Rainbow of Desire Workshop with Geo Britto
October 15 & 16, 2025 from 10:00AM – 2:00PM

This two-day workshop will utilize Theater of the Oppressed techniques to uncover how our internalized oppressions intersect with society and expose our ideological contradictions. Tuition information is listed below.

Register for one or both days via this form!

If you require further information about the workshop, please send an email to geobritto@gmail.com.

The Theater of the Oppressed, founded by Brazilian theater theorist and practitioner Augusto Boal, is a methodology of theatrical techniques that aims to equip participants with skills to break down systems of oppression with political and artistic tools for direct action. “Rainbow of Desire” is an introspective TO technique developed to analyze psychological and internal conflicts related to social and political systems of oppression.

Initially called “the policeman in your head,” this technique has been widely used in workshops and courses around the world with the aim of helping people understand and overcome their internal/psychological oppressions that are linked to the external/social world, since there is no psychological without the social and vice versa. Through this technique, it is possible to reveal the contradictions between what is said and what is done, the performance of actions that are sometimes contrary to a person’s ideology.

This immersive course, “Rainbow of Desire,” offers participants the opportunity to discover new ways of seeing and transforming their individual and collective experiences, but not to overcome them. It is a two-day workshop. Although it is not therapy, it can be complementary to licensed drama therapists or psychodramatists, providing a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of oppression. This training is mainly practiced by facilitators of Theater of the Oppressed and mental health professionals and drama therapists.

Using Boal’s book, Rainbow of Desire, and new techniques tried out by Boal in our work in Rio de Janeiro that are not included in the book. The proposal is to experience stories brought by the participants themselves that can be used to investigate oppression in a structured way. During the course, participants are encouraged to identify and share their stories about internal conflicts, fears, and repressed desires. Through games, exercises, and theatrical techniques, these emotions are brought to the surface, not for the purpose of catharsis and therapy, but mainly to open up possibilities for actions that can lead to collective transformation. The name Rainbow of Desire emerges as a metaphor for the different colors that exist representing the different and contradictory desires and emotions that each human being possesses.

Workshop Tuition Information

One Day Workshop Price

Register by August 8 = $100

Register by August 20 = $110

Register after September 15 = $125

One Day Workshop Price – for Students & Others requesting Financial Assistance

Register by August 8 = $75

Register by August 20 = $85

Register after September 15 = $95

Two Day Workshop Price

Register by August 8 = $170

Register by August 20 = $185

Register after September 15 = $200

Two Day Workshop Price – for Students & Others requesting Financial Assistance

Register by August 8 = $125

Register by August 20 = $135

Register after September 15 = $145

About Geo Britto & the Theater of the Oppressed

Participants will train with Geo Britto, member of the Coordination of the Popular Theater School. Geo is a veteran Joker who worked with CTO in Rio de Janeiro for 32 years and one of the first students to train with Augusto Boal for 20 years. He has coordinated and participated in numerous projects in favelas, prisons, mental health institutions, education, culture, human rights, and has conducted workshops in dozens of countries. He currently works at the Popular Theater School-ETP, where different grassroots movements—housing, students, LGBT, land, and others—come to learn, teach, and become multipliers. He has held conferences, workshops, and theatrical performances in Palestine, Bolivia, Mozambique, Egypt, India, South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Croatia, Portugal, Spain, Germany, England, Canada, and the US. He has a degree in Political and Social Sciences, a master’s degree in Arts, a PhD in theater, and is the father of twins.

The Theater of the Oppressed is one of the most widely used theatrical methodologies in the world. The philosophy and actions of the methodology seek to democratize the means of cultural production as a way to activate and strengthen political commitment. The Theater of the Oppressed is a playful and educational methodology, an effective means of seeking and communicating practical solutions to real problems through aesthetic and performative interventions. The methodology is based on the interaction between grassroots movements and communities and the participants, who together seek effective solutions in the pursuit of social justice and collective transformation. The methodology offers the oppressed the opportunity to appropriate the means of theatrical production and expand their possibilities for creative expression. It also aims to break down the barrier between the stage and the audience to establish an active, democratic, and purposeful dialogue with the potential to resolve social conflicts. In this pedagogical proposal, conflicts must be revealed aesthetically so that their implications are clearly understood and concrete means to overcome them can be found.

“Theater itself is not revolutionary: it is a rehearsal for revolution.” – Augusto Boal
“To try to liberate the oppressed without their reflective participation in the act of liberation is to treat them as objects that must be saved from a burning building.” – Paulo Freire
“Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” – Bertolt Brecht

@escoladeteatropopular
@britto.geo