El Instituto de Teatro

Over the course of our 25 years, Teatro Visión has offered dozens of workshops for the development of specific performance skills. Originally entitled Academia de Teatro, these individual workshops eventually evolved into a single comprehensive curriculum. Offered in 2005 as El Instituto de Teatro, Teatro Visión now offers two distinct trainings. Please read below for a description of these programs.

Theater for Community Engagement

Through creative, active theater exercises, reflection and dialogue, participants will gain skills and understanding of the value and use of popular education through participatory theater. This training will prepare educators and organizers to use theater to engage community in the work of creating conditions for the health, success and happiness of parents and children. Teatro Visión’s intensive training includes individualized follow-up consultation and technical assistance for participating organizations. Participants gain skills for collaborative creation of participatory performance that explores the needs and experiences of families in the context of community in compelling, highly theatrical ways. The 2007 Instituto worked with 8 service agencies that support immigrant families with young children from various ethnic communities in Santa Clara County.

Teatro Chicano

The Instituto also offers training for the development of skills and knowledge for the creation and performance of Chicano theater. The curriculum includes:

• Classic performance forms of teatro Chicano initially developed by El Teatro Campesino (Acto, Mito, Corrido)
• New directions in Teatro Chicano (Spoken Word, Hip-Hop Theater, Mutli-media Technology)
• Core skills (Physical Theater, Voice, Movement, Improvisation, Mask-Making)
• Individual exploration and affirmation of Chicano/Latino identity and Chicano theater as a social, spiritual expression of indigenousness
• Development of critical consciousness, dialogue, and facilitation
• Community-based research and artistic creation methodologies
• Exploration of core values of Chicano theater as a medium for and affirmation of culture

The Instutito de Teatro seeks to preserve and develop Teatro as cultural work for diverse Latino communities. Participation in the Instituto will strengthen individual identity and encourage social action through artistic self-development and collective learning. It is a training ground for those interested in an inherently political expression through theater.

The Instituto curriculum can be tailored for individual organizational needs/events.

For more information

elisamarina@teatrovision.org – (408) 294-6678. You are also welcome to come by our office between 9am – 5pm at 365 S. Market St., San José, CA 95113.