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When we look beyond appearances, we see oppressors and oppressed people, in all societies, ethnic groups, genders, social classes and casts; we see an unfair and cruel world.

— Augusto Boal World Theater Day Message, Geneva, Switzerland (2009)

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More quotes by Augusto Boal

The Theatre of the Oppressed is theatre in this most archaic application of the word. In this usage, all human beings are Actors (they act!) and Spectators (they observe!).

Games for Actors and non-Actors (1992)

Theatre has nothing to do with buildings or other physical constructions. Theatre — or theatricality — is the capacity, this human property which allows man to observe himself in action, in activity.

The Rainbow of Desire (1995)

In its most archaic sense, theatre is the capacity possessed by human beings—and not by animals—to observe themselves in action.

Games for Actors and non-Actors (1992)

I believe in democracy, but in real democracy, not a phony democracy in which just powerful people can speak. For me, in a democracy everyone speaks.

We must all do theatre – to find out who we are, and to discover who we could become.

Aesthetics of the Oppressed (2006)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Augusto Boal (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.