Joker Training Workshop

Last week, I honed my Jokering skills and was endowed with facilitating energy at the intensive Joker Training Workshop with Simon Malbogat and Duncan McCallum from the Mixed Company Theatre. It was enriching to observe how Simon and Duncan use the Masks of Manipulation - both internal and external - not only in creating Forum Theatre models, but also in reflecting on the process of Jokering. So, I am left with messages and questions that inform my practice as a Joker and which remind me that the self-reflection is an inevitable part of being a Joker.

During the workshop, as an experienced facilitator and workshop leader, I was assessing how would I lead a Joker training workshop and how would I structure the three days. Immediately, my pedagogy and the Pedagogy of the Oppressed, from which the Theatre of the Oppressed and Forum Theatre were born, came to forefront. I started to think about the Banking Education style, which Paolo Freire identifies as the main tool of oppression. As Simon and Duncan were facilitating, it became evident that the Banking style has roots in our Western education and even if we, the facilitators work in liberatory form of theatre, such as Forum Theatre, we may be prone to Banking Education.

I was very happy to be able to take the workshop right after my arrival in Toronto. The group of the workshop participants is my first Toronto theatre community. I am very thankful for connecting with creative and socially minded people and am looking forward to collaborating on creating a Forum Theatre model.

What is it going to be? Stay tuned, ideas are brewing. All I am going to say at this point is that I am interested in professional development of teachers - both in pre-service and in-service stages.