The Boal Original: What Is It Exactly?

Sammy White '14

This winter, students involved with the Beaver Play tested a new concept of script writing. The actors were faced with the responsibility of writing and preforming their own play. As challenging as that is, the cast of the new play “The Boal Original” did an amazing job. Although the play is not finished, The Beaver Reader was able to interview actress Carli Jaff about her experiences writing the play.

TBR: What is the name of the play?
Carli Jaff: The name of the play for now is “The Boal Original”. We are working on other titles.

TBR: What is the play about?
Carli Jaff: Augusto Boal was a famous Brazilian theatre director who used theatre as a means of social change and entertainment. Our play is in the style of Boal’s work which is a series of vignettes. Each vignette is about a different topic; for example, there are scenes about cyberbullying, 9/11, and racism. We hope that by performing all these scenes we will spread awareness and begin to make a difference in this world where the only constant is change.

TBR: Is it different having students write it?
Carli Jaff: It’s very interesting having students come up with the scenes. The process of writing this particular play is very different than what I was expecting. All of our scenes have come out of activities that we do in rehearsal or news stories that we hear about or read.

TBR: In your opinion, was having students write the play better or worse than using a play that was already created?
Carli Jaff: So far, I have loved the way this play has come about. The cast has worked extremely well together and we have made scenes about topics that we all feel strongly about. This process has been completely different than any other play I’ve done because we get to create the entire thing from scratch. We have so much more artistic liberty and creative license than most of us have ever had in the theatre world.

TBR: What is the best thing about staring in school plays?
Carli Jaff: To me, the best thing about being in a school play is the bond that you form with your cast and crew. Everyone involved in creating this play shares the same passion: theatre. In school, we may be in different crowds or different grades, but when the clock hits 3:40, we are all together as one. By the time the lights fade and the curtain falls for the last time, we have formed a bond that I rarely find anywhere else.

TBR: What is the best thing about the play this winter?
Carli Jaff: I love that we have such a diverse cast. We come from different backgrounds, social groups, grades, and we all have different morals and beliefs, but we all work together so well. I have gotten to know so many incredible people through this process, and we still have a month left! We are not afraid to share our real feelings or start a debate. I just really love the dynamic that we have going and the element of trust that I feel with my 15 other cast-mates.

TBR: How long did it take to come up with an idea for the script?
Carli Jaff: One of the best parts about “Boal” is that the writing never ends! We are constantly coming up with new ideas and concepts and creating scenes out of them. There are always more topics to cover, more news that we can discuss, and more concepts to uncover. We are always creating and tweaking things.

The Beaver community is very excited to finally see this play. It is very impressive that a group of students were able to come together and create an entire script. The play will be shown on February 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. It will be very interesting to go and see how it turns out.
For more information, visit http://theboaloriginal.blogspot.com/