KEy research questions & methodology

Does Forum Theatre foster long-term positive change in communities?

If it does, what is it that causes longer lasting change?

• Do immediate infrastructural changes within the community (ie. deciding to build the birth clinic or settling an agricultural feud) create longer lasting improvement?
  
• Or does giving the community the tools and inspiration to take action last longer than any physical change?

Are communities returning to Forum Theatre as a tool to solve problems, even after their initial exposure to it?

• I would measure this by creating a registry of communities being newly introduced to Forum Theatre. In order to track any geographical patterns that may surface, I would be sure that the network represented communities from North America, Central America, South America, Africa, the Middle East, East and Southeast Asia, as well as Central and Eastern Europe.
• Over a five year period of time, I would monitor these communities and check in with them six times a year to see how often they have used Forum Theatre to confront their conflicts.
  

Is Forum Theatre most effective when there is a pre-determined solution in mind? Or does that detract from the agency that Theatre of the Oppressed is supposed to give its participants?

• I would look at a variety of case studies in which a Forum Theatre companies came to a community with a clear vision of the action that needed to be taken, versus cases in which the actors simply addressed a topic and let the audience take the reigns.
  
• Any needed infrastructural change to a community carries with it a lot of benefit. But I am interested to know if it is the immediate infrastructural improvements that creates a long lasting change in a community, or if the new approach to problem solving is more influential in the long run.
  
• To research this, I would create a network of Forum Theatre companies and organizations around the world, in order to study and ask them about their approach to writing a show.
  

Is Forum Theatre more effective when the central actors are trained professionals, or when the actors are ordinary people experiencing oppression themselves (i.e. homeless people, refugees, prisoners)?

• In order to gather this information I would attend performances with both of these situations in different parts of the world. After the performance, I would poll audiences to see if the fact that the actors themselves were the oppressed had any profound impact on them.
• If this does prove to be a significant factor for audience members, perhaps more programs can be put in place to train ordinary people to become actors for the Theatre of the Oppressed.
  

Where is Forum Theatre being practiced most today, in developing or developed nations?

• By researching the database of the International Organization of Theatre of the Oppressed, I would get an initial read of which countries  have participated and been introduced to Forum Theatre.
  
• Following that initial research, I would refer to the network of Forum Theatre companies in order to poll them on where they perform the most. It would be interesting to know if any of them travel to other countries, or if they stay in their country of origins, as I assume that has an affect on their reception and success.
  

What are some of the common themes being dealt with in Forum Theatre?

• This is another question to research with the help of network of companies. In addition, I would monitor the major current events of the regions I am following to see if Forum Theatre "pockets" form in reaction to any major political or military shifts.
  
• Every performance that I attend would be treated as a case study, so as to eventually evaluate which themes might have more success with the Forum structure. 
• Are the themes that meet the most success, themes that require physical action to be taken right away? Or is Forum Theatre just as effective when confronting themes that require a gradual process of change?