inequality and racism to housing injustice, gender discrimination, and more.
Can you share a major milestone for TONYC?
Getting our own space in midtown is a major one! That's allowed us to expand and reimagine programming outside of working in partnership with other social service organizations, which we've done through the creation of Rapid Response and ESCUCHA, two non-residency troupes we host as an organization. Some of our actors have complicated relationships with the places where they receive services, so it's nice to be able to offer them something else that's rooted in our values and aesthetic.
How do you aim to spread the methodology of TONYC worldwide?
We created a workbook and made it available worldwide for FREE. Key to the methodology is the "bird of multiplication," the idea that this work should fly, cross-pollinate, and be reproduced. The workbook has helped us achieve that goal. More info about the workbook: "The Wildcard Workbook: A Practical Guide for Jokering Forum Theatre is a resource for facilitators of all kinds looking for new ways to bring fun, creativity, and critical thinking into their work! Why Wildcard? Because to be a “Joker” in the Theatre of the Oppressed is to play many different roles and to navigate uncertainty with joy. Written by experienced Jokers from Theatre of the Oppressed NYC (TONYC), this workbook is a graphic, interactive, and accessible guide to inspire and support facilitation and difficultation in many contexts – we hope you'll scribble in the margins, tear out the pages, and challenge the ideas within. Written by Sulu LeoNimm, Liz Morgan, and Katy Rubin."
What is the biggest obstacle your team has faced or is currently trying to overcome at the moment?
Funding is top of mind for us right now. The cost of running a single Forum Theatre Troupe is $36,000 per cycle, and TONYC runs 12 play-building cycles annually, which are funded primarily through grants. In 2020 and 2021, organizations like ours received new financial support from foundations who wanted to provide a crisis response as well as substantial government resources, like PPP loans. Since those years, foundation support has steadily decreased while inflation has increased. We are building connections to increase our donor base and foundation grants while also reducing programming to maintain our cash flow. It's important to us that we keep tickets free/Pay-What-You-Choose while paying actors and Jokers, covering transportation costs, buying props and costumes. Like many nonprofits, we are navigating a shifting funding landscape.
Summer is a great time for the performing arts. What can we expect from the TONYC this summer?
One thing that is currently happening is "Level One" workshop. We refer to it as our "train-the-trainer" workshop. It's meant to introduce folks to the tools we use to build forum theatre and help them start trying the complicated work of Jokering performance themselves. We think it's useful for community organizers, artists, and engaged community members who plan to apply Forum Theatre to engage groups in action towards social change. Through the training, participants experience TONYC's process of creating forum troupes in partnership with local groups, and of engaging spect-actors in Forum Theatre. They build and perform Forum Theatre scenes, including playing games from the arsenal of Theatre of the Oppressed; telling and choosing stories of oppression; using Aesthetics of the Oppressed (clean trash sculpture, etc.) to explore the story and the issues; and applying rehearsal games. There's plenty of discussion of the theory and politics of the work, too. Participants have the opportunity to practice jokering a Forum and teaching games to the group, and they also have the opportunity to share scenes with each other. I know I'm biased, but it's a great training, and you don't have to be an aspiring Joker to take it.
Folks can always keep track of what we have going on by signing up for our mailing list at tonyc.nyc/newsletter or keeping an eye out for updates to our Events page at tonyc.nyc/events.
