In Brazil, there are several artists who create and develop cultural projects in the slums – the "favelas" in Brazilian Portuguese. These projects are like a golden door opened for those people who live below the poverty line without any support. Nowadays, the parallel government, elected by drug traffic, dictates and rules behavior in most of those communities and is always at war with the official government. Usually, people from the slums are considered to have no opportunity in life, victims of unfortunate circunstances, but it is not so. The theatre group, Nós do Morro ("We're from the slums", in a literal English translation) is an answer to prejudice and is giving hope to those who think that there is no way out. It presents an attitude against violence, against injustice, and promotes equal opportunities for every citizen. The group started in the Favela do Vidigal in 1986, when Guti Fraga (actor/director), Fred Pinheiro (lightning designer), Fernando Mello da Costa (scene designer) and Luiz Paulo Correa e Castro (playwright) created a theatre group with young people from the community interested in taking part in a theatre experience. Since then, the group has been producing theatre projects from the community for the community, seeking improvement in the quality of life through activities that deal with art, education and citizenship. For 17 years, the group staged classical and national dramatic repertoire and texts created from their own experience as young people from a slum in a big city. And the experience has changed lives. They are now professional actors and actresses as Roberta Rodrigues, Babu Santana, Cíntia Rosa, Marcello Melo, Jota Farias, Careca Martins, Mary Sheyla (whom I admire most) - who work in film,theatre and television.. Usually, Nós do Morro stages one play a year, and the process starts with workshops of creation and study. In 1995, the moviemakers Rosane Svartmann and Vinícius Reis created the Nós do Morro Movie Center which gives courses in movie production. The Nós do Morro has in its curriculum more than 30 theatre productions, two short movies and more than 2000 people that benefit from their social projects.The group is no more a group, I should say, it is now a Theatre Company supported by Petrobras - one of the most important sponsors in Brazil. This sponsorship has guaranteed their productions and also has built the Vidigal Theatre, where the group develops workshops and rehearsals. Now, they are staging the play "A Donkey Without A Tail Or...", a text by Luiz Paulo Correa e Castro, directed by Fernando Mello da Costa. The play is not about the Vidigal community, but a group of homeless people living on streets – the donkeys without tails – that fight for survival in a big city. Is there anything more contemporary? And so this is Christmas... If we are in a hopeless time I ask: Is theatre able to save? Yes, in different ways. Nós do Morro has proved that "Long Life" to them. Merry Christmas for all of us. Nós do Morro Theatre Company, Favela do Vidigal, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
Phone: 3874-9411/3874-9412
www.nosdomorro.com.br
nosdomorro@uol.com.br
Press: Pagu Comunicação – ph 2294-7586
carlapagu@uol.com.br On The Same Stage
An international theatre festival has happened in Rio de Janeiro. The fourth Rio de Janeiro International theatre festival, Rio cena contemporânea (Rio Contemporary Scene) presented theatre and dance performances, workshops, meetings, lectures, and staged readings in theatres, cultural centers, and in the streets from November 14th to 23rd. And of course lots of terrific dancing & drinking parties!!! With the sponsorship of the city's government, the festival brought theatre companies from São Paulo, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Minas Gerais Brasilia, Pernambuco, Paraíba and foreign companies from France, Argentina, Spain and Holland. This 2003 festival gave homage to the great Brazilian poet Haroldo de Campos, whose poem Galaxias("Galaxies") inspired the concept of the festival - the "tribes" and cultures are all together, on the same stage, as stars from the same galaxy. It was a chance to meet different languages and experiences. Congratulations to the 2003 Rio cena contemporânea and "Long Life" to it also. More information (in Portuguese)
www.riocenacontemporanea.com.br
www.senhoraK.com | 
