(Untitled)

Julia Spadaccini’s Quebra-Ossos. Photo by Claudio Senra

Monday, November 9
Segal Theatre
6:30pm Reading

FREE + Open to public. First come, first served.

Discover contemporary Brazilian playwriting at the Segal Center in a unique presentation of four readings of new plays from Brazil:

The Meal by Newton Moreno, translated by Elizabeth Jackson
Galápagos by Renata Mizrahi, translated by Luciana Malta

Directed by Tea Alagić.

The Front Door by Julia Spadaccini, translated by Ana Candida Carneiro
Fluxorama by Jô Bilac, translated by Elizabeth Jackson

Directed by Kaneza Schaal.

The readings will be followed by a panel discussion with the playwrights Jô Bilac and Renata Mizrahi.

The evening is co-curated by Brazilian producer Marcia Abujamra, in collaboration with Tom Sellar, editor of Yale’s Theater magazine, and guest co-editor Claudia Tatinge Nascimento in celebration of Theater magazine’s special fall edition of contemporary Brazilian dramas in newly commissioned English translations.

Marcia Abujamra is a theatre director and producer. She directed Catraca (2014), five one act plays by Brazilian playwrights Jo Bilac, Noemi Marinho, Fernando Bonassi, Priscila Gontijo and Marcelo Romagnoli; A Casa Amarela (2011-2015), by Gero Camilo; Notas da Superfície, by Felipe de Moraes, a play developed during the 2009 Nucleo de Dramaturgia British Council/SESI; Looking for Headless (2008), performance by the Swedish couple Goldin+Senneby for the 28º Bienal Internacional de São Paulo; Dia de Visita (2007), by Noemi Marinho, Carícias, by Sergi Belbel, Van Gogh (1993-2004), adapted by Marcia Abujamra and Elias Andreato from Vincent Van Gogh’s letters to his brother Theo (Shell Award for best actor and lighting design, nominated for best director; APCA Award); the children’s plays A Bruxinha Atrapalhada (2009/2010), by Eva Furnari, adapted by Marcia Abujamra, APCA e FEMSA Awards for best original sound score, FEMSA Award for best set design, nominated for best director, best xroduction, best costumes, best adaptation, best play) and Pequena Ópera sobre o Vôo (1999 – 2000), adapted by Marcia Abujamra from Flight over the Oceand byBertold Brecht, Coca-Cola Award, Panamco Award for best light design and nominated for best play, sound score, set design and director, among other plays. She co-produced with Ricardo Fernandes Dispositivo Wooster Group Clélia 93 (2013); Tino Sehgal performances for the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (2013);Gospel at Colonus and Hajj (1997), by Lee Breuer/Mabou Mines, performers Karen Finley and Pat Oleszko, Temptation of Saint Anthony (1996) by The Wooster Group (1996).

TEA ALAGIĆ Recent work includes: We Are Pussy Riot by Barbara Hammond (CATF, WV) Rechnitz by Elfriede Jelinek ( Artist in resident at TFANA) Washeteria by Charise Smith (Soho Rep) 4,000 Miles by Amy Herzog (Asolo Rep,Sarasota,FL)Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (Classic Stage Company) Venus in Fur by David Ives ( Asolo Rep, Sarasota, FL) Jackie by Elfriede Jelinek ( Women’s Project,City Center Stage II) The Brothers Size by Tarell McCraney (The Old Globe, San Diego)A Light Design by Brandon Jacobs- Jenkins (Baryshnikov Art Center), Petty Harbour by Martyna Majok (Carlotta Festival) Man Of La Mancha a book by Dale Wasserman, lyrics by Joe Darion, music by Mitch Leigh (Burning Coal Theatre Company, Page 73,NYC), Waking Up by Cori Thomas (EST, NYC); Anonymous by Naomi Iizuka (Hispanic Cultural Center, Albuquerque); The Marriage Of Maria Braun by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (ZKM, Croatia); Binibon by Jack Womack and Elliot Sharp (The Kitchen, NYC); Events with Life’s Leftovers by Alberto Villarreal Diaz (Dramafest, Mexico City); and Aliens With Extraordinary Skills by Saviana Stanescu (Women’s Project, NYC). She directed the world premiere of The Brothers Size by Tarell McCraney at The Public Theater, NYC, and later productions at The Studio Theatre in Washington, DC, and The Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Her original devised work includes The Filament Cycle, which performed at La Mama ETC, NYC, the 4+4 Festival in Prague, BAC London, Philadelphia, Colorado, Denver, and Potsdam; and Zero Hour, about the Balkan War. Other directing work from this period includes Man Have Called Me Mad, One Day in Moscow, Cerebral Events and Sam Perspective. She was Associate Artistic Director of the Ensemble Company for the Performing Arts in New Haven, where she directed Woyzek by George Buchner, Self–Accusation by Peter Handke, Preparadise Sorry Now by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Baal by Berthold Brecht and Zero Hour. Alagic holds a BFA in acting from The Charles University in Prague and an MFA in directing from Yale School of Drama.

Jô Bilac was born in Rio de Janeiro and spent his childhood in Madrid. He co-founded the Cia de Teatro Independente (Independent Theatre Company) in 2007 with Vinicius Arneiro, Carolina Pismel, Paulo Verlings, and Julia Marini. The first two plays Cachorro! (Dog!) and Rebu (Turmoil) were Bilac’s, and the company’s, first hits and were performed all over Brazil. Jô Bilac wrote Limpe todo Sangue Antes que Manche o Carpete (Clean All Blood Before it Stains the Carpet), Savana Glacial (Icy Savannah) (Shell Award for Best Play, 2010), Popcorn and Gato Branco (White Cat). His 2013 play, Conselho de Classe (Class Council), won the Cesgranrio Award, APTR Award and the Shell Award for best play. He was the artistic director of Teatro Glaucio Gil with actor Marcio Libar and was part of the dramadiario site (dailydrama web site) with six other playwrights from Rio de Janeiro.

Renata Mizrahi is from Rio de Janeiro, graduated from UNIRIO, co-founded the company Teatro de Nós/Theatre of Us with Diego Molina, Elisa Pinheiro and Letícia Medella in 2005. She wrote Galápagos (Shell Award/2015), Coisas que a Gente Não Vê/Things We Don’t See and Joaquim e as Estrelas (Zilka Salaberry Award 2012 and 2010). She was also nominated to the Cesgranrio Award, FITA Award and Botequim Cultural Award with her play Silêncio/Silence (2014). She also wrote Os Sapos/The Frogs (2013, nominated as best play for the Zilka Salaberry Award), Nadistas e Tudistas (2013), Bette Davis e a Máquina de Coca-Cola/Bette Davis and the Coca-Cola Machine, O Jardim Secreto/The Secret Garden, Momo e o Senhor do Tempo/Momo and The Lord of Time, Caixa de Phósphouros/Box of Phosphorous, among other plays. She is a Dramaturgy Professor and Dramaturg at Projeto Manguinhos em Cena at the Parque de Manguinhos Library/Rio de Janeiro.

Newton Moreno was born in Recife, in the Northeast of Brazil. A Performing Arts graduate at Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), he holds masters and doctorate degree at Universidade de São Paulo (USP). He was in the faculty of ELT (Escola Livre de Teatro de Santo André-a theater college) and São Paulo School of Drama (SP Escola de Teatro), in charge of playwriting. He participated as an actor/director in several plays and in 2001 he staged his first text, Deus sabia de tudo e… (God knew all about it and….). Since then he has written other plays, including AGRESTE (DRYLANDS), which won several awards. A REFEIÇÃO (THE REPAST) was developed during International Residency Project at Royal Court Theatre in London (England) and was performed in Brasil and Argentina.

Cláudia Tatinge Nascimento is a scholar and artist. The author of Crossing Cultural Borders Through the Actor’s Work: Foreign Bodies of Knowledge (Routledge, 2008), her current scholarly project examines the contemporary performances of the Brazilian post-dictatorship generation. Her articles appear internationally in journals such as TDR, Theatre Research International, Biblioteca Teatrale, Didaskalia, and A[l]berto. Tatinge Nascimento began a professional stage career while living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In the United States, Tatinge Nascimento performed with Cleveland’s New World Performance Laboratory in Europe, North and South America, and participated in Jerzy Grotowski’s final Objective Drama Session at the UC-Irvine. In New York City she staged Pornographic Angel, her published adaptation of Nelson Rodrigues’ short stories, and will direct a site-specific original piece in Dublin in 2016 while a Trinity Long Room Hub fellow. Tatinge Nascimento is an Associate Professor at Wesleyan University.

Tom Sellar is editor of Yale’s international performance journal Theater. Under his editorship since 2003, Theater has published plays, criticism, reportage and creative dossiers by leading global artists and authors. Tom is professor of Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at Yale University, where he teaches courses in contemporary global performance and theater, critical practice, and performance curating. He currently serves as chief theater critic of the Village Voice, where he has written about New York performing arts since 2001. Tom curates public programs at Yale and for organizations including Philadelphia Fringe Arts and the Prague Quadrennial. A New York City native, he is a proud resident of Brooklyn.

Kaneza Schaal is a New York City based artist. She came up in the downtown experimental theater community, first working with The Wooster Group, then with other companies and artists including Elevator Repair Service, Richard Maxwell/New York City Players, Claude Wampler, Jay Scheib, Jim Findlay, New York City Opera, and National Public Radio. This work brought her to over 18 countries and venues including Centre Pompidou, Royal Lyceum Theater Edinburgh, REDCAT, The Whitney Museum, BAM, The Kitchen, St. Ann’s Warehouse, and MoMA. Schaal ’s new work, GO/FORTH was commissioned by Performance Space 122 with support from the Jerome Foundation 50th Anniversary Grant. Schaal was an Artist in Residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center and received a 2014 Princess Grace Award grant, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Process Space residency, Bogliasco Fellowship and Princess Grace George C. Wolfe Award. She was a member of Kara Walker’s 6-8 Months Space, a featured artist in Fortnight Journal, and her video work appeared in Visionaire. Schaal has been invited to speak at New York University, Yale University, BAM, Brooklyn Book Festival, the River-to-River Festival and her alma mater Wesleyan University, CT.

Julia Spadaccini (Rio de Janeiro) wrote Aos Domingos, O Céu Está Vazio, Os Estonianos, Um Dia Qualquer, Quebra-Ossos, A Porta da Frente among other plays. She was the screenwriter of the film Qualquer Gato Vira-lata, produced by Tietê Filmes, Simpatia do Limão (winner of Porta-curtas Petrobrás Award, Rio de Janeiro’s Film Festival/2010), and also of the TV series Oscar Freire 279 (Multishow/2011) and of TV programs Aprender a Empreender (Canal Futura/2010), Básico,and Quase Anônimos (Multishow/2009).  She was part of the “Dramadiário” website for three years, worked as comic books screenwriter for Editora Globo (2006/2007) and for film production companies Jodaf Mixer and Conspiração Filmes (2008/09). She developed the argument for the film Isolados (2014) and is currently presenting A Vida Sexual da Mulher Feia, a monologue she wrote for actor Otávio Muller. Spadaccini won the Fita Award (2013) and Shell Award (2013) for her play A Porta da Frente and was nominated for Shell Award (2012), APTR, CESGRANRIO (2013). She now works as screenwriter for TV program Tapas e Beijos (Rede Globo) and for the series AMORTEAMO (Rede Globo).