AIAGC Professional Development Workshop:
Power and Play
Presenter: Shannon Ivey MFA, AEA
Free to AIA Columbia Members
Free to Graduate Architects (ie Interns)
$10 for non-members
Light refreshment will be provided
February 27
from 4:30pm to 6:00 pm
@ Center for Architecture
1530 Main Street
To be followed by a Happy Hour/YAF even at Hendrix @6pm
AIAGC is pleased to announce the first in a quarterly series of workshops and seminars aimed at providing our membership with career development skills in settings and methods unique from a typical luncheon seminar. As architects, we seek to transform the ideas and needs of clients both said and unsaid into beautifully defined spaces. This workshop will seek to push you towards new ways of understanding how we communicate. We encourage members at any experience level to attend and we also encourage our AIA members to share this opportunity with their non-AIA colleagues. Read on for more info about this workshop from it’s facilitator!
Program Facilitator Bio:
Shannon Ivey MFA, AEA, is the founder of the award winning #whatshesaidproject. From Memphis, TN, Shannon received her undergraduate degree from Mississippi University for Women (the first public women’s college) and an MFA from UNC Greensboro. She has performed in 48 states thanks to a vibrant career as a professional actor and teacher. Her professional specialties are first person storytelling (Story Slams) and Theatre of the Oppressed (a form of theatre activism) facilitation. Shannon is an experienced educator, Tedx speaker, storyteller, and innovator. She currently resides in Columbia, South Carolina with her 9 year old daughter, Zoe. For more information: www.shannon-ivey.com
Workshop Description/Definition:
Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) is a series of interactive games and exercises used in a variety of settings and communities to explore power and oppression. The main purposes of TO are to become critically aware of oppression and power in relationships, to rehearse alternative solutions for real life, and to ultimately be able to make change for social justice.
Creator Augusto Boal was an international theatre director and activist. His work, Theatre of the Oppressed, was based on Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which helps students critically question social power structures and work toward change.
In any situation, in order to move away from a hierarchical power structure, one must be able to first identify oppressive power structures/processes, then envision a new structure(s), and transition toward change by experiencing/rehearsing the alternatives.
TO engages in empowered thinking by reflecting on problems and solutions while using the prior knowledge of the participants.
TO is an outgrowth of significant social and political unrest in South America during the 1970’s. Boal believed that we must all be actors in order to transform society. He saw the parallel between the traditional presenting of theatre (where the audience is a passive observer) and society (where the few make all the decisions for the many). By the one major change of empowering audience members to an active role (spect-actors), they were able to participate, make decisions, and even act in opposition to confront real world problems. Those often unheard and underrepresented now had a medium to communicate and create critical dialogue about the issues they face.
This experiential workshop is a fun way to explore power dynamics through play. No acting experience needed, just a willingness to have fun and then discuss what you noticed with your peers.
AIA Columbia 