The ABC of the theatrical method created by Erwin Piscator

How the art of performance can educate, inspire, and transform awareness

          Speaking about Erwin Piscator is like opening a living book on the transformative power of theatre. His journey is not merely that of a brilliant director in the first half of the 20th century, but of a political educator, a visionary artist, and a social reformer. Piscator believed that theatre should not merely be a space for entertainment, but above all, an instrument for critical awareness—a sharp mirror of social reality and a catalyst for transformation. His proposal was clear: to place the stage in the service of life and the great issues of the time. For him, every gesture, every image, every spoken word was an opportunity to educate, inspire, and mobilize.

Born in 1893 in Germany, Piscator lived through intense political upheaval: two world wars, the rise of Nazism, and the fall of the Weimar Republic. Amid this historical turmoil, he saw theatre as fertile ground for sowing ideas and provoking thought. His “theatrical alphabet”—as we may symbolically call the body of his pedagogical and aesthetic practices—is built on solid pillars: historical awareness, political engagement, scenic experimentation, and collective expression. If today we talk about theatre as a tool for education and social change, we owe much to him.

Piscator was, alongside Bertolt Brecht, one of the great names in German political theatre. While Brecht sought critical distancing through the “epic” style, Piscator was more direct: he wanted the audience to feel, to reflect, and above all, to act. One of his greatest legacies was the innovative use of multimedia on stage. In his productions, he projected films, inserted data-filled posters, and used voice-overs—all to provide historical context and expand the viewer’s critical understanding. Today, universities such as NYU and Yale refer to this as “expanded critical immersion,” a concept explored in contemporary research on political theatre and educational performance.

Piscator’s method follows a clear and accessible pedagogical logic. First, a relevant social theme is chosen—poverty, oppression, war, inequality. Then, the script is constructed or adapted based on real facts, documents, and testimonies. The third step is actor formation: not as passive performers, but as thinking individuals, conscious of their social role. Piscator encouraged them to study history, politics, and geography—to understand the context of what they were staging. Next came rehearsals, where the text was enriched with images, sounds, documents, and visual interventions. Finally, the performance aimed to be an act of active communication with the audience, always seeking to provoke a reaction—not mere contemplation, but a desire for transformation.

To better understand this “theatrical alphabet,” imagine the letter A as “Aware Action.” Rather than empty gestures, Piscator proposed movements charged with historical intention. B could be “Brecht,” his ideological partner and key interlocutor. C would be “Context,” since nothing was staged outside its time and place. His method unfolds like a genuine dramaturgical-political vocabulary. Indeed, some universities, like Humboldt University in Berlin and the University of São Paulo, have recently conducted studies showing how Piscator's method can be adapted to public schools, integrating theatre into critical education.

Piscator’s legacy crossed borders and inspired thinkers like Augusto Boal, creator of the Theatre of the Oppressed, and Jerzy Grotowski, with his pursuit of the “essence of performance.” He also influenced institutions like The New School in New York, where he founded the “Dramatic Workshop,” shaping talents such as Marlon Brando and Judith Malina. And in Brazil, this transformative spirit can be seen in the methodologies developed by Antônio Carlos dos Santos, such as the Mané Beiçudo Puppet Theater, which transforms the scene into accessible and critical language for audiences of all ages, especially in school, community and corporate contexts.

The MAT (Mindset, Action, and Theatre) methodology also resonates deeply with Piscator. By integrating psychology, pedagogy, and scenic expression, MAT proposes that thought and action be consciously and creatively shaped, with theatre as a bridge between inner world and external reality. The ThM (Theatre Movement) method highlights the body’s power as a vector of awareness and transformation—something Piscator also emphasized, guiding his actors to explore gestures and postures with political intent. Both methods represent important updates to the principles launched by Piscator, adapting them to contemporary educational and cultural demands.

It’s also important to note the relationship between Piscator’s theatre and the modern concept of neuroeducation. Recent studies from Stanford University and University College London show that theatrical activities involving dramatization of historical contexts activate brain regions associated with empathy, long-term memory, and ethical reasoning. In other words, Piscator’s method is not only politically powerful—it’s neurologically effective. By dramatizing social themes in concrete and engaging ways, the brain learns better, retains more, and connects more deeply with the content experienced.

Talking about Piscator, then, is talking about courage. The courage to break with bourgeois theatre, to challenge authoritarian regimes, to use the stage as a political and educational arena. It’s also talking about hope: the hope that, by representing reality, we can also transform it. His theatre was—and still is—a call to action. That call echoes in classrooms, cultural centers, community theatre groups, and in every person who believes that art can be a tool for real change.

May every educator, artist, community leader, and curious citizen access this alphabet and find in it an ethical and aesthetic compass. May we make theatre—just as Piscator envisioned—a tool for critically reading the world. And may we, by staging the pains and dreams of our time, also find ways to rewrite our collective story with more justice, sensitivity, and awareness.

The stage, as Erwin Piscator once said, is the place where life becomes visible—and when it becomes visible, it can be understood. May we never lack the courage to look, perform, and transform. After all, as theatre teaches us: when the scene is illuminated, so too is the soul.

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