This event will consist of a debate and a theatre workshop in the afternoon, with the presence of Geo Britto, a theatre director and member of the coordination team of the Escola de Teatro Popular, who worked with Augusto Boal for many years.

During the debate, we will try to uncover the historical Marxist foundations of the Theatre of the Oppressed and its relevance today. Geo Britto will present his recent book “Augusto Boal e a formação do Teatro do Oprimido”  [Augusto Boal and the formation of the Theatre of the Oppressed], which traces an archaeology to try to understand how Marxist aesthetics, debates, theory, practice and the historical moments experienced by Boal influenced the formation, construction, and systematisation of the Theatre of the Oppressed. Based on this history, we will try to dialogue with contemporary reality: what is its pedagogical relevance in the construction of new social movements, what is its relationship with prefigurative politics, what is its relationship with neoliberalism.

The afternoon session will consist of a practical Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) dynamic. Geo Britto and Roberta Scatolini intend to show theatre as a tool for political, social, ethical, and aesthetic work, essential for social transformation, through a collective dynamic with the participants.

_{[NOTE: Those interested in purchasing the book can make their reservation by emailing geobritto@gmail.com and adding ‘Livro Geo 30 outubro CES Coimbra’ in the message title.]}

Programme
11:00 - 13:00: The Theatre of the Oppressed and Marxism

Speakers:
- Geo Britto (Escola de Teatro Popular)
- Jonas Van Vossole (Researcher at CES)
Comments and Moderator: Roberta Scatolini (CES)

14:30 - 17:00: Practical workshop on Theatre of the Oppressed

Facilitators:
- Geo Britto (Escola de Teatro Popular)
- Roberta Scatolini (Psychologist and PhD candidate at CES)
- Daniel Nadai (Escola de Teatro Popular)

Bio notes

Daniel Nadai – Coordinating Member of the Escola de Teatro Popular, Daniel Nadai facilitates Theatre of the Oppressed and Epic Theatre workshops. Nadai holds a degree in economics from UFRJ and is currently studying for a master's degree in economics at UFRJ.

Geo Britto - Founder and Member of the Board of the Escola de Teatro Popular (ETP). He worked at the Centre for Theatre of the Oppressed (CTO) for 32 years, 20 of them with Augusto Boal. He has given talks, workshops, and theatre performances in Palestine, Bolivia, Mozambique, Egypt, India, South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Croatia, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Germany, England, Sweden, Canada, and the United States. He has a Master’s degree in Arts from UFF, a PhD in Theatre from USP and is the father of twins.

Roberta Scatolini - A clinical psychologist specialising in Psychodrama, with a master’s degree in education from PUC/SP, she has a degree in theatre and has been working as a popular educator, researcher, curinga, and facilitator in Theatre of the Oppressed since 1997. She worked as a pedagogical coordinator at the Paulo Freire Institute in São Paulo between 2006 and 2015, where she was Secretary of Culture and coordinated artistic and cultural workshops to train education professionals in some cities in São Paulo. She is currently doing a PhD in Feminist Studies (FLUC/CES) with the research “Popular education and corporeality: possible dialogues for a feminist educational praxis”.

Jonas Van Vossole - Portuguese-Belgian Marxist economist, political scientist and sociologist. He was a researcher at the Ghent Association for the Study of Parties and Representation (GASPAR), and his career has had deep links with Brazil. His main research themes are democratic theory, social movements, labour, Marxism, political ecology and prefigurative movements. He has a PhD in Political Science (Democracy in the 21st century - CES/FEUC) from the University of Coimbra and is currently an individual FCT researcher at the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, co-coordinator of the Ecology and Society Lab (ECOSOC) and regional coordinator for the central region of the Portuguese Political Economy Association.