Theater of The Oppressed For Climbing

Theater of the Oppressed
Theater of the Oppressed (T.O.) was created by Augusto Boal- a

Brazilian theater visionary. It is a community- based education
that ustilizes theater as a tool for social change. Though
origionally used in Latin American farmer and worker
communities, it is now used world wide for social and political
activism, community building, conflict resolution, therapy, and
more.
Goal: To use T.O. Application in Climbing Activity (desc.

games to… Below)
Physical preparation Fill the Space

Both of these prepare us to Slow Tag
be more in touch with our
surroundings and with our
Mental preparation bodies Columbian Hypnosis
Fill the Space
As an effort to engage a
Debrief method at the end wider range of kids, using Making Strengths
of class sound and motion in addition Visible
to written words to describe
how you are feeling at the Check In
end of a session
Machine
Team building excersise
These are useful in the Everyday Activities (var.
climbing environment where 2)
listening, visualization, and
Build active listening skills teamwork are important, but Making Strengths
can be difficult topics for Visible
kids to understand when
Build visualization skills coaches are just explaining Everyday Activities
in words
Activities
Warm Up
Amoeba Tag
One participant is chosen as the amoeba. As an amoeba, they
have to move slowly. Whoever they touch, becomes a part of the
amoeba. As the amoeba expands, it becomes harder to get away.
Fill the Space- focus on the body and on the space around you
Have students stand in a circle. Start with deep breaths in,

followed by raising the arms, scooping the air up and pouring it
over your head. Try to not speak. Introduce movement into the
shoulders, a jiggle, then maybe more wild movement, such as a
hiccup.
Begin walking around the room, continuing the movement. Give
following instructions:
Freeze
shake out your whole body
freeze again
walk again.
**From now on, anyone can freeze at any time, BUT if one person
freezes, everyone must freeze. Once everyone has frozen, the
group can begin to move again.
Repeat this a few times
Then move to other instructions:

You are made of jelly
your left leg is shorter than your right
you are very old
you are carrying a full bucket of water on your head, and can’t
spill a drop
you are 5 years old
stop
shake out whole body
get back into the circle.
Columbian Hypnosis
Partner up, one person is the leader and hypnotizes the other
with with hand. The other person must follow the hand. After a
while, trade spots
Pyramid Construction
 One person in the middle, hands outstretched, one person
facing either hand, etc. The middle person is the leader and
moves their hands, all those with hands in their faces must
follow the hand in front of them
 Pairs or group
Switch spots
To use as a Discussion
1. What did this activity evoke?
2. Was it easy? why or why not?
3. What did you notice about yourself while doing this?
4. How did you feel when you were the leader?
5. How did you feel when you were the hypnotized?
Slow Tag – Building awareness about our physicality and
promoting tactile sense
1. Start by asking the group to remember how it feels to run. Ask

them to mentally go through their running or fast walking,
focusing on what muscle groups they use (remember your arms!)
2. Aline the group as if starting a race
3. Now, the group hase to run, but the movements must be really
slow so that they can experience the different muscle groups
working.
4. Ask them to imagine that they are running full speed, but in
slow-motion.
5. Start slow- running
As they run, remind them to focus on the ball of the foot, the
heel, the toe, the knees, the stomach, the head, the arms, and
the BREATH!
6. Contine for 3-4 minutes
7. Stop.
8. Now play the same game of tag, but in slow motion. Play for as long as people are
having fun.
Discussion
1. What did you notice about yourself while doing this?
2. What did you notice about others?
3. When did it get difficult? When was it easy?
4. How can you make it different?
Debrief
Check In
Gather group in a circle. Prompt with something along the lines
of :
“Before we leave, let us do a quick Check In. I want you to show

how you are feeling right now. You can use your body or any
sounds – but no words.”
Remind group that this is not an evaluation: encourage laughter
Active Listening
Making strengths visible
Step 1—Active Listening

Sit in pairs. Each person speaks for 5 minutes (could be less)
about their strengths. The other listens. Switch roles.
In addition to speaking, these strengths can be written down on
post its or pieces of paper (with no names)
Step 2 – Appreciating through symbol transference

Without speaking to their partner, one of the pair now draws
something as a symbol of the appreciation of what they have
heard from the other person on the palm of their hand or a piece
of paper. Switch roles.
Afterward, discuss how the experice was.
Visulaization
Everyday Activities
Variation 1: Have each student think of an everyday activity that

they do- tie their shoes, pack a lunch, make their bed, etc.
Provide a few minutes to try to remember all of the details about
the activity as they can, then have them act out the activity.
Variation 2: Pair students up in uneven groups (one person, two
people, three, etc) have them perform an activity together with
physical objects. Maybe they pick up a couch and move it. Maybe
they put on their climbing shoes together. Encourage them to pay
close attention to the details, then have them repeat the action,
but with no physical objects.
Leadership, partnership, and listening
Machine game – A game of finding connections and rhythm.

Everyone stands in a group. A theme is given (love, hate, joy,
sadness, teamwork, etc), and the goal is to build a machine that
follows the theme. One person starts, making a repetitive
movement and a repetitive sound. One by one, the other
participants join the first, each adding on a part to the machine.
Once everyone is involved, the machine runs for a while. After
this, the machine can dissamble and a new theme can be
explored.
Variation
After the machine is assembled, call out a new theme, maybe the
opposite of the current theme. Each person, starting at the first
must now change their movement and sound, but not their
placement in the machine.
Discussion
1. How did each theme feel?
2. Did you notice a difference in your own feelings based on the
connection of others around you?
3. Did you think about how your sound/movement related to the
others in the group when you made it up?

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Theater of the Oppressed

Theater of the Oppressed (T.O.) was created by Augusto Boal- a

Goal: To use T.O. Application in Climbing Activity (desc.

Physical preparation Fill the Space

Have students stand in a circle. Start with deep breaths in,

Repeat this a few times

Then move to other instructions:

1. Start by asking the group to remember how it feels to run. Ask

2. Aline the group as if starting a race

5. Start slow- running

6. Contine for 3-4 minutes

“Before we leave, let us do a quick Check In. I want you to show

Remind group that this is not an evaluation: encourage laughter

Making strengths visible

Step 1—Active Listening

Step 2 – Appreciating through symbol transference

Afterward, discuss how the experice was.

Variation 1: Have each student think of an everyday activity that

Leadership, partnership, and listening

Machine game – A game of finding connections and rhythm.

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