NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, Aug. 2.
PORT TOWNSEND — The Mandala Center for Change will present “Waging Peace — Designing Justice,” a public forum-theater performance and community dialogue, at 7 tonight.
The combination of theater and community forum, which will be at the Masonic Center, 1338 Jefferson St., is the culmination of a weeklong intensive workshop on Theater of the Oppressed techniques.
Audience participation
It is created and performed by the participants, including several members of the Mandala Center’s local Poetic Justice Theatre Ensemble.
Admission is free, with donations benefiting the Boiler Room, Port Townsend’s coffee house and community center for youths.
Nearly 40 people, from teens to elders — and from across the United States and as far away as Montreal and Taiwan — are expected to participate.
Under the guidance of facilitator Marc Weinblatt, the audience will choose from several pre-scripted short plays depicting social issues relevant to the community.
The selected plays will be performed a second time, and the audience will be invited to stop the action and improvise solutions to the problems at hand.
Themes from past year’s performances have included racism, sexism, homophobia, globalization, the education system, health care, disability and war.
For more information, phone 360-344-3435 or email info@mandalaforchange.com.
