Human Futures No. 1 December 2016 | Page 46

Alethia Berenice Montero Baena and Guillermina Baena Paz worked with fifteen women under imprisonment in Mexico City .
LEALA - Forward Theatre - Mexico - part 1
Similar to psychodrama and improvisation theatre , the participants can get into a simulation , a rehearsal of what they can think , feel and do in some future situation , even in years to come .
At some stage of life , we all become an agressor and we all become a victim .
Aside from the times when we feel strong and alive , there is always something that may hurt any of our sensitive fibres . When damage inhabits our body , our soul , our mind , our spirit , it turns into a whirlwind , performing along with other adjacent emotions .
Just as there is an immense variety of plants , animals and other organisms there is an enormous variety of types of human beings . Can you just imagine how many highly damaged human beings we can find all over the world ? Guillermina Baena Paz and I were extremely fortunate to meet one of thousands of groups under such conditions . Thanks to the WFSF-UNESCO LEALA Project we were able to work with fifteen women under imprisonment here in Mexico City .
The idea of our project was to help them become mentally and emotionally prepared for reintegration into society through foresight processes . How did we do that ? We used an approach that integrates emotional intelligence and personal futures through what we call Forward Theatre .
Forward Theatre is a psychology-based existential futures studies methodology . It allows people to experience possible , alternative futures through a first-hand activity . It uses a combination of theatrical techniques mixed with futures studies elements and breathing-body-voice warm-up for self-connection and spiritual awareness . Similar to psychodrama and improvisation theatre , the participants can get into a simulation , a rehearsal of what they can think , feel and do in some future situation , even in years to come . It is a matter of training actors of action ( not just of acting ): a matter of being prospective and not just of doing prospective .
We worked with our women prisoners to perform three versions of one topic of interest to them : using the Spanish concepts of Utopía , Eutopía and Distopía ( the best situation , the most likely to happen and the worst case scenario ). Through this process some tensions are released , especially anxiety and fear , which are common feelings when facing uncertain futures , and catharsys can occur . By experimenting with different roles within a supportive environment , they can glimpse what could potentially occur . This can reduce uncertainty , leading to more serene individuals .
The purpose of Forward Theatre is , step by step , to arrive at a healed being , a more enlightened species , as the caterpillar transforms into a butterfly , as a bud opens its petals . Forward Theatre can raise awareness , nourish our inner self , clear our pathways forward to a fresh awakening and encourage willpower to truly build actions which make sense , actions focused on the good , actions which build peace .
One of our greatest discoveries in this work was coming across disintegrated persons , some of whom did not even realise they had committed a crime ( guilty or not ). Even before prison many of them were already fractured , living with their families “ on the margins ” of life , mistrusting everyone . They were full of uncertainty about who they can trust , about their everyday lives , and of course their futures . We also realised that in some way we are all inside a kind of prison , tied to our unquestioned beliefs , unreconstructed dogmas and unresolved conflicts .
24 DECEMBER 2016