Effective community-building requires engaging with and understanding your neighbors. Sometimes doing that can be as simple as playing a game or two.

That’s the idea of Asian Arts Initiative‘s (AAI) Neighborhood Games workshops, a series of theatre games and exercises designed to prompt the rediscovery of childhood play.

This Saturday afternoon, Neighborhood Games will be hosting Hariprasad Kowtha and Theatre of the Oppressed Philly underneath the Reading Viaduct.

(Courtesy photo)

Theatre of the Oppressed, said Asian Arts Initiative Program Manager Cecilia Yen, is an interactive community-building theatre workshop that gets people thinking about how to dismantle oppression — just by getting to know each other.

“The idea is to help people connect back to their childhood, rediscover a sense of play, rediscover these neighborhood games they might have played int heir childhoods but don’t think about any longer,” Yen said.

It’s a safe environment for artistic expression, especially for people who don’t have a background in the arts.

“[Kowtha] is personally very good at making feel comfortable and bringing people together, making them feel comfortable and welcome,” she said. “It will be an opportunity to engage meaningfully and deeply with other people in the community through these playful exercises that are not difficult, help people really connect and engage with each other.”