Unitau research presented at the VI Brecht and Education Forum investigates the effects of urban staging on theatrical training and the perception of social issues
What happens when theater students leave the rehearsal room and take the scene to the street? Fear, improvisation, exposure and direct contact with strangers become part of the theatrical experience. Research from the Postgraduate Program in Human Development at the University of Taubaté (Unitau) investigated precisely how this experience can impact artistic training and the perception of social problems.
The study “Urban staging as a formative practice of social awareness in theater students”, by master's student Denilson Augusto de Campos and advisors Prof.. Dr. Júlio Cesar Voltolini and Profa. Drag. Elisa Brisola, was presented at the VI Brecht and Education Forum, held at the Unesp Arts Institute, in Sao Paulo.
Participated in the research 11 theater students at Escola Professor Fego Camargo, from Taubaté-SP. They performed nightly performances on an avenue, in front of passersby, addressing topics such as racism, poverty, prejudice and violence. After the experience, students participated in a focus group to discuss what they had experienced.
One of the results caught the attention of researchers: when talking about the experience, students rarely referred to theater learning in technical terms. Their reports focused mainly on fear, vulnerability, perception of the environment, memory, body and social relations.
Theatrical learning appeared indirectly, related to improvisation, to the scenic presence, body construction and expansion of the repertoire. The focus of the testimonies was not just “what I learned about theater”, but mainly “what I experienced on the street while I was doing theater”.
The experience also provoked reflections on the relationship between values and actions. The students realized that defending certain agendas in protected environments is different from acting in concrete conflict situations, violence or vulnerability. Fear and self-preservation often override the values they claim to defend.
Another result was the expansion of the perspective on socially invisible people, like those in a situation of hunger, poverty and exclusion.
Gender differences, race and sexuality also influenced the way students experienced the street. While cis women especially emphasized physical fear and vulnerability, cis men highlighted internal conflicts and difficulties in acting in real situations. Students with non-normative gender identities and sexualities emphasized the invisibility of people who are not seen, recognized or heard in everyday life.
For researchers, the urban staging proved to be, like this, more than a theater learning strategy. By putting students in direct contact with unpredictable situations and issues present in everyday life, the experience created conditions for reflection on one’s own body, own fears and the way of perceiving others and society.
The theater, in this context, It stops being just a representation of reality and becomes an experience of encounter with it.
