CTO-Rio Solidarity Fund
Find out how you can help our friends at CTO-Rio with their campaign to defend themselves from the allegations of the Ministry of Justice and the National Prisons Department in Brazil. Click here to learn more.
Augusto Boal 1931-2009
PTO shares in the grief of people around the world who learned of the passing of Augusto Boal on May 2nd, 2009, remarkably also the same date as his great friend and fellow warrior, Paulo Freire. We send our sympathies to his wife, Cecelia, his son, Julian, with whom so many of us have worked, his son Fabian, the rest of his family, the members of CTO-Rio, and his world of friends and co-workers.
Augusto Boal was a giant in so many ways: theatre director, scholar, teacher; pedagogy colleague of Paulo Freire; political representative and statesman in Rio de Janeiro and Brazil; international speaker and teacher; Nobel Peace Prize nominee; and the visionary who conceived and patiently developed one of the most revolutionary cultural and artistic practices of the last millennia, the Theatre of the Oppressed.
As the featured guest for the first PTO Conference in Omaha in 1995, Augusto attended, led workshops, and spoke at all but three of our conferences through last year's gathering in 2008, again in Omaha. Through Augusto's good offices, Paulo Freire came to PTO in 1996, making this the only time in their celebrated careers that these two friends presented together in public.
Julian Boal appreciates the many expressions of sympathy sent to his family, and also has indicated his intention to come to Minneapolis for the annual PTO Workshops and Conference Opening May 18 - 21. At that time, PTO will arrange a time for honoring our founding inspiration, Dr. Augusto Boal.
Communications with Julian and family can be sent through Doug Paterson: dpaterson@unomaha.edu
Our Mission
PTO is a not-for-profit (IRS 501C3) organization with the following mission: To challenge oppressive systems by promoting critical thinking and social justice. We organize an annual meeting that focuses on the work of liberatory educators, activists, and artists; and community organizers.