Africa-Press – Angola. Theater companies Pitabel and Kalunga will represent Angola at the 19th edition of the International Winter Theater Festival in Mozambique (FITI), taking place from the 27th of this month to the 4th of June, with the participation of South Africa, Portugal, Cape Verde and Brazil.
At the event, the Pitabel group will perform the play “A Fronteira do Asfalto” in an adaptation of one of the short stories from the book “A Cidade e a Infância”, by Luandino Vieira, while Kalunga Teatro will exhibit “Vida, Incômodo ou Lixo”.
The first play tells the story of a black boy and a white girl forbidden to meet by her family, as well as by the “asphalt border” that divides the city. meet due to social and racial prejudices.
The importance of deepening and exchanging experiences more regularly between Angolans and Mozambicans, in the field of arts, in general, and theater, in particular, was one of the proposals to be presented by Angolan groups during the festival, said the head of the Pitabel group, Adérito Rodrigues..
Speaking to Jornal de Angola, the director said that the invitation to the group represents recognition for the work that Angolan theater groups are currently doing, in international performing arts festivals held in Portuguese-speaking countries.
For you, at a festival where several countries from Africa, Europe and America are participating, it is also important to take advantage of the moment to create new partnerships and increase exchanges with other guest groups.
It is also, he added, a way to dignifiedly explore the dialogue between the participants and to invest more in the internationalization of national groups in the international sphere. “Participation in FITI is still an asset because it allows showing the world more about the Angolan social reality, as well as learning about other cultures”.
Founded on August 4, 2001, the Pitabel Arts collective won, in 2006, the Cidade de Luanda Theater Prize and won the trophy for best theater text at the Cidade de Luanda Prize three times in a row, in 2006, 2008 and 2009. The group won the DSTV-BWE award in the 2006 edition and presented in 2009 the best show in Luanda at the Cazenga International Theater Festival.
In its long career, the Pitabel theater company has received several distinctions, most notably the National Prize for Culture and Arts in 2010. Composed of 15 actors, the company has staged, among others, the plays “De Quem é a Culpa” and “Missosso”, adapted from the homonymous book by Óscar Ribas.
“Life, Annoyance or Trash”
Kalunga Teatro, with the play “Vida, Incômodo ou Lixo”, proposes a reflection on various problems that have afflicted Angolan society and beyond.
According to director Victor Suama, the play portrays the story of “life” which, ironically, was treated as “annoyance”, and consequently reduced to “garbage”.
Immersed in a very intriguing situation, she embarks on a tough mission of world scope to contradict the selfish desires that supposedly assume to control the continuity of the human species on earth.
Kalunga Teatro, founded on September 20, 1999, in the city of Luanda, with the objective of studying the cultural formation of the country and socio-cultural repercussions, with a repertoire and techniques typical of an anthropological conception, as well as making available to the public the results of their research for educational, training, and informative purposes (in conventional and/or community shows).
Kalunga Teatro has already exhibited more than 20 plays, among them “Paixão Maluca”, “Universo Perturbado”, “Quem makes you happy”, “Às Caladas são Daigosas”, “I am born or not?”.
He participated in several festivals, namely, Amostra de Teatro da CPLP, Prêmio Cidade de Luanda, FESTECA, Festival de Teatro do Rocha Pinto and is now on the International Theater Circuit for the first time. The group is directed by stage director Victor Suama.
The annual and international theater festival in Maputo has been organized since 2004 by Associação Cultural Girassol, with the participation of national and international groups .
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