Activating allyship: Revisiting Forum Theatre through a study abroad program in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This article focuses on a March 2023 study abroad program in Rio de Janeiro where nineteen students, educators, and clinicians from New York University's theatre education, dance education, and drama therapy programs engaged with the Escola de Teatro Popular (ETP), a Brazilian organization that has evolved Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) and Forum Theatre into a dialectical model emphasizing allyship within social movements. The authors, four drama therapists working in New York City healthcare systems, analyze how ETP's art-infused allyship aligns with drama therapy practices and supports the World Health Organization's efforts to use the arts for community well-being. The article details ETP's collaborative work with diverse social organizations in Rio's favelas, illustrating how Forum Theatre serves as a tool for community empowerment and resistance to systemic oppression. It also reflects on the challenges and possibilities of applying this model within clinical drama therapy settings in the U.S., highlighting the importance of cultivating allyship and creative engagement to address inequities in healthcare.