Augusto Boal

Augusto Boal was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on March 16, 1931. By all accounts, he had a happy childhood in which arts were encouraged. He, accompanied by siblings and cousins, would present theatrical entertainments for their family. Boal was a natural storyteller, and would even rewrite stories he did not like. While he was always interested in theatre, Boal actually went to college at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro for engineering, and even studied at the Columbia University School of Engineering in New York.

After returning to Brazil, Boal turned his attention to theatre as a vehicle for political change and activism. In 1964, the coup d’etat in Brazil saw Boal as a threat to their power. In 1971, he was arrested and tortured before he was exiled to Argentina. While there, he created some of his most significant work: Torquemada (1971) and The Theatre of the Oppressed (1973). He left Argentina, and traveled around South America to develop his dramaturgy even further. In 1986, Boal returned to Brazil and won a position on the city council of Rio de Janeiro, where he developed legislative theatre. Boal was married twice, and had two sons, Julian and Fabian; Julian continued his father’s work of the Theatre of the Oppressed.

Augusto Boal died on May 2, 2009.

Key Dates & Events

• 1956 - Boal directs Of Mice and Men at the Arena Theatre in São Paulo
• 1971 - Boal is arrested by Brazilian authorities and later exiled to Argentina
• 1973 - The Theatre of the Oppressed is published
• 1986 - Boal returns to Brazil and establishes the Center for the Theatre of the Oppressed
• 1994 - Boal is awarded the UNESCO Pablo Picasso Medal