Copyright by Gustavo Melo Cerqueira 2013
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Copyright by Gustavo Melo Cerqueira 2013 The Report Committee for Gustavo Melo Cerqueira Certifies that this is the approved version of the following report: “To Be [Seen] or Not To Be [Seen]? That is the Question” Presence in Black Theatrical Practice of Cia. dos Comuns APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE: Supervisor: João H. Costa Vargas Omi Osun Joni L. Jones “To Be [Seen] or Not To Be [Seen]? That is the Question” Presence in Black Theatrical Practice of Cia. dos Comuns by Gustavo Melo Cerqueira, B.A. Report Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts The University of Texas at Austin May 2013 Dedication To Oxossi. He keeps me alive. To my supportive family and friends. Because they are many, here I mention just a few of them: Alaide Barros Silva (in memorian), Ernayde Silva Melo, Clovis Cerqueira dos Santos, Marcio Melo Cerqueira, and Natalia Alves Cerqueira. Beatriz Moreira Costa (Iya Beata de Iyemonja), Adailton Moreira, and Gelson Oliveira. Jorgita Odete, Mary Bittencourt, and Maria Aparecida. Ernande Melo, Jaciara Ornelia, Alice Oliveira, Vicente Oliveira, and Cintia Nascimento. Silvia Nogueira and Lea Ostrower. Daniele Duarte, Luis Carlos de Alencar Filho, and Guilherme Araújo. Hilton Cobra, Valéria Monã, and the whole cast and staff of Cia. dos Comuns. Chica Carelli, Márcio Meirelles, Zebrinha, and Jarbas Bittencourt. Ângelo Flávio and Fernanda Júlia. This work is especially dedicated to my wife Agatha Silvia Nogueira e Oliveira, and to my daughter Mowumi Oliveira Melo. I love you. Acknowledgements My presence in this program is due to a series of efforts and persons absolutely committed and critically engaged with the improvement of black people’s lives worldwide. Among many, I specially mention Lúcia Xavier, Sônia Santos, and João H. Costa Vargas. These people insist on believing. I also want to acknowledge the work of Cia. dos Comuns and the artists that are involved in black theatrical practice in Brazil. To be present is always a challenge that those artists / activists decided to face. This work acknowledges the effort of all of those who do not fear the paradox. Finally, I need to acknowledge the support from AADS staff and faculty: Joel Suarez, Nia Crosley, Anna-Lisa Plant, Alan Baker, E. Nicole Thompson Beavers, Dr. Edmund Gordon, Dr. Omi Jones, Dr. Stephen Marshall, Dr. Shirley Thompson, and Dr. Kali Gross, among many others, are making of AADS one of the best places to study, learn, and act. v Abstract “To Be [Seen] or Not To Be [Seen]? That is the Question” Presence in Black Theatrical Practice of Cia. dos Comuns Gustavo Melo Cerqueira, M. A. The University of Texas at Austin, 2013 Supervisor: João H. Costa Vargas This essay interrogates the political dimensions of black presence in black theatrical practice. To do so, I focus on the deployment of black presence in the spectacle Silêncio performed by Cia dos Comuns and premiered in 2007, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I argue that the option made by director Hilton Cobra in not making use of fictional characters, as well as not deploying realistic representations of every day life, indicates a political gesture that challenges what I consider to be the most fundamental aspect of black theatrical practice: the black presence on stage. By facing the multidimensional, challenging, and contradictory aspects of black presence, this study will approach the negotiation of presence in black theatrical practice. I argue that an approach on the black phenomenal presence on stage complicates assumptions regarding the benefits of the investment in black presence as a political tool to enhance the participation of black people in Brazilian society. This essay aims to engage and expand on the available theoretical apparatus in the scholarship about black theatrical practice in Brazil. vi Table of Contents List of Figures ....................................................................................................... viii INTODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................. 4 Summary Outline .......................................................................................... 12 Outline With Citations .................................................................................. 16 Full References ............................................................................................. 20 ESSAY: " TO BE [SEEN] OR NOT TO BE [SEEN]? THAT IS THE QUESTION" - PRESENCE IN THE BLACK THEATRICAL PRACTICE OF CIA DOS COMUNS ................... 37 Appendix A Silêncio. Production and Creation & Staff Sheet ............................. 63 Appendix B Silêncio. "Racismo ou a infeliz nervura da realidade negra" ........... 64 Appendix C Silêncio. "Psiu, 2007!" ..................................................................... 65 Appendix D Silêncio. "A música/movimento do 'Silêncio'" ................................ 66 Appendix E Silêncio. Cover of the Program of Silêncio in English ..................... 67 References ............................................................................................................. 68 Vita… .................................................................................................................... 80 vii List of Figures Figure 1 Silêncio 1 .............................................................................................. 42 Figure 2 Silêncio 2 .............................................................................................. 44 Figure 3 Silêncio 3 .............................................................................................. 45 Figure 4 Silêncio 4 .............................................................................................. 48 viii Introduction Born and raised in Brazil, and having spent the last 14 years working on performing arts – with special attention to theatre, but also with incursions in TV and cinema – I have been struck by challenges surrounding black presence in artistic languages that privilege the visual apprehension of the body. Resulting from and continuing an ongoing debate about the difficulties to implement a more significant participation in the performing arts, both in quantitative and qualitative terms, especially in theatre, I have integrated a black theatrical group named Companhia dos Comuns, or simply Comuns, for seven years. During this period we not only invested in the guarantee of a space where we could develop our artistic research, but also we were aiming to deconstruct stereotypical representations of black people, as well as conflated that practice with discussions on gender and sexuality along with macro-economic policies such as globalization, capitalism etc. The group was very successful in most of its endeavor despite many contradictions and flaws that we faced during our journey. The four plays staged by the group, of which I participated in the first three, had a good impact in specialized critiques. One of the plays, Candaces – A Reconstrução do Fogo had four nominations to the Prêmio Shell de Teatro – the most famous and renowned Brazilian theatre award. The play was also enlisted by the specialized critique of newspaper O Globo as one of the 10 best theatrical plays presented in the city of Rio de Janeiro in 2003. As far as the audience, the plays were successful in attracting a demographic that was not regularly seen in – and still isn’t – the downtown theatres in the Rio de Janeiro: lower-class black spectators. All the processes before staging a play were accompanied by a dialogue of the themes with the audience that we aimed to reach as our main target and that also had intimacy with the themes, stories, and characters that we presented on stage. Another aspect is that the target audience also configured the one in relation to which the theatre made by Cia. dos Comuns also performed a pedagogical role, of putting the everyday life struggles in the context of macro- politics regarding racism and sexism. In doing so, we expected that the audience had the chance to see themselves on stage in a different fashion, considering the African Diasporic culture as an important part of Brazilian nation and also the need of political action against racism and extermination of black youth as an imperative to be embraced by black population. On the other hand, other aspects can also be seen as controversial in the process of Comuns, such as the bigger investment on bringing the black population to the downtown theatres, rather than producing plays that would be able to travel to more precarious spaces, 1 which could have created a more intimate relationship with the black popular audience; the relatively short time that the plays were running– mostly due to the relatively high cost of the productions; and the presence of whites in key positions within the production of the plays, like accounting, light design, production management, custom design, and artistic direction of the first three plays. This is not to say that such aspects were not addressed in the internal discussions of the group. In addition, some of the issues regarding a more deep and permanent contact with the popular black audience were addressed in the realization of workshops and seminars that gathered together black artists, activists, intellectuals, and the general