Bertolt Brecht never developed a “system” for actor training. Nevertheless, even though one cannot point to a “Brechtian” system of acting training, others have been inspired by his theory and practice to develop alternatives to the Stanislavsky-based systems of acting training that dominate the curricula at US universities and acting studios. This chapter traces some of the key ways in which a Brechtian approach to acting has made inroads into American actor training by focusing on the two systems of training that are most fully fleshed out as methodologies and also most consciously indebted to Brecht both aesthetically and politically – Boal’s “Theatre of the Oppressed” (TO),and “Viewpoints” training.

This article examines the relevance of Brecht’s ideas about theater and pedagogy for the contemporary university, suggesting that a Brechtian approach has the potential to liberate the way that we think about university education and the role of teachers, students, and administrators.Rather than accepting the world as static and given, a Brechtian approach to pedagogy can encourage and develop an active, student-centered approach.It can help to encourage students to create and take charge of their own meaning-making activities.Just as Brechtian theater insists on revolutionary change and invites audience participation, so, too, a Brechtian approach to pedagogy invites student participation and activity, turning over much of the responsibility for meaning-making to those who are seeking an education.This would constitute a revolutionary new way of looking at university education.

The article gives an overview on the reception of Brecht in Brazil spanning the decades from 1960 to the present. During that time Brazil underwent many economic, political and cultural changes without which the special appeal of Brecht’s work cannot be fully understood. In the beginning Brecht helped Brazilian theater to break away from traditional bourgeois theater. In the 1960s he became the most performed playwright, and this popularity continued well into the first phase of military rule. The article then focuses on a number of leading theaters that performed or adapted Brecht plays, as well as on artists such as Augusto Boal who sought to develop Brecht’s theater techniques further. Brecht’s impact remains strong even under conditions that have changed in recent decades. Aside from the plays that shed light on the conditions of capitalism it is also Brecht’s attitude in approaching reality and his search for artistic means that have influenced various generations of Brazilian theater directors and activists.