Looking at Theater Through the Performers' Experiences: Practices of Political Engagement in Teatro do Vestido
- Gustavo Vicente (University of Lisbon)
Abstract
In this text, drawing from my participation as an actor in Juventude Inquieta [Restless Youth],1 the latest of my collaborations with Teatro do Vestido,2 I begin by acknowledging the ethical implications of my personal experience within the creative process. I then build on this reflection to further explore the possible ways of looking at theater projects, differentiating between ones that are oriented exclusively towards scenic outcomes and ones that put in motion a process of political engagement of the performers that transcend artistic results alone. I follow this proposal to foreground the importance of distinguishing between making theater that resembles the politics we can only envision and a theater that relates to another form of artistic circulation, in which the practices of learning, selfdiscovery, and critical thinking are privileged alongside the final stage performance.
Keywords: experience, acting, creative process, dramaturgy
How to Cite:
Vicente, G., (2023) “Looking at Theater Through the Performers' Experiences: Practices of Political Engagement in Teatro do Vestido”, Documenta 41(1), 203–222. doi: https://doi.org/10.21825/documenta.85994
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