Black Experimental Theater: pedagogical paths for art education

• Grant number: 24/14244-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2024
• End date: November 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Arts - Theatre
• Principal Investigator: Denise Pereira Rachel
• Grantee: Sara Guimarães da Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto de Artes (IA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The project proposes collective, artistic and educational actions to study the Teatro Experimental do Negro - TEN (Black Experimental Theater - TEN), created in 1944 by Abdias do Nascimento and maintained until 1961 by its theatrical collective, which included extremely important artists for the Brazilian artistic scene. Among these individuals were names such as Ruth de Souza, Haroldo Costa, Léa Garcia, and José Maria Monteiro. The proposal aims to study the relevance of the Teatro Experimental do Negro (Black Experimental Theater) in combating racism and colonial structures in art and education, mapping its trajectory in our territory during its operation and its developments after its end. The research intends to promote practical laboratory studies with young people aged fifteen to seventeen to collectively examine the importance of TEN in the structure of formal schools and how it can be used as a basis for the socio-political understanding of Brazil, as well as serve as a catalyst for artistic and theatrical creation within high school. The planning perspective is based on the ideal of the classroom as a community, as conceived by bell hooks, a university professor and activist for the rights of Black people in the United States. Additionally, it is proposed to address the theme of anti-racism naturally and maturely with the students, with the aim of fostering critical and conscious thinking about the foundations that structure the society we live in and reinterpreting this issue through artistic means, just as Abdias do Nascimento proposed in life with TEN, creating space to answer questions such as: How are art classes conducted based on the anti-racist knowledge raised by the Black Experimental Theater?