10 Facts About Augusto Boal

In 1955 Augusto Boal staged productions of two of his own plays, The Horse and the Saint and The House Across the Street.

In 1956, shortly after graduating, Augusto Boal was asked to work with the Arena Theatre in Sao Paulo, southeast Brazil.

Critics acclaimed this piece and Augusto Boal won the Premio de Revelacao de Direcao from the Association of Art Critics of Sao Paulo, in 1956.

In 1971, Augusto Boal was kidnapped off the street, arrested, tortured, and eventually exiled to Argentina, where he stayed for five years.

Augusto Boal created the first International Festival for the Theatre of the Oppressed in 1981.

In 1992, Augusto Boal ran for city councillor in Rio de Janeiro as a theatrical act, and he was elected.

Augusto Boal's term ended in 1996, but he continued performing legislative theatre acts with different groups in Brasilia, where four more laws got approved even after Boal had left.

Augusto Boal died on 2 May 2009 at the age of 78 in Rio de Janeiro.

In 1994, Augusto Boal won the UNESCO Pablo Picasso Medal, and in August 1997, he was awarded the "Career Achievement Award" by the Association of Theatre in Higher Education at their national conference in Chicago, Illinois.

Augusto Boal received The Cross Border Award for Peace and Democracy by Dundalk Institute of Technology in 2008.