Brazilian theater director Augusto Boal diesMay 2, 2009 - 7:51pm
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - Augusto Boal, the Brazilian theater director andplaywright known for the interactive genre called the "Theater of theOppressed," died Saturday. He was 78.
Boal died of respiratory failure following a long battle withleukemia, according to Elisa Nunes, a spokeswoman for Rio's HospitalSamaritano.
Boal, who studied theater arts at New York City's Columbia University,created Theater of the Oppressed in the early 1960s as a way toestablish a dialogue between audience, playwright, director and actorsthat encouraged political activism.
Seen as a threat to the dictatorship that ruled Brazil between 1964and 1985, Boal was arrested, jailed and tortured before being exiledto Argentina.
He returned to Brazil after the fall of the military regime.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - Augusto Boal, the Brazilian theater director andplaywright known for the interactive genre called the "Theater of theOppressed," died Saturday. He was 78.
Boal died of respiratory failure following a long battle withleukemia, according to Elisa Nunes, a spokeswoman for Rio's HospitalSamaritano.
Boal, who studied theater arts at New York City's Columbia University,created Theater of the Oppressed in the early 1960s as a way toestablish a dialogue between audience, playwright, director and actorsthat encouraged political activism.
Seen as a threat to the dictatorship that ruled Brazil between 1964and 1985, Boal was arrested, jailed and tortured before being exiledto Argentina.
He returned to Brazil after the fall of the military regime.
