Summer 2026
Global Activism Through Theater
Dates: June 15, 2026 – July 03, 2026Day/Time: Monday; Tuesday; Wednesday; Thursday 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM EDT
Level: 200-Level
Certificate: Civic Engagement, Global Humanities
Civic Engagement certificate requirement: Theories of civic engagement, democracy, and social action.
Global Humanities certificate requirement: Global imagination (study of art and culture).
Instructor: Aimée Michel, Simon's Rock at Bard College
Because of its visceral, communal nature, theater has always been an agent for social and political change across the globe, either directly or indirectly. In this course, we will explore how the art form of theater has been used directly, consciously, and effectively worldwide as an agent of social and political change. We will begin by studying the activist work of Peter Schumann and his Bread and Puppet Theatre, Judith Malina and Julian Beck of the Living Theatre, both in the US, and Augusto Boal and his Theatre of the Oppressed in Brazil. In the first group project, students will work together to create presentations on these theater companies, which they will present to the class. The second group project will explore theater activism in countries outside North and South America. Students will research theater companies in their own countries, exploring how these theaters influence social and political ideas and policy, and share their research in an interactive presentation with the class. Finally, students will work in groups to choose through consensus an issue that they find challenging today and will devise a theatrical way to address this issue. Each group will present/perform their theatrical activism for the class in the last week. Throughout the course of the class, students will be provided prompts based on the work in the class, and they will respond to them in Brightspace.
This is session 2 course. Deadline to register is June 5.
Credits: 4 US / 8 ECTS