i am about to go downtown and watch as my students perform their street performances. i am very excited about this. they performed part one last monday to a mixed review. mixed, not because they did not do a good job… they did a great job actually! the review was mixed due to the fact that the subject matter they chose to depict was of a somewhat sensitive nature. we are taking a leaf out of boal’s book and doing a bit if invisible theater. monday’s group used several people posing as handicapped and their personal assistants (every handicapped person in sweden has the right to a personal assistant… very great program!). the personal assistants were horrible to their charges. we were hoping to provoke some response from the “public”, but got nothing. there was even a large group of teenagers sitting at the next table that were so wrapped up in their cell phone comparisons that they did not even look up when one personal assistant put his charge in to a corner for not eating her icecream properly.

today we will run this skit again and also another where a teenage-mother leaves her “baby” with a stranger so she can go into a shop.

the purpose of these acts is to start a conversation with the public on the fair treatment entitled to every individual. what is and can be expected of people? is there a point where a stranger should step in to help someone obviously in need? where is your line? how far does someone have to be hurt before you react? …interesting questions which we discuss with the public after we let them in on our “secret”…