The Mythological Onça pintada: A Process Drama with Children about Threatened Brazilian Biomes
Renata Ferreira da Silva, Flávia Janiaski Vale, Heitor Martins Oliveira, Mariene Perobelli, Wellington Menegaz de Paula
https://doi.org/10.64741/713281outvmq
Abstract
This article presents the activities of an inter-institutional and outreach research project carried out in partnership between teachers and children in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. It highlights the unique features of drama in education in Brazil, as outlined through this experience, which connects socio-environmental issues of Brazil’s threatened biomes with the country’s cultural diversity. We discuss how five basic dramatic conventions— pre-text, episodes, processes, fictional context, and role experience — are developed within a process drama entitled Mythological Onça Pintada, implemented in this context. The experience fosters a connection between children, teachers, and researchers with nature, imagination, and the wisdom of traditional Brazilian cultures, offering sensitive and creative pathways to engage with themes related to the climate crisis and socio-environmental education in Brazilian primary schools.
Keywords: drama, children, climate crisis, socio-environmental education, Brazilian biomes.
Introduction to this Project and drama in Brazil
Miss, it´s made up but the investigation is real, isn´t it?
A statement from a child in the process.
This article presents the potential of drama in primary education (6-7 years old) to foster a connection between children, teachers, and researchers with nature, imagination, and the wisdom of traditional Brazilian cultures. It is grounded in the concepts, strategies, and values of drama in education, particularly as developed by Brazilian practitioners and scholars such as Cabral (2006), Degranges (2006), Janiaski, Perobelli and Menegaz (2023).Documented through photographic records,the research methodology consists of a participatory pedagogical intervention with children and teachers from rural areas of Brazil. This article aims to clarify the artistic and pedagogical strategies of the project, as well as its impact in the field of education.
The Mythological Onça Pintada[1] process took place in 2024 in three cities in Mato Grosso do Sul, a state in Brazil’s central-west region marked by a recent history of environmental impacts and threats to local biomes and traditional cultures: Dourados, Caarapó, and Naviraí. This initiative was part of the third phase of research and outreach project Drama as a Teaching Method: Artistic Educational Technologies in the Context of Threatened Brazilian Biomes and Culture, funded by the Foundation for the Advancement of Education, Science, and Technology of the State of Mato Grosso do Sul (FUNDECT). The project, which took place between July 2023 and June 2025, was divided into four phases: 1st Online workshop for teachers across Brazil; 2nd Workshops conducted in partner schools and cities in a hybrid format (both online and in-person), deepening practical research within the school context. In this phase, university researchers, students, teachers, and the pedagogical team collectively engaged in theoretical studies and artistic-pedagogical practices; 3rd A phase where the entire team met in person to experience the full process drama as a teaching approach, in partnership with teachers and children from the participating schools. This included an in-person immersion in drama, along with a collective evaluation involving both teachers and children, who were active participants in the research; 4th The development and sharing of materials, including written and audiovisual resources; participation in academic events at UFU, UFGD, and UFT; and presentations and dissemination of all materials produced.
The main objective of the project was to develop ongoing training in the artistic and pedagogical features of drama in education, in dialogue onthe environmental impacts affecting the Brazilian Cerrado (a tropical savanna ecosystem). It involved teachers, students, and researchers from primary education institutions in Mato Grosso do Sul and from three Brazilian Federal universities – Federal University of Grande Dourados (UFGD), Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU), and Federal University of Tocantins (UFT).
Image 01: Location of the cities and universities involved in the project. Author: Kennedy Vasco.
Despite being based in different regions in Brazil, the researchers are connected by a shared foundation in drama in education’s core philosophies and values, shaped by their experiences with Professor Beatriz Ângela Vieira Cabral (Biange), who has been introducing and promoting drama in education in Brazil since the 1990s. According to Menegaz (2020), Biange encountered several drama practitioners during her doctorate in England (1990–1994), including Dorothy Heathcote and Cecily O’Neill. In 1995, she returned to Brazil and founded the research group Drama as a Curricular Axis, in partnership with the State University of Santa Catarina (UDESC) and the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). Between 1995 and 1998, she developed the first process drama in Brazilian territory: Conchas e Caramujos (Shells and Sea snails), Cavernas (Caves), Colonização Açoriana (Açorian Colonization), and Plantas da Ilha: A História de Marina (Plants of the Island: Marina’s Story) (Menegaz, 2020).
Process Drama, drama in education, or drama, as it is known in English-speaking countries, or abordagem do Drama, Drama-processo, processo de Drama, or Drama, as it is known in Brazil, is a theatre-based teaching practice that originated in England and has since spread to other Anglo-Saxon countries. However, in contrast to England, where drama became part of the primary education curriculum, this approach was introduced at the university level in Brazil, specifically within the Theatre Education undergraduate programme (Licenciatura em Artes Cênicas) at the State University of Santa Catarina (UDESC). Therefore, it is important to highlight certain conceptual and practical differences in how this approach, originally based on English foundations, has resonated in Brazil and how it is understood today.
When drama in education emerged in England through the work of Dorothy Heathcote, it was more than a method for teaching theatre; it sparked a transformation in how learning and teaching were conceived. Heathcote sought ways to forge connections between society and the school environment. From the 1950s until her death in 2011, Heathcote continued to develop her work and came to operate through four main approaches (or ‘contexts’ or ‘models’): Drama used to explore people, circumstances and events; the mantle of the expert; Rolling Role; The commission model — aimed at promoting active, student-centered learning (Janiaski, Perobelli & Menegaz 2023: 15).
In 2025, it will be 30 years since drama practices began to develop in Brazil, both in primary education and universities. Over this time, some characteristics have come to define the processes developed in Brazil, and Drama has gradually incorporated Brazilian peculiarities, establishing itself as a distinctive approach for teaching theatre.
In the Brazilian context, we understand that process drama can be structured around five core principles or conventions: pre-text, episodes, processes, fictional context, and role-play, as well as a range of strategies or tools (such as dramatic setting and teacher-in-role).
First, the pre-text serves both as an invitation and a guide for the entire process. It functions as an invitation, while remaining present throughout, acting as a ‘guiding story’ that introduces the basic dramatic circumstances, and calls participants to action by presenting initial roles and the fictional context.
In the process drama for the Mythological Onça Pintada, the pre-text was a story created collaboratively by our group, developed around the theme we aimed to explore: threatened biomes and Brazilian cultures. This narrative was inspired by the legend of the winged serpent as it is known in the city of Natividade. According to historian Amália Hermano Teixeira (Teixeira 2011: 129 –130):
The serpent lives in a cave that stretches from the main church to the Enchanted Lake (Lagoa Encantada). Its head lies at the bottom of the lake, deep below the surface, while the tip of its tail rests precisely under the foundations of the church. Feathers begin to grow along the serpent’s body and, on the eighth day, these give it the strength to shake the ground and emerge from the cave, destroying homes and inhabitants in its path. The devastation spreads not only through Natividade but also across the surrounding farms and into the cities of Chapada, Bonfim, Conceição do Norte, Arraias, Dianópolis, Porto Nacional, and Peixe (Teixeira 2011: 129 -130).
Legends of mystical serpents said to awaken from under the earth are prevalent in popular culture across several regions of Brazil (Cascudo, 2002). In our adaptation, we opted to create a similar narrative that centered on an Onça Pintada, as this held greater symbolic relevance to the context of Mato Grosso do Sul.
The Onça Pintada, the largest feline in the Americas, plays a crucial role in maintaining the balance of Brazilian ecosystems, particularly in the Amazon rainforest, the Pantanal, and the Cerrado. As an apex predator, it regulates populations of other species and helps maintain the biodiversity and health of natural habitats. Additionally, the Onça Pintada is both a cultural and environmental symbol of Brazil, representing the richness of the nation’s fauna, and plays a key role in conservation policies and ecotourism initiatives.
Drawing on these mythological and ecological references and concerns from within the group regarding the climate changes and disasters that Brazil, particularly Mato Grosso do Sul, experienced in 2023 and 2024, we created the following pre-text:
A legendary Onça Pintada lives within the Guarani Aquifer. Its mission is to protect this reservoir of clean water—a vast underground source spanning Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The temperature of the water in this immense aquifer, considered one of the largest on the planet, is rising, endangering all living beings on the surface. To protect the aquifer, the Onça Pintada seeks help, especially from children, who must care for nature. For this reason, it rises to the Earth’s surface.
The second and third principles or conventions – episodes and process – are closely linked:
Learning and creation occur as a process through episodes. Each class is a drama episode. For those who are unfamiliar with a process drama, an analogy can be drawn with a television series. A season comprises episodes and the events unfold throughout these. Similarly, the drama also unfolds episode by episode. The number of episodes required for a process drama depends on the proposal, context, and needs that arise from the dramatic process itself. (Janiaski, Perobelli & Menegaz, 2023: 18).
In the Mythological Onça Pintada, the process required two episodes, each lasting an average of ninety minutes, with several strategies used in each episode.
The fourth convention is the establishment of a fictional context that connects each episode. All actions unfold within this context, which determines the settings, time, possible events, and so on. To encourage engagement, the fictional context must relate to the participants’ reality. The ‘make-believe’ world must connect with real-life aspects for the participants to feel motivated to play and take on roles within the drama.
The coordinators of the process must be attuned to the reality of the individuals they will be working with in the process drama. The closer the fictional context is to the group’s lived experience, the more powerful the drama will be. Even when working with fantasy fiction, grounding it in issues that resonate with the group is key to fostering the imaginative thinking and creative action required for the process drama (Janiaski, Perobelli & Menegaz 2023: 19).
Regarding the dialogue with the real context, the team recognised the urgency of addressing current socio-environmental issues, particularly in Mato Grosso do Sul where these impacts are particularly severe. Mato Grosso do Sul is a state recently affected by wildfires, deforestation, attacks on Indigenous lands and peoples, heavy agrochemical use, unregulated agricultural expansion, mercury contamination from mining, and water shortages in Indigenous communities.
In response to these realities and their direct impact on the lives and daily routines of the participants, the fictional context and strategies for developing the episodes were collaboratively prepared by the project organisers and the teachers from the partner schools. Four online meetings were held in August 2024, followed by an in-person meeting in September 2024. The adopted fictional context can be summarised as follows:
A group of journalists arrives at the school in search of clues. They explain that there have been reports of an Onça Pintada prowling nearby, believed by some to be the Mythological Onça Pintada, guardian of the Guarani Aquifer. They want to investigate why it has appeared on the Earth’s surface. They share a few clues with the children and invite them to help uncover the story together. The first step of this journey is to speak with the Elder.
The fifth and final convention used in this process drama is role-play. The participants and facilitators experiment with different roles and/or characters throughout the drama, collaboratively constructing an imaginative narrative and state of play. The roles are shaped by the scenes, relationships, and time-space dimensions established in the fictional context. Roles are flexible and can be explored in a single episode or across the whole process. Each participant may take on multiple roles in the same drama or even in a single episode. In our process, the teachers portray animals who live in the local biome: Rattlesnake, Capybara, Macaw, and Onça Pintada. The project coordination team played the role of an audiovisual crew producing a documentary about the appearance of a mythological Onça Pintada in the city. Meanwhile, the children acted as investigators and guardians of nature.
Image 02: Teachers-in- role Photo: Caduts
In a process drama, events unfold during the encounter in space and time between participants. As we speak, we must also listen; when we create, we must also reflect. Through this interplay, researchers, teachers, and children construct a collective narrative and develop a deeper understanding of the explored context. For this reason, drama opens up a range of possibilities within the Brazilian educational context. To illustrate some of these, we focus on the process developed with children at the Municipal Rui Barbosa School in the city of Caarapó, Mato Grosso do Sul. Below, we present the scheme-of-workwe developed for this process:
Up to this point, we have outlined the development of an inter-institutional project carried out in partnership with teachers and children in Mato Grosso do Sul, shaped by experiences that weave together elements of local biomes and the country’s cultural diversity.
In the next part of this article, we invite the reader into the project’s fictional dimension, which we present as a narrative which leads onto how the narrative developed into process drama:
The Mythological Onça Pintada
‘A mystery loomed over a school in the town of Caarapó, in a rural area of Mato Grosso do Sul, a state in the Midwest region of Brazil. A loud roar echoed through the neighbourhood nestled within the Brazilian Cerradowhich stirred tension and curiosity. This biome is characterised by distinctive vegetation: trees with thick bark, twisted trunks, and deep roots adapted to the seasonal tropical climate. This biomehas a clearly defined wet and dry seasons. It was the dry season, a time marked by reduced rainfall and low humidity. During this period, intense fires had devastated the vegetation and polluted the air, affecting both animals and people while also driving temperatures even higher.’
The teacher, concerned and unsure of the strange growl heard at night and widely discussed at school the following morning, asked whether the children had heard it too. Many, curious and attentive, confirmed that they had also heard the unusual sound from their homes.
As they were discussing the strange sound, there was a sudden knock on the classroom door. The teacher opened it and introduced herself to the audiovisual team, who had come to investigate the mysterious events of the previous night. The team had captured the sound with their electronic equipment. Eager to hear it, the children listened as the team played the recording and asked them to help identify the source of the noise. The children suggested many possibilities but were unable to reach a conclusion.
Image 03: Teachers and children listening to the mysterious noise. Photo: Caduts.
The team suggested that the investigation continue outside the classroom. Could there be any traces that might provide a clue? Together, they walked around the schoolyard, passing beneath the shade of the mango trees on a hot afternoon, typical of the dry season in the Brazilian Cerrado. As they followed this path, they were surprised to find large animal footprints. What kind of animal could it be? Could it be connected to the mysterious sound heard the night before? How could an animal have entered the school? The group decided to follow the trail of footprints (created by drama educators – Image 6).
To everyone´s surprise, a woman appeared in the yard with a staff in her hand. She wore white cotton clothes, had grey hair, and a gentle, wise expression. The children were intrigued and quickly approached her to share the latest developments. After listening attentively to the excited children, the Elder explained that the mysterious animal could only be the legendary Onça Pintada.
Image 04: Children and teachers exploring the school spaces with the process drama. Phot: Caduts.
The children listened, transfixed. The Elder explained that, according to the legend, the Mythological Onça Pintada lives underground, guarding a huge freshwater reservoir which runs below Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay: the Guarani Aquifer.
Image 05: Location of the Guarani Aquifer and Brazilian Cerrado. Author: Kennedy Vasco.
The sighting of the Onça Pintada in the city was unusual, suggesting that the water inside the Earth could be threatened. The Elder asked the children if adults were extracting water from areas near polluted rivers and whether the heritage was being preserved. There was silence followed by some speculation. The Elder then explained something important to the children:
‘If the Onça Pintada wakes up and comes to the Earth´s surface in search of more water, it is so powerful it could destroy the city and its surroundings. If it has shown up once already, it means that something is happening to the water beneath the Earth. The Onça Pintada may be seeking help so somebody must investigate what is happening and see how we can solve the problem.’
Image 06: Children discovering the onça pintada´s footprints at school. Photo: Caduts.
The mysterious sound, the footprints, the meeting with the Elder, and all this information connected the children to the context presented to them. The Elder, feeling tired, sat down and asked the children:
Would you be willing to go on a journey to find out what is happening?
The entire group immediately agreed to go. The Elder asked them to sit in the shade of the lush mango tree in the schoolyard. It was a hot, sunny afternoon and the clear, blue sky reflected the dry season typical of the tropical Brazilian climate. Seated on a small, wooden bench, the Elder said she could be the guide for their adventure, but it would be the children who would have the strength to complete the mission and its tasks through the power of their imagination and their ‘inner-animal’.
With the magical staff in her hand, the Elder began to prepare the children for their quest. From that moment on, they would acquire the power of vision to see what they had not seen before, namely, what had existed in that place before the school and the city were built?
Image 07: Teachers-in-role: Rattlesnake, Macaw, Capybara. Photo: Caduts.
The children were very excited. The journey began by activating the power of the animals’ vision. The Elder asked the children which animal they would like to be that day. She asked them to move around and make sounds like their chosen animals. The encounter turned into a game and, magically, as the children moved and made animal sounds, they received the power of enhanced vision.
The journey to unravel the mystery of the Mythological Onça Pintada‘s appearance at the school had begun.
Guided by the Elder, the children walked along a path through the schoolyard. Near the playground, under the shade of a tree, they encountered a poisonous rattlesnake. As they moved closer, they heard the rattle at the tip of its tail: a distinctive sound used as a warning. Though dangerous, the rattlesnake typically avoids confrontation with humans, using its rattle as a defense before striking. The rattlesnake asked the children:
What are you doing here? How can you see me? Nobody from this world can see me. How can you see me?
The children explained that the Elder had given them the power of vision and that they were searching for the Onça Pintada that had roamed the school grounds the night before.
Ahh, you’re looking for the Onça Pintada from beneath the Earth? Something really serious must have happened for it to have come into the city and abandoned the waters it protects. Do you want to find itand help uncover this mystery?
The children excitedly replied that they wanted to help. (However, it should be noted that some of the children were very afraid and the adults from the audiovisual team, who were documenting the process, spoke to each child individually, offering reassurance and encouragement and gently held their hands when needed).
Image 08: Adult-child interaction. Photo: Caduts.
In that moment, Rattlesnake announced it had a magical power to give to the children to help them find the Onça Pintada. Rattlesnake granted them the power of sound, handing over its magical instrument It was a rattle, an Indigenous instrument made from bamboo and seeds which produces a sound similar to rain. This instrument would protect the children. One by one, the children passed the instrument around so that each one could touch it while Rattlesnake taught them how to hiss like a snake. This sound would give the children the power to overcome their fears. Whenever they felt afraid, they could hiss to strengthen their courage and face their fears. (Again it should be noted that the children who had been clinging to the teachers let go and began hissing alongside Rattlesnake.)
Rattlesnake said goodbye and handed its magical instrument to the homeschool teacher, who would now become the children’s guardian. They followed behind the Elder to another part of the schoolyard.
Before long, the children started to hear a loud, hoarse, and shrill sound. Curious, they decided to investigate and spotted, next to the water fountain, a large bird with bright blue and yellow feathers. It was Macaw. When it noticed the children watching, it spoke to them.
Once again, the children told Macaw about the powers the Elder had granted them and explained that they were looking for the Onça Pintada that had left footprints in their school.
Macaw told them that it could help by giving them the power of communication. It taught them a magic word that would open the portals of communication with the Mythological Onça Pintada. The word was Yóin amoitê’pe, from the Guarani language spoken by the original peoples of this region in Mato Grosso do Sul. It means, “water, source of life”. The children and Macaw happily flew around the schoolyard together, chanting the word of power. When Macaw was finished, it said goodbye to the children and reminded them to say the word of power when they found the Onça Pintada so that they would be able to communicate with it.
The Elder, who had been watching the interaction between the children and Macaw with quiet attention and contentment, continued to lead the children around the school. Before long, they spotted a robust body covered in short, thick reddish-brown fur in a corridor between the school building and the external wall. It was Capybara, peaceful and calm, the largest rodent in the world, and a species native to South America. When it noticed the children watching, it spoke to them.
The children told Capybara that they had been given the power of vision by the Elder, the power of protection by Rattlesnake and the power of word by Macaw. Now, they were looking for the Onça Pintada.
Capybara instructed the children to form a circle and to sing and dance. This dance would strengthen the unity of the group, a necessary force to help the Onça Pintada. After singing and dancing together, the children said goodbye to Capybara and continued with the Elder to a garden of flowers and trees in another part of the school.
Image 09: Children and adults dancing with Capybara. Photo: Caduts.
In the garden, the Elder gathered the children around her and reminded them of all the powers they had received: vision, protection, communication, and unity. They sang, danced and imitated the sounds of every animal they had encountered on their journey. At the end, the Elder gave each child an amulet made from natural elements. These amulets were essential to open the portal to the Mythological Onça Pintada – to help find, communicate, and assist Onça Pintada.
As the children put the amulets on, the animals returned: Rattlesnake, Macaw, and Capybara. Together, the animals and children sang and danced, bringing the first episode of the Mythological Onça Pintada story to a close. The Elder suggested she keep the amulets together, as they would be needed for their next gathering when their journey would continue.
But what would happen in the next episode? Would they find the Onça Pintada and manage to talk to it? Help it? What would the Onça Pintada reveal about the waters beneath the Earth and life on the surface?
The following day, Macaw visited the children’s classroom and invited them to join her on their continued quest to find the Onça Pintada. They were headed to Praça Vival, a square located about two kilometers from the school, surrounded by trees. Equipped with water bottles to stay hydrated during the drought and wildfires in the Brazilian Cerrado, the children followed Macaw and their Homeschool Teacher to the bus waiting outside the school. At the bus door, the Elder handed each child their amulet. Onboard, Macaw, the Elder, the teacher, the audiovisual team, and the children set off for the park, singing and recording sounds, words, and movements that they had learned from the animals.
Image 10: Children and adults “flying” around the square with Macaw. Photo: Caduts.
At the square, Capybara and Rattlesnake were waiting. With the children gathered in a circle, Capybara and Rattlesnakeretold the story of the first episode and organised the children into groups.
Image 11: Children and adults investigating Onça pintada’s tracks. Photo: Caduts.
Each animal led their group of children in search of tracks from the Onça Pintada in the park. The children with Macaw flew around, chanting the word of power. Rattlesnake´s group found a stone, Macaw´s group found a feather, and Capybara´s group found seeds.
All the children, adults, and animals formed a circle and shared the clues they had discovered. The Elder invited them to place the objects in the middle of the circle and, with their eyes closed, say the word of power together.
Image 12: The encounter with the onça pintada. Photo: Caduts.
When they opened their eyes, the Onça Pintada was in the centre. It told the children that the wildfires, deforestation, and rising surface temperatures were heating the waters of the Guarani Aquifer.
Image 13 : Children meeting Onça Pintada. Photo: Caduts.
The Onça Pintada also explained that it had come to the surface to summon the guardians of nature to help it preserve the waters and all natural species. The children reassured Onça Pintada that they wanted to become guardians and do their part to preserve natural resources. Together, they performed a circular dance that transformed into a spiral, symbolising their commitment to this partnership.
Image 14: Children and adults dancing with the onça pintada. Photo: Caduts.
At the end of the dance, the Onça Pintada, Rattlesnake, Macaw, and Capybara bid farewell to the children, leaving them at the bus that would take them back to school. From the windows, with their amulets hanging around their necks, the new guardians of nature waved goodbye to the animals of the Cerrado, who remained in the park, where there was a portal that would lead the Mythological Onça Pintada back to the Guarani Aquifer.
The Real and Fictional Contexts in the Process Drama
The interconnection between the real context and fiction, as previously mentioned, was one of the central axes of investigation in this drama. The connection was established during the planning phase and deepened during its implementation. On arrival at schools in the interior of Mato Grosso do Sul to carry out the project’s activities, the team was met with an alarming environmental scenario: wildfires had swept through the region that same week. The smoke covered the sky and even caused respiratory illnesses among the children. According to a survey by the non-governmental organisation WWF[2], the fire outbreaks and extreme drought had a significantly greater impact on Brazilian biomes in 2024 compared to previous years.
The relationship, therefore, between the real-world context, understood here as the broader context of the climate crisis, and the fictional context became clear. The experience of the Mythological Onça Pintada process facilitated meaningful engagement with nature, imagination, and knowledge of traditional Brazilian cultures as a pathway to socio-environmental education.
Image 15: Children with their amulets. Photo: Caduts.
For this reason, we selected the teacher-in-role Elder as a guide for the entire process. She embodied the role of a guardian of humanity’s wisdom, who has knowledge of the past, the present, and the future. She is someone who brings important wisdom. She does not reveal all the answers but encourages the children to pose questions. She invites the children to unite ancestral wisdom with youthful vitality, the old with the new. The Elder opens up their imagination to a journey into the Earth’s depths, where the profound and crystalline waters (and memories) that sustain life on the planet reside.
The rivers, beings that have long inhabited the worlds in different forms, are the ones who suggest to me that if there is a future to be considered, it is one that is ancestral because it has always been here. I like to believe that all those we are capable of invoking in the process of becoming are our companions on the journey, even if unremembered, as the passage of time distorts our sensitive perception of the planet. But, we are in Pachamama, which has no borders, so it doesn’t matter if we are above or below the Rio Grande; we are everywhere as our ancestors are in everything. (Krenak 2022: 11-12).
To place the burden of saving a planet already damaged by previous generations on the shoulders of our children is, at the very least, an overwhelming and irresponsible act. We took care not to assign the future of humanity to the children alone. Guided by the wisdom of our ancestors and inspired by the Brazilian philosopher Krenak, we understand that the future is ancestral. We must return to our origins to move forward as a human race. This is the fictional invitation extended to the children through our process drama: to return and listen to the Elder, to journey back to the Earth’s deep waters, and to reconnect with the forces of nature.
Conversely, the project aimed to introduce a fictional context connected to the powers and presence of animals, in order to create a fictional context with ancestral mythological references, and to work within protected environmental areas in order to challenge the very concept of humanity.
In Ideas to Postpone the End of the World, Ailton Krenak questions this concept of ‘humanity’ as a homogeneous and universal construct, exposing how this notion has historically been used to exclude peoples, ways of life, and forms of knowledge that diverge from the Western civilisational project.
The idea of us, humans, detaching ourselves from the Earth and living within a civilisational abstraction is absurd. It suppresses diversity and denies the plurality of life, existence, and habit (Krenak 2020: 22).
His critique destabilises the modern imaginary that separates humans from nature, proposing instead a reconnection with the living world. In our process drama, Capybara, Rattlesnake, Macaw, and the Onça Pintada were part of an invitation to recognise other forms of existence as equally legitimate, sensitive, and essential to the continuity of life on Earth.
References
Cabral, B. (2006) Drama como método de ensino. São Paulo: Hucitec.
Cascudo, C. (2002) Geografia dos mitos brasileiros. São Paulo: Global.
Desgranges, F. (2006) Pedagogia do teatro: provocação e dialogismo. São Paulo: Hucitec.
Krenak, A. (2022) Futuro ancestral. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras.
Krenak, A. (2020) Ideais para adiar o fim do mundo. 2ª Ed. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras.
Janiaski, F., Perobelli, M., Menegaz, W. (2023) Drama através do espelho: processos artísticos e pedagógicos em ambiente digital. Jundiaí: Paco Editorial.
Menegaz, W. Perspectivas do Drama no Brasil. Ouvirouver. 16(2). 363-374. Available at: https://doi.org/10.14393/OUV-v16n2a2020-58040.
Teixeira, A. H. (2011) História de Goiás. Organização de Eleuzenira Maria de Menezes e Janete Romano Fontanezi. Goiânia: Instituto Histórico e Geográfico de Goiás; Editora Kelps.
[1] We will use the name Onça Pintada (Jaguar) in Portuguese, as it is a symbolic animal of Mato Grosso do Sul, which inspired this process drama and the article.
[2] Data available at https://www.wwf.org.br/?90521/Year-to-date-wildfires-break-record-in-Brazilian-biomes#>, accessed on April 14, 2025.
Notes on Authors
Dr. Renata Ferreira da Silva holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Education from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, with a postdoctoral fellowship at the Federal University of Uberlândia. She is a professor, actress, storyteller, and researcher at the Federal University of Tocantins, where she leads the Gesto research group.
Dr. Flávia Janiaski is a Professor at the Federal University of Grande Dourados (UFGD), Brazil. She holds an M.A. in Drama and a Ph.D. in Performing Arts, with a doctoral internship at the University of Massachusetts Boston in Early Childhood Education.
Email: flaviajaniaski@ufgd.edu.br
Dr. Heitor Martins Oliveira is an Assistant Professor at the Federal University of Tocantins, Palmas campus. His research focuses on sound and scenic creation, artistic research, musical composition, and collaborative creative processes.
Email: heitor_oliveira@uft.edu.br
Dr. Mariene Perobelli is a Brazilian actress, professor, and researcher. She taught for 15 years at the Federal University of Uberlândia and now heads the Institute of Healing Education. She holds a Ph.D. in Performing Arts (UNIRIO) and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Theatre (UDESC).
Email: marie.belli@gmail.com
Dr. Wellington Menegaz is a Professor at the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU), working in undergraduate and graduate programs. He holds a postdoctoral degree, Ph.D., and M.A. in Theater from UDESC, and leads the Drama Research Group (GruD).
Email: wellmenegaz@ufu.br
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