Letter to Teachers

Dear colleague,

The purpose of this letter is to discuss with you the subject of teaching playback theatre in the academic setting.

First, I'm naturally pleased that interest has been growing in teaching playback theatre in colleges and universities. We feel we are still building knowledge about playback and see academics as a tremendous resource for that. There is much new and pioneering work to be done, especially in the areas of research and scholarly discourse.

There is a paradox in doing playback theatre: the basic idea is so simple and accessible. But doing it well is extremely difficult. The form has great artistic and psychological power, which we spend years learning to use constructively. We know from experience that playback theatre practiced with too little background can lead to unfortunate outcomes. It is students' personal stories that are the texts here, and there can be reverberations.

I would like to present some guidelines for academics who wish to present playback theatre in the classroom. Introduce the subject of playback, discuss it fully, assign readings, present the idea experientially so that students can taste its special qualities and challenges. Then if you are interested in teaching the form seriously, we strongly recommend that you take some playback training yourself.

Another point to consider: playback theatre is often taught in conjunction with TO (Theatre of the Oppressed). Both forms are very compatible in many ways; certainly they are both committed to social change.  In fact, I was influenced by Boal's ideas in Theatre of the Oppressed during the early years of the original playback theatre company. What is most different is that TO shuns catharsis. Instead it leans towards encouraging its audiences to envision a concrete idea for change. Playback theatre, in contrast, welcomes catharsis and the inchoate world of emotion. It does not try to find answers. In fact, the stories are not even necessarily “problems,” but often stories of discovery, triumph, or delight. The experience of witnessing one’s own and others’ stories is in its own way also very empowering. Both approaches welcome the participation of citizen actors and have worked to democratize the theatre arts.

In case you are not fully familiar with them, here is a list of resources about playback theatre (they duplicate resources that can also be found elsewhere on the playbacknet.org website). Resources.

 Please get in touch if you have any question or comments.    

 Yours truly,

 Jonathan Fox, Director