Igniting transformational change through applied theatre: Jardim Romano's Floods and Estopô Balaio unleashing an overflow of possibilities

ABSTRACT

Applied theatre extends beyond traditional performance and entertainment, using theatrical techniques to address social issues and engage communities. In this paper, we emphasise the importance of a socially and politically engaged approach to Applied Theatre (AT) using Paulo Freire's and Augusto Boal's works as primary references to support transformational change and bring about social resistance. A small-scale case study was carried out with participants and collaborators of Estopô Balaio, a collective theatre group in Brazil that has worked for over a decade with a community in a deprived peripheral neighbourhood, Jardim Romano, in São Paulo. Key findings highlight the concept of feasibility in AT, where the collective's efforts overflowed with possibilities for change and empowerment by embracing its residents as collaborators and agents of change in their realities, being thinkers, makers, and citizens through continuous work instead of isolated actions.

KEYWORDS:

• Applied theatre
• theatre in communities
• Paulo Freire
• Augusto Boal
• transformational change
• Estopô Balaio

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Edson Martins, sociologist and doctor in education from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP) extracted from https://32xsp.org.br/especial/sao-paulo-das-desigualdades, accessed 25 June 2023.

2 The Unified Educational Centres (CEU) are public facilities aimed at education created by the Municipal Education Department of São Paulo in 2001 and located in the peripheral areas of Greater São Paulo. This program is dedicated to early childhood, primary and secondary education as well as to offering quality services in sports, recreational and cultural practices to the population in general. The city of São Paulo currently has 46 CEUs which allocate more than 120,000 students (Silva 2014).

3 Vocacional is a cultural project created in 2001 by São Paulo Municipal Culture Department. One of the main goals is to reduce/eliminate the existing borders between professional and non-professional theatre practices. ‘Placing the democratisation of the means of improvement in theatre; thus, study and reflection in theatre as a possible guideline for this equation. In other words, the democratisation of the means of aesthetic production’ (Fabiano 2010, 39).

4 https://coletivoEstopôbalaio.com.br/o-que-sobrou-do-rio, accessed 25 June 2023

5 See more in section (ii) Children as transformational agents.

6 Imaginaries in Portuguese are: imaginários. In this context, a close translation to a revolution of imaginaries challenges fixed mindsets.

7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zofF-cGICic&t=1446s, accessed 25 June 2023

8 Grant: Lei de Fomento ao Teatro.

9 Grants: Programa VAI, PROAC de Primeira Obras em Artes Cênicas.

10 Accessed 25 June 2023. (a) Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5bTsJlJzEQ / (b) retrieved from https://mural.blogfolha.uol.com.br/2012/12/06/apos-3-anos-jardim-romano-relembra-enchente-que-durou-meses/