Carli Gaughf

Applied Theatre Practitioner
 

Carli Gaughf found her love of theatre at an early age, which led to her earning her B.A. in Theatre from Florida State University in 2004. It was not until she was attending the City University of New York to earn her M.A. in Applied Theatre, however, that she encountered the work of Augusto Boal, founder of Theatre of the Oppressed. Boal’s methods empower participants to express the injustice they have experienced and provide them the opportunity to act out solutions. Carli has been combining her passion for social justice with her passion for theatre ever since.

Over the course of a decade in New York City, Carli explored how theatre can function as a medium for addressing social justice and diversity issues. This work moved her into a myriad of roles as facilitator, educator, trainer, and performer. She has produced performances and theatre workshops with people in prisons, senior centers, homeless shelters, and community gathering places. 

In 2014, Carli moved to Greenville, SC to work as the Community Partnerships Director with The Applied Theatre Center (ATC). At the ATC, she facilitated theatre groups for adults with autism, teenagers in juvenile detention, individuals struggling with addiction, and senior citizens. While in Greenville, she also wrote and led productions about homelessness, addiction, healthcare, and food insecurity.

In 2019, Carli continued her training in the work of Theatre of the Oppressed with Augusto Boal’s protégé Geo Britto at the Centro de Teatro do Oprimido in Rio de Janeiro. She brought her knowledge to the University of Rochester Medical’s Center (URMC) to create Theatre for Healthcare Equity, an adaptation of Theatre of the Oppressed ideologies for the medical field.

She currently leads anti-racist workshops at URMC in the Office of Equity using theatre and other interactive techniques. She continues to train medical and theatre professionals to facilitate Theater for Healthcare Equity workshops at institutions such as the University of Texas at El Paso and Brown University.