My Thoughts on Theatre of The Oppressed

Tonight was one of many Take Back The Night events hosted by USC’s Women’s Student Assembly (WSA): Theatre of the Oppressed with Gender Justice Los Angeles. Their mission is to:

“Build campaigns to break the barriers that directly impact low-income trans people of color by focusing on health, wellness, peace and safety.

Run political education and leadership development programs that build a base of skilled, confident and unified trans leaders to fight for change.

Create safe spaces through peer-support groups and community events that highlight the strength, power and resilience of our entire community.”

The event consisted of three main blocks: 

1. Introductions

This included names, preferred gender pronouns (PGP), and a movement that expresses how you’re feeling at the moment. Once you did that, everyone would repeat your words and movement.

Thoughts:

I think it’s so very important (and logical) to have introductions include PGPs. Names are part of your identity, and so are PGPs—therefore, it logically follows that introductions should include that important part. Having the movements for everyone to mimic was also a great ice breaking bonding experience without using words. Great intro!

2. Mirroring

Everyone paired up with a stranger for this activity, and took turns being either a leader or a follower before reversing roles. The leader was to move in whichever way they liked and the follower would mimic the leader’s movements. After, every individual was instructed to be both leader and follower within their pairs. 

Thoughts:
• As the leader: it was such a weird feeling of being responsible for another person’s body movements. I felt a little self conscious for a little while because I didn’t know what was okay and not okay to do (could I do the Charlie Brown?!). It was very nice to feel a one-ness with a stranger I’d met that day. The connection is indescribable but a bubble of trust formed in the predictability of the other person’s movements.

• As the follower: it was nice having to relinquish control and really just follow movements. It made me hyper sensitive to micromovements, which is something that intrigues me. I’ve always been a fan of reading microexpressions but body movements, not as much attention. It’s easy to say someone is walking, but noticing and imitating the degree of the bend of someone’s wrist was amazing to mimic.

3. Breaking the chain – suffering in silence vs. struggling together

Groups of 5 were to become an image by holding poses that resembled suffering in silence. While holding those poses, everyone else was to speak their minds on what they saw and felt while experiencing the image. The group then commented on their experiences being a part of the image. The process then repeated with another image of struggling together.

Thoughts:
• This was a very powerful exercise for me (and undoubtedly a lot of other people in the room). Taking on the pose of how I feel when I’m pushing people away and struggling in silence really brought back a lot of feelings I’d experienced along with being in that pose. There were no faces seen, no eye contact, and being in that moment was despair and solitude in itself. Seeing others like that also brought on a very powerful realization that everyone has had a time when they’ve suffered in silence without knowing how to reach out. It was humbling, to say the least.

• On the other hand, creating an image of struggling together was one of hope and solidarity. Groups were holding hands and holding each other. It was beautiful to see that everyone was going through their own path of struggling, but at least they had each other. I’m glad that this was considered the “opposite” image, rather than “being happy” because it’s much more realistic and…poetic, even—to have everyone extend warmth and compassion in while coexisting with their tragedies and traumas.

Overall thoughts:

The facilitators from GJLA were amazing. Axel and Turay were helpful, chipper, and empathetic. The space was safe and the energy was vibrant. It was truly an experience that left me vulnerable in a way I hadn’t felt in a while—by which I mean, a good kind of open vulnerability. In my life, I associate being vulnerable with being exposed and uncomfortable. But moments (or events) like these, in which I am given an opportunity and a safe space to willingly chip away parts of the walls I put up against the world are truly liberating.

For more details on Take Back The Night events, visit this Facebook page! To learn more about WSA, check out their page as well!