工作坊宗旨Objectives
工作坊宗旨
「民眾劇場」，屬於人民、由人民創作、為人民發聲的劇場，在歷史中以不同的形式出現。羅曼．羅蘭（Romain Rolland）在1903年便已經以《民眾劇場》(Le Théâtre du peuple)一書，提出他的概念：國家是屬於歷史的，人民是屬於當下的。國家與宮廷的劇場已經是過去的劇場，而隨著法國大革命到俄國十月革命，為人民並由人民創作的劇場也已經誕生。
二十世紀以「民眾劇場」為名而興起的戲劇團體，例如People's Theatre, Popular Theatre，更隨著不同的社會政治局勢而在各地興起。最具代表性的包括巴西奧古斯托．波瓦（Augusto Boal）的「受壓迫者劇場」（Theatre of the Oppressed），非洲的「發展劇場」（Theatre for Development），菲律賓的「菲律賓教育劇場協會」（Philippines Educational Theater Association， PETA ），韓國的民眾劇場「廣場劇」（Madang Theater），日本的帳篷劇等。近三十年來，台灣、香港、印尼、泰國、新加坡、馬來西亞、印度與中國大陸，也都先後發展出當地不同形式的民眾劇場。
面對二十一世紀劇烈變化中的亞洲社會，跨國資本主義盛行、右翼國家主義崛起、社會貧富分化加劇，移住勞工各地遷徙，我們擬邀請亞洲不同地區的民眾劇場實踐者和研究者，分享他們於各自歷史現實環境下的工作經驗，逐一標記散落於台灣、香港、中國大陸、日本、韓國、新加坡、馬來西亞、印尼、菲律賓、泰國等地的民眾劇場光譜，共同思考在當前普遍困難的條件下，民眾劇場展開論述與實踐的各種可能性空間。
本次工作坊的探討主題是：過去三十年來，在不同地區的異質發展脈絡中，各地民眾劇場的實踐者如何定位自身？他們如何界定抵抗的方針以及抵抗的對象？如何採取民間的元素，而轉化為他們的劇場美學形式？三十年的歷史過程中，他們的劇場實踐是否發生了轉變？在當前的劇場實踐中，他們所面對的壓迫者在何處？與他們一起工作的民眾，又在何處？
Objectives
People's Theatre is theatre of the people, made by the people, speaks for the people, and it exists in different historical formations. In Le Théâtre du peuple, published in 1903, Romain Rolland believes that the State belongs to history but the People belong to the present. The theatre for the state and the royal court had come to an end, and theatre for the people emerged during the period of French Revolution and Russian Revolution. Diverse groups such as the People's Theatre and Popular Theatre have appeared globally in twentieth century, marking multiple trajectories of social political situations. The most representative ones include Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed in Latin America, Theatre for Development in Africa, Philippines Educational Theater Association in South East Asia, Madang Theatre, and Tent Theatre in South Korea and Japan. Over the past three decades, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, India, and Mainland China have also developed different forms of People's Theatre.
Facing tumultuous changes in the twenty-first century, including the prevalence of transnational capitalism, the rise of right-wing nationalism, the intensification of social class differentiation, and diaspora of the migrant workers, we would like to invite the practitioners and researchers in different Asian areas to share their experience in diverse historical and social conditions. We intend to delineate the spectrum of People's Theatre in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand by expanding on the potential of discourse and praxis of People's Theater under the challenging status quo.
We intend to discuss the following questions: How did the praxis of People's Theatre locate themselves within heterogeneous contexts of development in different regions for the past thirty years? How do they define the methods and objects of resistance? How do they apply local elements to develop their theater aesthetics? Did they change the working methods of theatre practice to adapt to the historical moments? Where are the oppressed and the people that they have been working with in the present theater practice?