Antropofrei

Antropophagic Street Theater Scenic Experiment

ESPETÁCULOS

9/24/20167 min read

the process

After Anamnese, we were contaminated by the contemporary understanding that José Celso Martinez Corrêa attributed to Oswald de Andrade’s anthropophagic movement. We, from Santa Companhia, recognized the relevance and artistic power of the movement and chose it as the guiding thread of a new group project.

we deepened into Anthropophagy

In July 2015, we began the first phase of the process, with research and theoretical meetings to clarify what anthropophagy meant to Santa Companhia and what kind of production could emerge from that thread. We went to the root of the word and, mainly through productions with an anthropological approach, sought to understand the place of anthropophagy from the Tupinambá rituals to the cultural movement of Tropicália in the 1960s, passing through the anthropophagic movement of the 1920s.

The research allowed us to glimpse themes we wanted to bring, such as criticism of patriarchal oppression, its “suspicious Catholic husbands,” its “importers of canned conscience,” in favor of a “matriarchy of Pindorama.” We also understood that our future performances could not take place on a proscenium stage, in a black box “full of Portuguese good feelings” like in Anamnese. For the new project, we would have to bring about carnival, leave the box, and occupy urban space.

Among the non-places that São Paulo offers, we encountered Rua Frei Caneca. A place of contrasts, where homeless people and property owners coexist in one of the most expensive areas of the city. A street known as an LGBT visibility icon in a country that, in 2013, recorded 312 deaths linked to homo- and transphobia. A street that, despite its creative potential and proximity to Paulista Avenue, is still less artistically contemplated than its cross street.

The contents generated by Frei and by Anthropophagy began to materialize in the form of characters who would make up the performance:

The traditional Brazilian family, composed of the binary model of father and mother, defenders of the patriarchal status quo.
The Anthropophagite, who represents Oswaldian thought.
Frei Caneca, who moves between the Carmelite friar of Auto do Frade and the street that bears his name.
The Carriters, who make visible those who live invisibly on the sidewalks.
And finally, Cora/Persephone, a trans character who critiques cisnormativity and embodies spring.

The characters already existed, the stage and the themes were defined, but the form couldn’t be bourgeois drama with Aristotelian structure and clear causality. Also, being in the street demanded we expand how we reached the public. So, we returned to the ritual tradition of Greek theater, with a large tragicomic chorus where each character would become a choregus in their own moment. That chorus didn’t just speak but leaned on the hybrid language of the company: music was naturally integrated.

The next decisions involved dramaturgy and scenography. We chose to build the dramaturgy from practical experiences in the second stage (started in February 2016), through theater games and collective writing of independent scenes. For scenography, we decided to condense the signs into an allegorical cart, led by the Carriters, which would serve as scenic, musical, and technical support, allowing us mobility through the street.

It was during the Pensativo Saturday that we began our contact with the street, and in Antropofrei that we deepened that relationship.

In the 2016 games and composition phase, we lived many street experiences. Sometimes it welcomes us, sometimes it frightens us. We realized our original idea — to make itinerant theater on Rua Frei Caneca — was no longer viable. So, in an artistic drift, we arrived at Praça dos Arcos, which welcomed us in its public space and through the surrounding institutions.

Santa Companhia received support from an old ally, Small World, and from new ones, such as Rede Biroska, UNESP, and the Museum of Diversity. Still, we needed more resources to make the creation possible. We threw two parties — Antropomystika and Mantra das Carontes — to raise funds.

The creation process of Antropofrei lasted about a year, directed by Rafael Abrahão and Raul Moraes, with musical direction by Loli Consalter and Juliana Gotz. Luckily — what luck! — we found Praça dos Arcos, where we carried out what we call a manifesto-performance. Together, we manifested themes that affect us.

In our second play, Cia. Nada Pensativo deepened its research. Antropofrei takes hold of the interest in what is not mine in order to devour and regurgitate themes that cross the group: religious intolerance, the current political situation, social invisibility, machismo, transphobia, homophobia... Themes that landed on our plate and that, after a year of chewing, we served in the public square in the form of a tast(e)ing.

history

Season at Praça dos Arcos (Paulista Avenue), from September to December 2016.

synopsis

From Greece to Pindorama. From Pindorama to cosmopolitan São Paulo. Dionysus is among the figures inhabiting Frei Caneca. A Carriter appears with their cart, their sustenance, their allegorical vehicle.
Between visible and invisible realities, the artistic theatrical occupation reveals conflicts between times. Values are in constant digestion, and the street of the Carmelite friar lies between sacred and profane, taboo and totem.
The cart clears the way for a chorus of thoughtful bacchantes who devour and are devoured by the celebratory urban space of the Brazilian Being in its anthropophagy.

prayer - poem

So that Empowering is the reversal
Of all power forced upon us.
In each scream, we proclaim:
We are tired!
And with force,
We bless ourselves:
The unloved, raped, drugged, assaulted,
Handcuffed, wronged, veiled, punished.
Whores! All whores!
Because there is no time.
Now, all evil will flow through our old and hardened hands.
We will bleed the river of the world until our knowledge flows.
Our subjectivity blooms and expands,
And we all become one,
Goddesses and queens,
Women from all places, colors, and shapes:
With uterus, with penis, without breasts, with hair.
You will see our worlds bloom!
Laís Silvestre

Arid City
Street as mere passage
Ephemeral glances
Liquid relationships
Dry organisms.
A knot in the throat
On Paulista Avenue, heading to Paraíso
A scream is heard on the left
Frei on-the-edge Caneca overflows.
By day, ties pray to capital
By night, lines escape toward phalluses
Sampã pã pã Pan
Cultural Pangea
A flower sprouts from the asphalt
Springtime
Antropofrei.

Ficha Técnica

Performers: Angelo Aleixo, Caio Megiato, Carô Calsone, Caroline Consalter, Giulia Valente, Heri Brandino, Juliana Gotz, Rafael Abrahão, Rafa Pinheiro, Raul Moraes, Sofie Dijor, Vitor Marques y. Vitória Fava
Production and Scenic Direction:: Rafael Abrahão y Raul Moraes
Musical Direction: Caroline Consalter y Juliana Gotz
Assistant Musical Direction: Heri Brandino
Art Direction: Vitória Fava
Comunications direction: Caio Megiato
Stage Menagment: Marte Ars
Support: Laís Silvestre
Graphic Desing: Marina Liz y Vitória Fava
Treasury: Angelo Aleixo, Arthur Rizzo y Juliana Gotz
Audiovisual: Chiara Sengberg, Gabriel Zanelato y Rafaela Franco
Stagevraft: Bruno Moretiene, Maria Cordeiro y Vitória Fava
Scenic Architecture: Bruno Moretiene, Gabriel Lisboa
Set Assistance: Seu Luís (UNESP)
Sound Technician: Rafael Segeti
Costumes: César Dante
Sewing: Benedita Calistro
Choreography: Caio Megiato
Playwright: Santa Cia.
Especial thanks to: Alemão (ferreiro da carroça), Carminda Mendes André, Davi Brandão, Francis Silva, José Eduardo Faria, Paula Caju, Priscilla Abrahão
Thanks to our Kickante supporters: Alexandre Nomura, Amanda Navarro, Aparecida Ventura, Barbara Belatini, Caio Pasqualini, Carlos Henrique Megiato, Célio Alves Pacheco, Claudia Cristina Fiorio, Diogo Inácio Dias, Dora Megiato, Felipe de Moura Xavier, Gabriele Salyna, Geovane Carlos Rega, Joanna Lis, José Eduardo Faria, José Walter Marchiotti, Laura Salerno, Letícia Junqueira, Lisa Werebe, Matheus Bueno Dias, Marcia Abrahão, Marcia Belatini, Maria do Carmo Faria, Marina Mello Andrade, Murilo Cassimiro, Nathália Mercadante, Nelson Stefanelli, Pedro Palma, Pedro Ricardo de Souza Carvalho, Priscilla Abrahão Faria, Rafael Baloni Andrade, Roberto Santos de Oliveira, Rosa Maria Abrahão, Saimo Hernendez Calmanovici Pigari, Valter Megiato, Vinícius Lisboa, Wilson Finardi, Yanyara Volpato
Apoio: Small World, Unesp, Museu da Diversidade, Rede Biroska