O Palhaço Negro : a História de Benjamin de Oliveira = Black Clown : the story of Benjamin de Oliveira

This play tells the story of the first Brazilian black clown, starting with his childhood during the period of slavery in Brazil, through his running away with the circus. There he trained as a juggler, rope-walker, and acrobat, and became a famous clown. Benjamin brought theater to the circus, and was thus one of the precursors of the Circus-Theater, staging classic works such as José de Alencar and Carlos Gomes' O Guarani, as well as creating his own plays. Zeca Ligiéro's adaptation and staging creates a contemporary performance with a couple of black actors, based on both theater and circus techniques. It also adds to these the storytelling of the ancient African griots, transformed in the New World into storytellers that sometimes brought a story lived by heroes of the past, and sometimes told a fable or ancient myth of the African continent. All of this combined with melodrama, dance, and song. Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics

Zeca Ligiéro is currently Associate Professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro State and the curator of Augusto Boal Archive. He coordinates since 1998 the Center for the Study of Afro-Amerindian Performances-NEPAA, which is dedicated to promoting research, dissemination, and exchange with various cultures of African, Indigenous, and other non-hegemonic origin, and to studying their inter-relations within Brazil. Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics