Contexto

In the Contexto cycle, we propose a series of conferences where we take a show from Theatro Circo’s programme as a starting point for conversations between artists and people whose areas of activity intersect with the themes and issues addressed in that work.

Based on the premiere of the new play by acclaimed director and producer Marco Martins, whose career is anchored in collaboration with specific communities and important socio-political themes, we invited artist and writer Gisela Casimiro to join us in launching ideas and words between the three of us.

Gisela Casimiro is an artist, writer, translator, and activist. She has published the poetry books Erosão and Giz, and the book of chronicles Estendais. She wrote the plays Casa com Árvores Dentro (directed by Cláudia Semedo) and Vida: Uma Aplicação (PANOS/TNDMII). She supported the dramaturgy of Blackface, by Marco Mendonça, and the creation of Belonging, by Raquel André. She has also worked with Ana Borralho & João Galante, Cristina Carvalhal, Sónia Baptista, and Romeo Castellucci. She translated Sister Outlaw and The Cancer Diaries by Audre Lorde, and Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary by Toshio Meronek and Miss Major Griffin-Gracy. She has exhibited works at the Municipal Galleries of Porto, Lisbon, and Almada, MACE, Appleton, and the Afro-Brazil Emanoel Araújo Museum. She is part of the António Cachola collection. She coordinates the Cinema Batalha Reading Club. She co-founded UNA – União Negra das Artes (Black Union of the Arts).

In this conversation, we invite reflection on human frailties, coloniality, social polarisation and racism, in a country and a contemporary world in tension and upheaval.