The theatre technique we use for the SAVE program at UNI is "forum theatre." Forum theatre was developed in the 1960s by Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal. Boal believed that theatre could serve as a forum for teaching people the strategies they needed to change their world.

The goal of forum theatre is to make people more aware of some problems that they may have not considered previously. Forum theatre scenarios are designed to stimulate audience participation through discussion, interactive role-playing and shared experiences. For example, one forum scene we present in workshops involves bystanders observing an intoxicated woman being heavily flirted with by a man at a party. In this scene, it is clear that the woman is far too intoxicated to stop his advances. As the scene evolves, the bystanders discuss the pros and cons of intervening. The scene ends as the man carries the woman from the party.

In a typical forum workshop, audience members come forward to demonstrate various approaches to intervening on the woman’s behalf. Usually in a forum scene, these characters remain the same, while the other characters in the scene (the bystanders) will be replaced by audience members who try different approaches at preventing or stopping the violence as it is happening. Audience members are allowed to attempt their solutions until they feel satisfied they have done everything they have wanted to do. Several audience members can replace the same character if they desire. After the forum scene has been worked through, discussion can take place about the scene’s issue(s).