What is Guerilla Theater?
Guerrilla theater, also referred to as “guerrilla theater” in the United States, was founded in 1965 by the San Francisco Mime Troupe, who performed in public areas in the spirit of Che Guevara’s writings, from whence the term “guerrilla” is derived. The anti-Vietnam war and anti-capitalist group performances included nudity, profanity, and sacred issues that were startling to some members of the audience at the time.
Guerilla theater is about being resourceful and creative to achieve an objective. They use whatever is around them to get their message across. They have a group or person to stand up and challenge the systems around them. The goal is to get the audience to empathise and find strength alongside these messages.
Often these types of performances drew consideration to a political/social issue through parody, dissent, and carnivalesque shows. A lot of these exhibitions were a result of the radical social developments of the late 1960s through mid-1970s. Guerrilla Theater, alluded to as guerrilla warfare, has been now and then related to the agitprop theater of the 1930s, but it is separated from agitprop by the incorporation of Dada execution tactics.
The term Guerrilla Theater was coined by Peter Berg. Davis had concentrated on mime and modern dance during the 1950s and had re-founded the artform commedia dell’arte. At around 1966 about 20 individuals from the San Francisco Mime Troupe severed and began their own collective called the Diggers, who took their name from a gathering of seventeenth century extremists in England.
Guerrilla Theater shares its origin with the Russian pro communist propaganda movement agitprop which stands for agitatsiya, “agitation” and propaganda, “propaganda.” GT seeks to provoke it’s audience by confronting them with performances which challenge the status quo, which is often political, and social in nature.
Guerrilla Theater took many forms of expression from carnivals, parades, political protest, performance arts, poetry, readings and expressions. It can also be linked to radical theater from such groups as, The Living Theater, San Francisco Mime Troupe, Bread and Puppet Theater, El Teatro Campesino, and the Free Southern Theater.
Key Guerrilla Theater Groups Do?
In the 1970s, the
Offshoots of GT such as the ‘Yippies’ (a radicalisation of the hippy movement) was a youth group who went on protest performances to challenge the status quo, fight for free speech, and oppose the Vietnam War in the 1960 to the 70’s. They were involved in delivering hundreds of faux dollars during the weeks Stock Exchange in New York, and received much publicity for the event.
More Modern Day Guerrilla Theater Performances
The Guerilla Girls was a feminist artist-activist collective was founded in 1985 in New York City with the goal of drawing attention to the lack of female artists in major art galleries and institutions.
They were interested in highlighting the depiction of women in revered traditional, classical and famous art works, held on display in the many prestigious art galleries around the world. They also wanted to draw attention to the way in which male artists are lauded and highlighted over that of women artists, who are just as talented. It comes down to that age old sexim, but in the art world.
They are noted for their “guerrilla” techniques, which include posting posters and staging surprise art exhibitions, hence their name. Members wear gorilla masks and employ pseudonyms that refer to deceased female artists such as Frida Kahlo, Kathe Kollwitz, and Alice Neel in order to stay incognito.
Check out the video below to show you what this collective involves.
Guerrilla Girls, Going and Going … | The New York Times
Their posters depict the actuality of how female artists are treated and give second billing. Museums and the like are funded by the rich and powerful, showcasing the works which represent them are more likely to take place in galleries all over the world. The Guerrilla girls say this isn’t a fair representation and they are there to challenge that notion.
Often it can be said that if these various groups didn’t come out and perform, showcase or challenge their worlds, we would have a worse situation for society at large. There is a place for this type of theater and the impacts can often be felt for decades later.
