The Smack Dab Queer Open Mic, hosted by Jules and Avery, continues its free 18 and up LGBTQIA community series at The LAVA Center, located at 324 Main St. in Greenfield. Operating under the slogan “All genders, all the time,” this five-minute limit open mic welcomes poets, musicians, comics and storytellers to celebrate queer joy and creativity. While the event typically takes place on the first Friday of each month, the upcoming June edition will instead be held on Sunday, June 7, with sign-ups starting at 6:30 p.m. and performances beginning at 7 p.m. For more information, interested participants can check the event page on Facebook or email smackdabqueeropenmic@gmail.com.
Also at The LAVA Center is the monthly Theatre of the Oppressed workshop, facilitated by Ash Goverman. Its final workshop in the current format will take place on Sunday, June 14, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The workshop is based in the work of Augusto Boal, who developed Theatre of the Oppressed in Brazil inspired by Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Boal describes theater as “rehearsal for the revolution.” His method transforms the audience from passive spectators into “spect-actors,” empowered to explore solutions to oppressive personal, social and political problems through theater and improvisation.
Participants will use Boal’s games as a tool for power analysis. The free workshop will offer image theater and forum theater as methods for societal examination through our bodies, rather than cerebrally; in community, rather than in isolation. Theatre of the Oppressed is a connective tool for community engagement and embodied anti-perfectionism. Boal’s methods guide us to explore, analyze and ultimately transform our lived reality. For more information, email ash@thelavacenter.org.
from the Greenfield Recorder Arts Brief – click here to read the full article online
