The idea of street theater has been around for a long time with some of its principles being solidified through the work of Augusto Boal and the Theater of the Oppressed. However, anyone can do street theater with little or no experience.
What you need to get started:
- An issue to draw attention to
- People willing to act
- Props
- A location
Once you have an issue, work on identifying ideas and talking points that you could communicate through drama. This can be something serious and direct, satirical, funny, or just plain silly.
For instance, maybe you want to point out who the small number of large campaign donors are during an election, have people dress up like them, and show up at a campaign rally to publicly demonstrate that this is what drives electoral politics. People can dress as corporate CEOs, robber barons or celebrities who have donated lots of money to campaigns and then walk around in suits and evening gowns with signs that say things like “Billionaires for McCain or Clinton, or Obama.” Your signs could also say things like “Corporations are People too!” and “Small Government, Big Wars.” There are great resources online from the group Billionaires for Bush.
You can also video-tape the street theater and post it online to reach a broader audience.
Another issue and example might be with trade issues, globalization and corporate power. First, find a company in your community that has a track record of human rights or environmental abuses. Figure out a way to dramatize the points you want to make public. Use characters, props and signs to get public attention. Once you have their attention with either visual or spoken drama, you can hand out flyers that provide additional information and actions people can take. One example from Grand Rapids was with two characters that were created to draw attention to the impact of trade policies. The NAFTA Bunny and the CAFTA Chicken showed up at a political rally and at an outdoor concert to hand out pink slips for CEOs as a way to draw attention to job losses due to them policies. See photos for costumes.
You can also do street theater inside stores that you are targeting. You don’t need to have details of what the company does, you can just draw attention to the problems of capitalism and consumerism. One example is for people to dress up like zombies and walk around a store pushing shopping carts and making noises like zombies. You never buy anything and you seem disoriented as a way to draw attention to the numbing effects of consumerism. You could wear stickers, buttons or t-shirts that say, “shopping made me a zombie” or “another brain dead consumer.” A great day to try this kind of theater is the day after Thanksgiving, which is now the biggest shopping day in the US. Some people take actions on this day, in what is now called “Buy Nothing Day.”
Note: You might be confronted by store security or police when doing street theater, so it is important to know what your legal rights are and you should be prepared with a strategy of how to respond.
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