The city of Santos, Brazil has had a history of performing arts since the time of Dom Pedro I. The oldest records date from 1830, when the first presentations were held in a dilapidated building in the city center, lit with candles and olive oil lamps. Chairs were carried to the location by slaves. Our history has some inconvenient truths.

ART + POLITICS =

The first real theater to be opened in Santos was the Guarany, in 1882, also in the city center. At the time, slavery was already seen as abhorrent, so much so that it had already been abolished in various other countries. This sentiment was also seen on stage, in speeches delivered by the abolitionist journalist José do Patrocínio, in republican acts, and in the proclamation of the first and only municipal constitution in the country, in 1894.
The theater was also the setting for a spectacular story: during the opening night of the play “A Sombra da Cabana,” by José André do Sacramento Macuco, a slave received his certificate of freedom, which had been paid for with proceeds from ticket sales.

= PAGU

Guarany played a fundamental role in constructing the combative nature of the people of Santos. Here, we are obliged to dedicate some words to Patrícia Galvão, better known as Pagu, an iconic figure not just in the cultural scene, but also in the fight for social justice.

= PRESERVATION

Before leaving behind her theatrical legacy, Pagu lived a very difficult life. As a member of the “Partidão,” the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB), she was arrested in 1932 for supporting a dock workers’ strike.

= IMPORTANT NAMES

In addition to Pagu, Santos’ theater history is composed of a series of stars. We’d like to mention a few:
Carlos Alberto Sofredini: playwright and theater director
Jandira Martini: actor and writer
Neyde Veneziano: director
Ney Latorraca: actor
Nuno Leal Maia: actor
Alexandre Borges: actor
Bete Mendes: actor
Sérgio Mamberti: actor
Plínio Marcos: author and playwright.

= IRREVERENCE

There is a curious anecdote involving Plínio Marcos. In 1951, at the age of 16, he joined the circus because of a girl. “I wanted to date a girl from the circus, whom I met when a singer who lived in my neighborhood went to sing in the circus. Her father only let her date circus employees. So I joined the circus. I thought I was funnier than the clown and decided that I should be a clown.”

= PROVOCATION

In 1957, Plínio met Pagu. He was an actor in a children’s theater group she had founded. Pagu was the one who advised him to pursue a career in theater. It worked out. Plínio was a hit with his depictions of themes like homosexuality, lawlessness, prostitution and violence in his plays with biting situations and sharp dialogs heavy with slang. Real life, unadulterated! His works include “Barrela,” “Dois Perdidos Numa Noite Suja,” “Navalha na Carne,” “Querô,” and many more.

= INITIATIVE

In 1958, Pagu launched the Santos Theater Festival (FESTA), in partnership with the State Theater Commission and the Municipal Cultural Commission. From that point forward, the Santos theater scene started making waves around the country. The city became a training ground for new professionals and helped launch a number of important practitioners.

= VANGUARD

The festival’s second edition, in 1959, included the world premiere of the play “Fando and Lis,” written by Spanish playwright Fernando Arrabal, performed by GETI (the Experimental Children’s Theater Group), and directed by Pagu and Paulo Lara. It also included the premiere of Barrela, the first play written by Plínio Marcos, which received honorable mentions for “performance” and “direction.”

= CENSORSHIP

But dictatorships do not like art, especially in authoritarian and oppressive regimes, such as the one that began in Brazil with the decree of AI-5, in 1968. The FESTA didn’t care one whit. It loaned its stage to audacious works that discussed politics. Until, in the late 1970s, the oppression spoke louder and interrupted the festival.

= FIGHTING THE SYSTEM

On the topic of the dictatorship, a word from Carlos Pinto, former president of the Santos Theater Federation: “Oh, she was our inspiration, our muse. They were difficult but amazing times. We had someone to fight, a cause for which to stand up. And this is what theater is about: fighting against a system. A flashy play that presents a solution is wrong. The role of art is to blow open the doors, to show the problem in its entirety, and that’s what we did. And the people responded. We had a packed house for every presentation... That was the best era for amateur theater in Santos.”

= LOVE OF ART

“What struck me the most as a boy of 14 or 15 was the social role of theater. Those actors would bring the art to life with the goal of promoting debate, asking questions, and raising engagement with bigger issues. Often, they were there because of the love of performing, without receiving any payment or any visibility. This love, this joy that I discovered being on stage at FESTA... That’s something that’s still a part of me to this day,” said actor Alexandre Borges.

= UNION

In 1998, the MTBS (Santos Lowlands Theater Movement) and FESTA worked together to fight a proposal from City Hall to extinguish the Santos Culture Department. They were able to defeat the proposal. Another win was defeating the idea of making a museum out of Santos’s historic Old Jail – the same one where Pagu had been imprisoned. Thus, the building still has its old cells, laden with art and culture, and operates as a unit of the Guri Project as well as a venue for various art exhibits and presentations.

= INTEGRACIÓN

In 2010, the city’s theater scene was reinforced with the creation of Mirada, the Santos Performing Arts Ibero-American Festival, which is held every two years to host theater companies from various Latin American countries, as well as Portugal and Spain, the two countries in the Iberian Peninsula. Over its four editions, it has put on 363 plays from 15 countries.

= FRATERNITY

One of the key names behind the formation of the Mirada festival is Pepe Bablé, art director for Spain’s Cádiz Ibero-American Festival. Cádiz and Santos are sister cities whose histories are linked to the seaport and the ocean. While Cádiz promoted a geographical connection with the entire Spanish America, as the starting point for caravels setting sail since the 15th century, Santos is a hub connecting the Latin American countries.

= TRAINING

None of this would happen were it not for the training of professionals to perform on stage. And so we arrive at one more pivotal event in the city’s arts scene, the FESCETE (Theater Scene Festival). Fescete, considered to be Brazil’s first scene festival, guides the creative process, invests in the training of new talent, and promotes cultural exchanges between artists and technical professionals. Its goal is to encourage students to create new theater groups, promote their civic rights in schools, foster productions, and encourage audiences to attend the theater.

= RESISTANCE

Each a pioneer in its own right, this year the Mirada celebrates its 5th edition, the FESCETE its 22nd, and the FESTA its 60th anniversary. Despite the turbulent situation currently in place in the country, our sparse cultural budget, and potential audiences increasingly addicted to their smartphones, the theater scene remains dedicated, strong and lively in Santos.