1. Expanding our national reach
CBTIJ/ASSITEJ Brasil has started a project of reaching more of our vast country. Although our members are spread all over the 27 Brazilian states, we have long wished to have representatives in the most important state capitals or regional centres. This goal has recently started to come true.
In Uberlândia, in the state of Minas Gerais, the theatre group Trupe de Truões became our first representative. Directed by Paulo Merisio, the group promotes tours, festivals and seminars of TYA, and has become an important national reference over the last 17 years.
Our latest representative has just been appointed in Porto Alegre, in the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul. Viviane Rosa Juguero, from Bando de Brincantes theatre group, is in charge of this new branch of CBTIJ/ASSITEJ Brasil. Viviane has been a member of our centre for four years and has just presented her doctoral thesis with the Performing Arts Graduate Program at Rio Grande do Sul Federal University. Part of her doctoral research has been done under the supervision of Manon Van de Water, at Wisconsin-Madison University, in the USA.
We are all very excited about the new possibilities these connections may represent to our national network. New representatives will soon be appointed in other areas of the country.
2. Brazil at Cradle of Creativity
In spite of the recent changes in the political spectrum Brazil is now experiencing, which have hampered efforts of the consolidation of the ideals of the BRICS Alliance of Theatres for Young Audiences, our centre will take part in the Cradle of Creativity. The event will take place in Cape Town, South Africa, at the end of August. Brazil will be represented by four artists-researchers: Paulo Merisio (member of our National Board and an ITYARN Board member); Clayton Santos Guimarães (who took part of Next Generation 2017, in Beijing); Fernanda Bertoncello Boff (a new member of our centre); and Ieltxu Ortueta (a Spanish citizen living in Brazil since 2003).
CBTIJ/ASSITEJ Brasil acknowledges the efforts of ASSITEJ South Africa in sustaining the bonds and the perspectives of our Alliance, and is immensely thankful for the invitation.
3. CBTIJ/ASSITEJ Brasil board member at Puglia Showcase
In early July, our centre was invited to take part in the Puglia Showcase Kids 2019, in Naples, Italy. Our board member Antonio Carlos Bernardes was our representative at the event, organized by the Teatro Pubblico Pugliese, and sponsored by Puglia government and the Italian Ministry of Culture.
During four days of intense exchange, in a lively atmosphere, twelve high quality Italian shows for young audiences were performed at the Teatro Nuovo and the Palazzo Reale. Puglia Showcase Kids 2019 was part of the program of Naples International Theatre Festival.
4. Brazilian playwright at Lima International Book Fair
Cleiton Echeveste, head of our national board, has just returned from Lima, Peru, where his play “Airhead” (“Cabeza de Viento”), was released by Editorial Norma Perú at the 24th Lima International Book Fair. Directed by Cleiton, the Brazilian production of “Airhead” opened in 2012 and is part of Pandorga Theatre Company repertory.
In Lima, Cleiton also taught/directed two workshops and staged readings of his play, one of them in Spanish (at Casa de la Literatura Peruana, an institution of the Peruvian Ministry of Education) and the other one in Portuguese (at Centro Cultural Brasil-Perú, cultural institution of the Brazilian Embassy in Lima).
Cleiton is a member of Write Local, Play Global, ASSITEJ network of playwrights.
