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1419 E New York St, Indianapolis, IN, USA

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1419 E New York St, Indianapolis, IN, USA

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1419 E New York St, Indianapolis, IN, USA

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Evren

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5528 Pulaski Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, USA

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5528 Pulaski Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, USA

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5528 Pulaski Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, USA

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I'm Lisa Jo Epstein--2 names for a first name-- and I'm the Founding Executive & Artistic Director of Just Act in Philadelphia. Looking forward to meeting and connecting with the PTO community.

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Looking for theatre of the oppressed training? J.E.D.I. Applied theatre workshops?

CREATIVE COMMUNITY-Based ENGAGEMENT & organizing?

Just Act offers multi-level, embodied social justice programs to strengthen citizen & collective power for healing, change & activism.

JUST ACT INSTITUTE FOR THEATRE OF THE OPPRESSED

Whether you are embarking on your T.O. journey, or seeking to deepen your facilitation practice, our T.O. Institute offers multi-level Theatre of the Oppressed technique training, such as:

Foundations: Introduction to Theatre of the Oppressed (T.O) or Forum Theatre,

Forum Theatre Intensive, a refreshing new take on facilitating T.O., strengthening knowledge within an anti-oppression framework

Advanced Joker Training, Level 1 & 2

One-on-One Facilitation Coaching, or Program Consultancy by Just Act's Executive & Artistic Director who brings 30 yrs experience as a T.O. facilitator.

Introspective Theatre of the Oppressed Techniques: Investigate inside to see more clearly outside via Boal's Introspection Techniques such as Cops in the Head, Rainbow of Desire

Just Act invites you to learn, strengthen and expand personal and professional skills in using Theatre of the Oppressed as a tool for individual, interpersonal and community healing.

Make Your Own Forum Theatre Ensemble

We partner with community, activist and school groups to make their own Forum Theatre Ensemble to facilitate difficult, courageous dialogue and action planning with their own community that yields real strategies for changing real struggles that are the result of systematic oppression.
What is a program?

We teach participants from partnering groups to create their own Forum Theatre play which serves as the centerpiece for a Forum Theatre event in their community.
What is a residency?

A multi-day Forum Theatre intensive training for a group focused on J.E.D.I. concerns while also teaching them T.O. technique. Residencies culminate in a public performance of the Forum Theatre piece they created.

Arts & Community-Based Engagement, Organizing & Planning

Using theatre and arts-based tools for exploring human interaction, imagination and community possibility in creative place-based, community-led engagement, Just Act customizes programs to our partners' unique interests in building connections across diverse residents so as to grow their power to affect community change.

Our resident-driven community-based engagement model recognizes the need to identify the distinct characteristics, assets and barriers within a community, by residents themselves, that can impact the capacity and readiness to support change through new policies, projects and programs.

We partner with local residents, community groups and leaders to collectively develop strategies for planning and implementation of arts-based solutions that advance community growth and revitalization from the inside out (see also Creative Capacity- Building Workshops).

THE PEOPLE'S JAM ON JUSTICE Forum Theatre Events

Forum Theatre community-based events created and produced by Just Act in collaboration with local activist and organizing groups, civic leaders, engaged individuals and organizations seeking new ways to tackle struggles that surround injustice. Together, we create dynamic, interactive Forum Theatre events to activate authentic inter-group dialogue, tackle conflict and create new strategies for citizen-driven change.

Audiences called "Spect-Actors" theatrically debate real challenges then share ideas for changing how characters relate by jumping on stage and trying out their strategy for transforming oppressive behavior that perpetuates the status quo into more equitable interactions.

Real People.

Real Struggles.

Real Strategies for growing equity

Creative Capacity-Building Workshops

Just Act has taken an active role to inspire and support local community organizations and groups to create change through creative collaboration.

We offer stand-alone workshops to introduce your group/organization to select signature theatre and arts-based tools we utilize in our longer-term place-based, strategic planning community projects. Some examples: Story-Circles, Network Mapping, Problem/Vision trees, Image Theatre on barriers and breakthroughs, create your own Story Engagement Team to collect data, or Improvisational story "Gift-backs."

Workshops are customized to meet the specific needs and roles of individuals, groups, organizations and/or systems that embrace our mission as a theatre & arts-based catalyst for building relationships and networks to improve community health and well-being.

J.E.D.I Training

At Just Act, it means Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion workshops and professional development, using improvisational tools from Theatre of the Oppressed, Social Presencing Theatre and other Social Arts, as a foundation to flip the script from fear to courage. We customize our workshops for cross-sector partners looking to catalyze conversations with constituents about the ways prejudice and discrimination show up in every day interactions; confront challenges to making personal and structural change. Workshop themes range from undoing racism and anti-bias training to social justice-based team building and creative conflict transformation. Through our trainings, you will:

-Explore and identify the internal and external obstacles that block growth

-Gain new awareness of your self and society

-Utilize new awareness to develop and practice strategies to support transformation.

Workshops for youth & young adults

Professional Development for adults

Coaching & consultancy

We also offer:

Consultancy for organizations in creative Community-based engagement;

One-on-One Coaching in Theatre Of The Oppressed, Arts and Community-Based Engagement & Leadership Development for Equity

Please contact us directly if interested.

Our collaborating community partners, workshop participants and audiences are invested in making meaningful social and civic change. Participants we serve come from across social identities (race, ethnicity, socio-economic class, gender, sexual orientation, first language, national origin, religious or political affiliation) include:

Community residents, advocates, activists & organizers

Social change trainers/facilitators

Educators and diversity administrators and leaders

Students: high school, college, graduate school

Artists across disciplines

Social workers and healers of all kinds

Civic & cultural leaders

Urban planners

Creative Place- Keepers

Community Development Corporations, Neighborhood Advisory Committees, Urban Planners

We consider social justice as process, not just an outcome.

We are invested in tough, courageous, healing conversations through an intersectional lens that are necessary for racial justice and equitable revitalization.

Conflict is a part of life and should be embraced as a source of growth and possibility.

We believe there's an artist in everyone.

Everyone benefits from having creative tools to better source from their natural intellect, giving strength, hope and ability to shed deeply-rooted patterns, flex new muscles to tackle injustice, imagine a just world, then go out and build it.

We believe a title or a degree do not make a leader; we work with people who find themselves leading, with or without recognition.

With new awareness and agency, you can directly apply the practical tools gained in our workshops to use in your own communities to creatively frame, explore and transform injustice and inequality.

The Just Act workshops and programs I have attended have not only impacted the paradigm from which I view social issues, but warmed my heart and stimulated my spirit. I was able to feel the social justice issues people only talk about. Thanks for your thrilling, heart-wrenching, inspiring, dynamic, engaging experiences.

Carl Moore

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Whether you are embarking on your T.O. journey, or seeking to deepen your facilitation practice, our T.O. Institute offers multi-level Theatre of the Oppressed technique training, such as: Foundations: Introduction to Theatre of the Oppressed (T.O) or Forum Theatre, Forum Theatre Intensive, a refreshing new take on facilitating T.O., strengthening knowledge within an anti-oppression framework Advanced Joker Training, Level 1 & 2 One-on-One Facilitation Coaching, or Program Consultancy by Just Act's Executive & Artistic Director who brings 30 yrs experience as a T.O.