Why the theater of the oppressed?

I have grown up in a church in Seoul, which was the center of political engagement and experimental theater during the 70s and 80s of Korea. The experience of speaking out about my reality on stage and of the community which was built during the process of preparing performances, were the happiest moments in my life. I have been trying to find this moment of happiness all the time and that is why I started to study in the department of performance studies this summer.

At the time I was planning my project for the Hemispheric Institute summer seminar, I became curious if there would be a form of performance or theater in South America, which is related to 'the moment of happiness' I am looking for. A theater through which people can be liberated and connected. While listening to my interests, Prof. Diana Taylor introduced 'the theater of the oppressed ' to me.

I hoped to learn about it from the people who are from the world of Paulo Freire and Augusto Boal and asked the participants of the Encuentro four questions about 'the moment of happiness'. I tried to talk to people from Brazil and anybody whom I met in workshops, in the workgroup or anywhere in the Kimmel center.The interviews themselves were many Mini-Encuentros for me.

It was important for me to find a counterpoint in my reality back in Seoul. While thinking about the possibility of doing "the theater of the oppressed" in Korea, I kept on researching and found the group 'Hae-the theater space of the oppressed'. After several e-mail and phone contacts, the same questions were sent to the group Hae and the answers sent back to me. They also gave me the permission to translate some material about them, which I would like to introduce to the Hemispheric Institute members. Mr. George Stoney has provided me with some video material on Paulo Freire that will be sent to 'Hae' and will be shared with us.

The following is the result of my experience of being in the middle of two different worlds practicing the same "theater of the oppressed".

The project consists of three parts.

1. Video interviews of the participants of the Encuentro/Answers by Mo Mi Na(a member of the group Hae)to the same questions

2. Hae-the theater space of the oppressed in Seoul

(Information about the group 'Hae', which I translated with the permission of them)

3. Reflection Paper-personal statement on the experience during the project