The Wildcard Workbook: A Practical Guide to Jokering Forum Theatre -- An Introduction and Background

This is a short article introducing the Wildcard Workbook, and the journey we took to translate our understanding of the core ethics of Theatre of the Oppressed into a resource for all kinds of facilitators. In our years of practice, we wished for a book we couldn’t yet find: a truly accessible, visual, and interactive guide that could prepare us to work with a community in real-time. That was the spark for the book, and the values of the project grew from there. In this essay, we reflect on our collaboration process, and on the ways this book may be useful for our fellow practitioners.The Wildcard Workbook: A Practical Guide for Jokering Forum Theatre is a resource for facilitators of all kinds looking for new ways to bring fun, creativity, and critical thinking into their work! Why Wildcard? Because to be a “Joker” in the Theatre of the Oppressed is to play many different roles and to navigate uncertainty with joy. Written by experienced Jokers from Theatre of the Oppressed NYC (TONYC), this workbook is a graphic, interactive, and accessible guide to inspire and support facilitation and difficultation in many contexts.