The Center for the Theater of the Oppressed (CTO) was conceived by the renowned practitioner of Brazilian theater, Augusto Boal (1931-2009). After his exile during the Brazilian military dictatorship, Boal returned to his country of origin in 1986 with a mission to establish a center dedicated to amplifying his innovative method, which uses theatrical language as a powerful tool in the fight against all forms of oppression.
To this day, the CTO perpetuates Boal’s legacy and undertakes sociocultural projects, conducts significant aesthetic research, and promotes essential dialogues on themes like citizenship, culture, racism, and sexism, among others, both in Brazil and internationally.
Currently, the reach of the method extends to 80 countries, spread throughout five continents, solidifying the CTO’s position as a center of excellence that contributes to the archiving, updating, systematizing, and dissemination of this method for the benefit of people and groups interested in furthering their research, training, and capacitation in Theater of the Oppressed, in Brazil as well as the world.
It’s important to highlight that the CTO is currently led by an Executive Council of practitioners and activists of Black Brazilian theater. These leaders, originating from community leaders dedicated to exploring questions of racism, sexism, and gender identity, continue to conduct the center’s activities in an inspiring manner.
With the advent of the Teatro de las Oprimidas, the institution thus began to dedicate itself to the research and dissemination of the Theater of the Oppressed methodology as well as that of the Teatro de las Oprimidas methodology. This has been accomplished through dramaturgical laboratories and seminars, which recur permanently and serve as spaces for revision, experimentation, analysis, and systematizing exercises, games, and dramatic techniques. For a significant period, Augusto Boal directed the space with mastery, totaling 23 years of immeasurable dedication. Bárbara Santos, the renowned organizer of the Teatro de las Oprimidas, was the general and artistic coordinator of the institution for an impressive 20 years, and, today, is an assiduous partner of the team composed primarily of youths, Black people, and women, who continue its legacy.
The CTO’s philosophical principles and actions are intrinsically linked to the movement to democratize the means of cultural production as a way of intellectual enrichment of those involved and, at the same time, to the dissemination of the Theater of the Oppressed and the Teatro de las Oprimidas as fundamental tools for the activation and fortification of democratic citizenship. The CTO conducts projects that seek to stimulate active and protagonist participation from the most oppressed layers of society, aiming to transform reality and construct a more just and inclusive society through dialogue and aesthetic expression.
