"Ocupa Boal" Exhibition

Augusto Boal Institute

BiLi Projetos e Eventos was hired to provide executive and financial support for the "Ocupa Boal" exhibition, conceived by the Augusto Boal Institute. The project—which brought together a theater performance, an exhibition, discussions, and workshops—took place from June 26 to July 19, 2026, at the Sérgio Porto Municipal Cultural Center in Rio de Janeiro. Audiences turned out despite the Men's World Cup—which Brazil was still competing in at the time. The 11 performances drew nearly 700 spectators, while the exhibition recorded over 400 visitors.

Curated by Cecília Boal and Daniela Camargo, the audiovisual exhibition dedicated to playwright, director, essayist, and creator of the Theatre of the Oppressed, Augusto Boal (1931–2009), featured items such as posters, photographs, and historical records of productions directed by Boal in Brazil and abroad. Making its debut in Rio de Janeiro, the monologue *Hamlet 16x8*—starring Rogério Bandeira and directed by Marco Antonio Rodrigues—was based on Augusto Boal’s autobiographical book *Hamlet and the Baker's Son: Imagined Memories* (*Hamlet e o Filho do Padeiro: Memórias Imaginadas*). *Hamlet 16x8* originally premiered in São Paulo in 2012 and was nominated for Best Play at the APCA Awards (São Paulo Association of Art Critics).

The workshop "Newspaper Theatre: An Arsenal of the Theatre of the Oppressed" was led by Pedro Barroso; it followed a theory-and-practice format, combining Theatre of the Oppressed games and featuring a special appearance by actor Celso Frateschi. A second workshop, "Augusto Boal and the Theatre of the Oppressed," offered a theoretical and practical immersion into Boal’s career and the development of the Theatre of the Oppressed, led by Lucas Tostes and Thaís Paiva.

The Ocupa Boal exhibition garnered extensive media coverage, appearing across a wide range of outlets and formats—including television, radio, print media, specialized websites, and social media. The press clippings included features in major general-interest media such as TV Globo, O Globo, Veja Rio, and Extra, alongside significant coverage in outlets specializing in arts and culture, such as Das Artes, Mapa das Artes, Rota Cult, and Sopa Cultural.