_ São Paulo group theater and the "encruzilhada""

Historical, epistemological and aesthetic reparations

Abstract

Over the past decade, there has been a growing emphasis on approaches that challenge coloniality in the pursuit of historical, epistemological, and aesthetic reparations in the practices and discourses of Sao Paulo-based theater groups. Some of these proposals stand out, with accounts drawn from a cartography of the projects awarded in the first 40 editions of the Programa Municipal de Fomento ao Teatro para a Cidade de São Paulo (Municipal Theater Funding Program for the City of São Paulo (2002–2022). Initially, the methodology of cartography is presented. Subsequently, we revisit Leda Maria Martins' (1997; 2021) notion of the “encruzilhada” (crossroad) and Luiz Rufino's (2018; 2019) “pedagogia das encruzilhadas”(pedagogy of crossroads), emphasizing how these authors' notions of “cruzo” (crossing) aid in the recuperation, valorization, and dissemination of ancestral knowledge and its articulation by So Paulo-based theater groups. The approaches of theater collectives that challenge hegemonic practices and discourses are categorized into three subgroups: Peripheral Theater, Black Theater, and LGBTQIAPN+ Theater. The coexistence of two opposing movements is highlighted, revealing aspects of the ongoing struggle over civilizational paradigms: on the one side, the far-right and its reactionary populism (Lynch & Casimiro, 2022), and on the other, the “cruzo” of São Paulo’s theater scene. Keywords: Group theater; Crossroad; Reparations; Culture funding; Fomento ao Teatro Law for the city of São Paulo.