During the dictatorship, cultural production at home and abroad became a crucial means of dissent that could bypass censors.

The Living Theatre

The Living Theater wrote Seven Meditations on Political Sado-Masochism in response to their arrest in Brazil and testimonies of dissidents they met in prison and performed the play on campuses and other venues around the country. Read about Judith Malina and Julian Beck.

Program for Arena Conta Zumbi

In 1969 Augusto Boal, noted Brazilian playwright and director, was invited to New York to stage his production of Arena Conta Zumbi by Joanne Pottlitzer, director of the Theater of Latin America (TOLA). The play tells the story of a Brazilian slave, Zumbi, and acted as a thinly veiled metaphor for the experience under military rule. Boal’s creative activities in the United States were on the military government’s watch. After the production ended, Boal was arrested and tortured in February 1971 in São Paulo. His arrest further motivated growing opposition to the regime by American intellectuals and artists.

• Read the program from the Latin American Fair of Opinion in 1971, where Arena Conta Zumbi was performed.
• Read a NY to Brasília telegram “Seminário Político en Nova York: “Latin American Fair of Opinion.”
• Read “Acting into Action: Teatro Arena’s Zumbi“ by Margo Milleret.
• Read “Boal and the Shifting Sands: the Un-Political Master Swimmer” by David Davis and Carmel O’Sullivan.
• Read about the OBIES, an award the Arena Conta Zumbi won in the United States.
• View the cast list for the performance of Arena Conta Zumbi in New York.
• Read “Miller and Freed Brazilian Discuss New Satire Genre,” a New York Times article about Arthur Miller and Augusto Boal.
• Read “Brazilian Boal Tells of Playwriting in Prison,” a Christian Science Monitor article.
• Read State Department telegrams about Boal’s release and arrest.
• Read a letter to the editor from Robert Anderson, Joseph Papp, Arthur Miller, Harold Prince, and Richard Schechner to the New York Times about Boal’s arrest.
• Read a letter from Senator Frank Church to the State Department regarding Augusto Boal.
• View a flyer for a US Committee for Justice for Latin American Prisoners (USLA) reception honoring Boal and USLA’s statement of aims.
• Read Itamaraty telegrams about the play.
• Read the program notes from Arena Conta Zumbi.