Subterrâneo, um Musical Obscuro
[Underground, an Obscure Musical]

The news about the 33 men trapped underground after a mine collapsed in San José, Chile, in 2010, was the starting point for creating of the show, a collaboration between the Portuguese artists of Má-Criação and the Brazilian artists of Foguetes Maravilha and Dimenti. By sewing together dramaturgy and music, the artists imagine the stories that could have been told during the months of confinement in the cave, an obscure territory where bodies and shadows fade into one another. On stage, the image of a group of people trapped underground drives the discussion about the world that surrounds us and continuously challenges us with walls, fires, bombs, and speeches. 

Má-Criação is a structure created in 2015 in Lisbon for the development of performative arts projects. Its main goal is to establish a space for creation that allows a group of artists to be in a continuous process of collaboration, fostering the development of languages and aesthetics, closely connected to artists and structures from other countries.  

Foguetes Maravilha is a theater company created in 2008 by Alex Cassal and Felipe Rocha in Rio de Janeiro. Their works explore ways of being on the scene and in relationship with the audience, disrupting the limits between stage, audience, fiction, and reality.  

Established in 1998 in Salvador, Dimenti is an environment of artistic creation and cultural production that connects fields including theater, dance, film, curatorship, and communication. Its award-winning associate artists have been selected to several festivals and grants and have been taking their creations to different regions of Brazil and the world.

CAST AND CREW
Artistic direction: Alex Cassal and Paula Diogo
Original text: Alex Cassal and Felipe Rocha
Staging: Paula Diogo and Renato Linhares
Musical direction and original score: Felipe Rocha
Performers: Alegria Gomes, Carla Galvão, Cláudia Gaiolas, Crista Alfaiate, Fábio Osório Monteiro, Felipe Rocha, João Lopes Pereira, Renato Linhares and Yaw Tembe
Sound design: Sérgio Henriques
Sound assistants: Gonçalo Carlos and Francisco Serrano
Light design: Tomás Ribas 
Lighting assistant: André Boneco
Performing space: F. Ribeiro and Saulo Santos
Dramaturgical research: Joana Frazão
Stage photography: João Tuna and Estelle Valente
Executive production in Brazil: Ana Barros
Production: Daniela Ribeiro, Paula Diogo and Ana Barros
Support to internationalization: República Portuguesa – Direcção Geral das Artes e Fundo Cultural da Fundação GDA
Produced by: Má-Criação
Partnership: Foguetes Maravilha and Dimenti 
Premiere: São Luiz Teatro Municipal, Lisboa
Promotion: São Luiz Teatro Municipal (on-line), Lisboa PT, Estabelecimento Prisional de Lisboa (on-line) and FITEI Fest. Int’l de Teatro de Expressão Ibérica, Porto PT

Paula Diogo is an artist supported by apap – FEMINIST FUTURES, a project cofunded by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union. 

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