Banca de DEFESA: ERICK NALDIMAR DOS SANTOS

THEATER IN THE SEMIARID BAIANO: ARTISTS, GROUPS AND STAGES IN Senhor do Bonfim (BA) at the twilight of the 20th century

Teatro Bahia; Senhor do Bomfim (BA); Theater Spaces; Theater Groups; Mutart Theater Group; 20th century; Bahia semi-arid region.

This thesis addresses and delves into the potential of theater making in the city of Senhor do Bonfim, in the center-north of Bahia, at the end of the second half of the 20th century, specifically in the semi-arid region of Bahia, and narrates stories that for a long time remained inaudible, silenced, erased and underrepresented in the Brazilian theater scene. Theater in the semi-arid region of Bahia needs to be recognized, resignified and unveiled in order to integrate the history of Performing Arts in Brazil. Given this invisibility and lack of research on theater that moves away from large urban centers, we guided the work from the following perspectives: the first characterizes local theater spaces, redesigning the geographic space of the semi-arid region as a place of artistic potential; the second goes through a survey of theater groups from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s; the third addresses the Mutart Theater Group, given its subversive and transgressive aspect, and which comes to break with the scenic aesthetics of the previous decade. We will sing the Theater in the semi-arid region of Bahia in the twilight of the second half of the 20th century, relying on Alberti (2005), for our studies in Oral History; in Boal (1991) and Brecht (2005), to reflect on the interlocutions between group formation and the scene; to discuss this theater in the semi-arid region and collective creation, we invoke Barba (1991, 1999). In the field of subjectivities, Deleuze (1991, 1996) and Guattari (1992) contribute when they state that we are “desiring machines” building our own way of being. When considering the effects of the disciplinary and normalizing power of life and the body, we base ourselves on the studies of Foucault (1995, 2000, 2001), Butler (2001, 2010) and Louro (2000, 2007). In affirming the semi-arid region of Bahia as a locus of scenic richness, we sought Reginaldo Carvalho (2008, 2018) and other authors from the region. We resorted to primary sources (newspapers and magazines), oral reports, interviews with actors, actresses and people linked to the performing arts for prior knowledge of the subject. The Oral History was fundamental and enhanced the collection of information about the subject/object of this work. In search of a field of action, we sought in the historical veil the impulse to tear the invisibility and silencing of the theatrical effervescence that heralded the dawn of art and future contemporary research.