How to be an artist in times of decoloniality?

This workshop will critically examine the role of theatre practitioners in navigating and responding to contemporary societal shifts specially connected to the decolonial approach.

With insights into empowering artists, understanding and coping with new social demands and addressing the challenges posed by social movements in contemporary societies, the workshop will have both theoretical and practical activities. The workshop will propose improvisations and offer critical perspective on them. It will also propose that participants replicate sequences from prior personal experiences (either as artists or audience).

TOPICS

Decoloniality
– General concept
– Colonial Matrix of Power
– Decoloniality in Theatre

Creative spaces in a theatre process
– What means creativity in theatre
– The importance of safe space in the creative space.
– The importance of failure in the rehearsal process
– How asking the right questions lead to build character
– New questions for contemporary performers

Ethics
– Theatre challenges in contemporary society ( identitarian movements – Me too, Black Lives Matter, world wars, islamophobia)
– Objectification on stage
– Tokenism and the reproduction of stigmas
– Director/actor as an ally of vulnerable groups
– Representativity on stage – blacks, LGBTQIAP+, desabilities on stage.
– Acting – avoiding stereotypes and prejudices when building a character

Classical texts on stage
– How relevant can classical texts be for contemporary audiences?
– Challenges for adaptation of classical texts
– How actors can approach characters of classical texts
– Critical approach: how to deal with sexism, racism, homophobia, etc in classical texts.

This is a 3-day workshop, with sessions 18:00-22:00 9th, 10th and 11th of September.