CCDC | Bangalore Jokers Meet

Bangalore Jokers Meet

"Bangalore Jokers" is a group of over 300 practitioners of Theatre of the Oppressed spread around the world who have completed CCDC's facilitator training over the past decade. In March/April 2020, as the Covid-19 induced lockdown kept extending indefinitely, we reached out to our extended family of jokers suggesting a virtual meeting, just to check in and connect.

The first global Bangalore Jokers virtual meet took place on April 18 2020. Since then, the 90 minute Saturday meets were held in an unbroken flow of weekly meets for 8 months till December 2020. From January 2021, the meets will be held once a month. The meets are a space where BJs feel free to share, draw on each other's support, knowledge and skills to grow as Jokers, but more importantly, reaffirm our faith in the TO philosophy of connecting as human beings.

Here are some of the themes of our Saturday gatherings:

What does it mean to 'do TO' in Covid times?
When does Theatre of the Oppressed become exploitative?
What is Dialogue? Reading Freire for India today
Shrieking Silence - A hybrid of Forum Theatre and Cop in the Head
An experiment with Image Theatre
Self care for the mental health professional
TO for Health Humanities
Intersectionality
Who is 'My Joker'?
Children's books as resources for Building Resilience
The National Education Policy 2020 and its implications for drama teachers

Also read about our other online workshops here

"This place has been of immense importance for me in this pandemic especially when I started struggling with my own identity as a theatre practitioner. It opened new doors for me and I learnt ways to relate with my craft differently in this forum. I could experiment, be part of experiments and learnt lots from the group. It kept my connection with my fellow jokers alive and I made new friends too :) "

"I am newly introduced to TO and was looking forward to observing some of CCDC's workshops and facilitating/jokering in-person workshops of my own, before lockdown. The lockdown definitely dampened my excitement. These meetings have been a kind of blessing- a way to be in touch and not drift from TO...I'm grateful for every person that had time to spare, share and facilitate new discussions each week, I'm definitely enriched by this experience."

"During this time I have watched myself become familiar with those who attended regularly. From tentative beginnings, from being one who would often step back from speaking up (the lurker in me), I find change in myself, stepping up perhaps more than I ought to. I have made new friends, and reacquainted myself with old ones. In the real world, I would perhaps never have met the likes of Akhila and Swathi, and many of the other multi talented people that you have brought together in this somewhat unreal world. That would certainly have been my loss. I am happy that they are our future, and it is in safe hands. The Saturday meetings have brought more than TO back into my life; They brought with them a sense of community, of belonging, of a way out of loneliness- even if for a brief period, and of something pleasant to look forward to in these morbid times."

"When I started participating I was quite starved for a space to talk about things that mattered to me and I didn't even know it. These meetings gave me that space. "

"I loved how the discussions evolved organically from free flow conversations to online forums, discussions on theatre of the oppressed, workshops and so on....Pretty soon I was hooked and looking forward to Saturday mornings."

"For me these meets are a space that I can always return to and feel at home, feel energized and reconnect to TO....kind of helps me keep this little light of mine shining :-). It is comforting knowing that a space like that exists. And I am thankful to Radha and Ravi to hold this space so diligently, being there every week while we could shift priorities."