Cultural & Political Roots of Teatro Terreiro Encantado
Originally from the Brazilian northeast state of Ceará, Cleydson Catarina migrated to São Paulo in 2014. His journey to Brazil's largest city is reflective of a long history of nordestinos (Brazilian northeasterners) migrating to Brazil's southeast region, which includes the major cities São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Belo Horizonte, throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Most nordestino migrants are Afro-descendant or Afro-Indigenous and working class who come to the city in search of more economic opportunities while facing discrimination based on race, different linguistic registers, cultural traditions, and identity. A large portion of the population of the urban periphery in São Paulo are nordestinos or are the children of these migrants, thereby making their culture have a strong presence in these communities.
His nordestino cultural heritage and his family's background with popular art traditions plays a central role in the theater company's formation and identity. Cleydson comes from a family of artists. The women in his family were puppet makers and performers, and his local community in Ceará had celebrations and gatherings rooted in the rich cultural and performative traditions of the Brazilian nordeste.
The political roots of the group, in particular it's focus on the genocide of Black youth in contemporary Brazilian society, can be traced back to Cleydson Catarina's engagement with theater as a youth in Ceará. From the age of 12 he participated in a tradition known as teatro de rua (street theater), which has a rich history in northeast Brazil. Social issues tied to state violence against Black male bodies were already addressed in this theater, thereby playing a foundational role in his development as a Black performing artist. While the theater that Teatro Terreiro Encantado engages in is not teatro de rua, theater as a political act is a central aspect of what it does due to themes that center the lived experiences of marginalized subjects.
