ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on a period of politicization for Brazilian theatre and of the formation of a new type of modern dramaturgy, staging, and training for actors, something which can be viewed not just as a cultural fact, but something more like a work of political culture. It presents the Arena Theatre of Sao Paulo, a small collective comprised of university graduates, which became one of the main groups responsible for the development. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Brazil witnessed a great deal of debate and interest in changing Brazilian culture, with the participation of students, intellectuals, artists, and popular movements. The debate between Augusto Boal and Anatol Rosenfeld, the essayist and literary critic who was responsible for the “theoretical” introduction of Brecht to Brazil, can be traced abundantly in bibliographical material. The playwright defends the hero with Rosenfeld problematizing the mystifying demotion necessary for this character to gain prominence.
