Musical act-spectacle Inútil Canto e Inútil Pranto pelos Anjos Caídos: the State’s genocidal politics, mass incarceration, and social movements on stage

Abstract

This study aims to explore the themes and dynamics of the creative process behind the theatrical production Inútil Canto e Inútil Pranto pelos Anjos Caídos, directed by Rogério Tarifa, which premiered in 2017 at the Teatro Laboratório of USP. It draws connections with epic theater, Bertolt Brecht’s didactic plays, and Cecilia Almeida Salles’ the proposal of the creative process on a web. Its central theme addresses the prison system and the genocidal policies of the State, directly linked to mass incarceration and the extermination of the Brazilian Black and marginalized populations. The production was carried out at a School of Dramatic Arts with graduating students from Class 66 and featured the active collaboration and participation from members of the social movement Mães em Luto da Zona Leste and the group Mulheres Livres, born from the Voz Própria Project, led by singer and professor Carmina Juarez — a project involving over 200 incarcerated women from the Capital Women’s Penitentiary. This study also seeks to show how the Performing Arts can strengthen actions, discussions, and radical transformations that support individuals who are or have been involved with the criminal justice system and those who have lost loved ones to State violence.