The event was organized to coincide with the biennial meeting of the Texas legislature, at which a subcommittee was scheduled to consider a proposal by Rep. Jessica Farrar to abolish the death penalty (House Bill 682).
John Sullivan from the Houston chapter of Amnesty International organized the project. Kelly Howe, a Ph.D. candidate at UT, and Kathleen Juhl, a professor of theatre arts at Southwestern University were the theatre practitioners. Workshops for volunteer participants were held at UT on February 8 and March 7-8, with the performance held on Sunday evening, March 8 at the Off Center.
Delia Perez-Mayer, whose brother Louis Castro-Perez is on death row in Texas, attended as a resource for participants.
Sullivan has written a lengthy account of the initiative, the methodology, and the performance, published last month on the Community Arts Network. It is also available, in a more readable format, at the Texas Death Penalty blog.
Brazilian theatre pioneer Augusto Boal, founder of the Theatre of the Oppressed and author of the keynote speech for this year's World Theatre Day, died on Saturday in Rio de Janiero.
Theater News Theatre of the Oppressed Founder Augusto Boal Dies at 78 By: Dan Bacalzo · May 2, 2009 · New York
Legendary political theater practitioner, director, and teacher Augusto Boal died on May 1, from complications arising from a long-term health condition, according to the The Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory in New York City. He was 78.
Boal is best known for founding the Theatre of the Oppressed, an international movement and system for creating theater that seeks to examine forms of discrimination and oppression, with the goal of possible transformation. He conducted workshops throughout the world, and his techniques have been widely inspirational and influential.
Boal authored several books, including Theatre of the Oppressed, Games for Actors and Non-Actors, The Rainbow of Desire, and Legislative Theatre. He served as a Member of Parliament for Rio de Janeiro in the 1990s and was formerly the President of the Centre of Theatre of the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro and Paris.
He is survived by his wife Cecilia, his sons Fabien and Julian, and several grandchildren.
