black orpheus - American Conservatory Theater

BLACK ORPHEUS
una historia de amor
AN EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY GUIDE
A.C.T. STAGE COACH and
A.C.T. MASTER OF FINE ARTS
PROGRAM COMMUNITY TOUR
AMERICAN CONSERVATORY THEATER
Black Orpheus
Una Historia de Amor based on the play
orfeu da conceição,
by vinicius de moraes
directed by stephen buescher
presents
an educational community guide to
Black Orpheus
Una Historia de Amor
Based on the play Orfeu da Conceição by Vinicius de Moraes
Adapted by Thom.Green, Adrianna K. Mitchell, and
Akilah A. Walker, with additional text by the ensemble
Translated by Beatriz Miranda-Torres and Diana Gonzalez-Morett
Directed by Stephen Buescher
A.C.T. Stage Coach and A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program
Community Tour
May 8–14, 2016
Stage Coach is made possible by a generous grant from
The James Irvine Foundation
Lead education support provided by
The Bernard Osher Foundation, Jewels of Charity, Bank of the West,
Kimball Family Foundation, PG&E, and Wells Fargo
Additional support provided by
Deloitte, The Stanley S. Langendorf Foundation, The Sato Foundation,
Theatre Forward, Union Bank Foundation, and U.S. Bank
© 2016 American Conservatory Theater, a nonprofit organization. All rights reserved.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Cast and Characters
4
The Setting 4
A Brief Synopsis 5
Orpheus and Eurydice: The Greek Myth
7
Inspiration for Black Orpheus
8
Themes, Motifs & Archetypes 9
Colonization, Culture, and Carnival 11
A Cultural Collage:
An Interview with Director Stephen Buescher
15
Glossary of Spanish Words and Phrases
18
The Musical World of the Play
19
More Art Inspired by Orpheus and Eurydice
20
Talk to a Friend: Questions to Consider
21
For More Information . . .
21
Beyond the Performance23
Join the Black Orpheus Party Online!
Back Cover
ON THE COVER Carnival, by Carybé (Hector Julio Paride Bernabó, 1986).
© Instituto Carybé. Reprinted with permission.
The Cast and Characters
Thom.Green
Orpheus
(A poet)
Akilah A.
Walker
Eurydice
Adrianna K.
Mitchell
Cleo
(Orpheus’s love)
(Orpheus’s mother)
Beatriz
MirandaTorres
Mira
Diana
GonzalezMorett
Sarafina
(A woman of
the barrio)
(Eurydice’s
cousin)
Christina
Liang
Teresita/
2nd Woman
Leonard A.
Thomas
Black Lady
Justin Genna
Pluto
(King of Hades)
Arthur Wise
Death
(Mira’s friend)
The Setting
A mythical barrio during Carnival. Present day.

Albert Rubio
Apollo
(Orpheus’s
father)
Rosa Palmeri
Karalina/
Proserpina
(Mira’s friend/
Queen of Hades)
Justin
Edward
Keim
Guitar
A Brief Synopsis
Act 1
It is nighttime during Carnival.
In the middle of the festivities,
the beautiful Eurydice sees
Death appear before her. Her
cousin, Sarafina, comforts her
when Eurydice insists that a
man who has been chasing her
wants to kill her. Sarafina tells
her that everything will be
all right, and the two women
return to the celebration.
Later that night, Orpheus’s
parents, Cleo and Apollo,
comment on the sound of his
music and poetry. Cleo tells
Orpheus that he is being too
absentminded and melancholy,
and that his behavior pains
her. Orpheus reveals that he
is in love with Eurydice. His
mother cautions him not to get
married, but Orpheus refuses
to listen. Eurydice meets with Maracatu Batuques de Pernambuco,
Brazilian percussion group, during
Orpheus and they talk of their Carnaval
love and longing to be together. Photo by Passarinho/Prefeitura de Olinda, www.
Just before they part, Orpheus olinda.pe.gov.br (2006). CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45305208
has a vision of Eurydice dying,
but she convinces him that
there is nothing to worry about.
Some young women hear Orpheus reciting a love poem and taunt him.
Mira accuses him of having loved her the year before and moved on too
quickly. Orpheus tells them he has forgotten Mira, who, in her jealousy,
continues to provoke Orpheus. She tries to attack him, but Cleo’s voice
calling to Orpheus ends their fight.
Orpheus stays with Mira trying to convince her that he no longer loves
her and speaks of his love for Eurydice. At the same time, Eurydice discusses her upcoming wedding and love for Orpheus with Sarafina. Mira
wishes that someday Orpheus might feel the same pain she does, and,

suddenly, the Black Lady arrives. She comes to warn Orpheus of impending death and is surrounded by a nightmare. Eurydice appears and comforts Orpheus. Eager to be alone together, Orpheus and Eurydice begin
to dance. As they dance, Death enters and laments that Eurydice loves
Orpheus instead of him. When she leaves Orpheus after making love,
Death takes his turn to dance with Eurydice. Meanwhile, the distraught
Sarafina finds Orpheus and tells him that a strange man was looking for
Eurydice and she fears for her life. When Eurydice finishes her dance
with Death, she collapses to the ground, dead. Orpheus then approaches
the Black Lady and they descend into hell.
Act 2
In a club called The Managers of Hell, the chorus celebrates the last day
of Carnival, Fat Tuesday, led by the king and queen of the underworld,
Pluto and Proserpina. Suddenly, the voice of Orpheus calling for Eurydice
breaks through the noise. Pluto demands to know why Orpheus is there.
Orpheus announces that he has come to the underworld to bring his love
back from the dead. Finally, he hears Eurydice’s voice. She says she is near,
but if Orpheus turns around to see her she will be gone forever. Orpheus
begins to walk out of hell with Eurydice behind him, but when she falls
silent he turns to look for her and she disappears. Orpheus calls to Death,
begging him to come to him.
Act 3
The same night, Cleo is devastated, fearing that she has lost her son.
She vows revenge on Eurydice, as Apollo tries to comfort her. A woman
reports that Orpheus has been wandering the barrio in a haze of grief and
that Mira is causing trouble, telling everyone that Orpheus has gone crazy
with love for her and that she caused Death to come to Eurydice. Cleo
collapses in her grief and the chorus prays for her.
Mira is very drunk and some men try to prevent her from confronting Orpheus. She ignores them and walks up to him, first slapping and
then kissing him. Orpheus tries to push her away but is paralyzed by his
longing for Eurydice. Suddenly, the other women in the bar, possessed
and provoked by Mira’s anger, attack him. He escapes but sees the Black
Lady appear again, whom he welcomes. The women catch up to Orpheus
and continue to attack him, but even after his death, the sounds of his
music linger. In the wake of the tragedy, the Guitar affirms the legacy of
Orpheus’s voice: though Death comes to all, his voice will never die.

Orpheus and Eurydice
The Greek Myth
Orpheus, son of the god Apollo and
muse Calliope, was a beautiful and
captivating musician, taught by his
father at a young age to play the
lyre, a small harplike instrument.
His music was said to have nearmagical powers, and he used his
songs to woo the beautiful Eurydice.
Unfortunately, their passionate marriage was cut short when, as she ran
from another suitor, Eurydice was Orpheus’s Death, Attic red-figure
bitten by a snake and died.
stamnos (c. 470 BCE)
Overcome with grief, Orpheus Photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2006). Musée
Louvre. https://commons.wikimedia.org/
played songs of love to Eurydice, du
w/index.php?curid=497415.
and through his music he gained
entry to the underworld to ask the
gods Hades and Persephone (known to the ancient Romans as Pluto and
Proserpina) to return Eurydice to him. They agreed but warned Orpheus
that he must not look back to see if Eurydice was following him until
they were safely out of the underworld. At the end of the long journey,
Orpheus was anxious to see his love again, and, forgetting the warning of
Hades, turned back to embrace her. Eurydice disappeared, forced to return
to the underworld, and Orpheus was unable to gain entry to follow her.
A group of maidens saw him mourning, and he rejected their attempts to
comfort him. Later, during a religious ritual, they began to throw stones at
him, and in their wild frenzy they tore his body apart. Despite his violent
end, Orpheus was released from his misery. He was reunited with his love,
Eurydice, and the legacy of his music lived on.
Orpheus appears many times throughout ancient Greek and Roman
mythology and many great writers and artists have recounted his story. In
particular, the love between Orpheus and Eurydice is preserved through
the writings of Apollodorus, Virgil, and Ovid.
SOURCES “Orpheus and Eurydice: Summary,” Critical Survey of Literature for Students, edited
by Laurence W. Mazzeno, eNotes.com, Inc. (2010), accessed April 23, 2016, http://www.enotes.
com/topics/orpheus-eurydice#summary-the-story; Tom Sienkewicz, Orpheus PowerPoint, for
his students at Monmouth College, accessed April 23, 2016, https://www.google.com/search?q=
monmouth+orpheus+powerpoint&oq=monmouth+orpheus+powerpoint&aqs=chrome..69i57.44
71j1j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8; http://department.monm.edu/classics/

Inspiration for Black Orpheus
Vinicius de Moraes (1913–80), the playwright who conceived Orfeu da Conceição
(1956), was a beloved figure in Brazil, a poet,
and a diplomat. He recalled:
Playwright Vinicius de
Moraes
Photo by Ricardo Alfieri/Revista
Gente y la actualidad, May 3, 1970,
Buenos Aires, Argentina. https://
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Vinicius.jpg.
One morning, when I was reading the
Orpheus myth in a French book of
mythology, a story I always loved for
its linking of the poet and the musician,
I heard a batucada (percussion), coming from the neighboring favela. The
two ideas fused in my mind. I had the
impression of a strong relation between
the two. I began to reflect on the life
of Blacks in Rio and to Hellenize their
experience. Suddenly I had the idea of
making Orpheus a sambista, characterized by great interior beauty.
In his play, Moraes not only situates Blackness at the center of the narrative, he also acknowledges the influence of African culture and religion on
the culture and history of Brazil.
The director of the film Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus, 1959), Marcel
Camus (1912–82), was the first non-Brazilian to make a movie in Brazil.
Extremely popular across the world, the film’s soundtrack and imagery
created a global conceptualization of Brazil that had not existed before.
Where Moraes’s play uses poetic language, Camus’ film employs colloquial
speech and focuses on the sights and sounds of the Carnaval celebration.
When it was first released, Moraes was not pleased with the film, and
Brazilian filmmakers have critiqued it for offering an oversimplified, idealized, romanticized, view of favela life. Others praise the film for sharing
a beautiful love story through the lens of Brazilian cultural expression.
SOURCES Marcel Camus, Interview with François Chalais, Reflet de Cannes (May 10, 1959);
René Letzgus and Bernard Tournois, dirs., Looking for “Black Orpheus” (2005); and Robert
Stam, “Revisiting Black Orpheus”—all extras on Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro), DVD, directed
by Marcel Camus, The Criteron Collection (2010)

Themes, Motifs & Archetypes
Love(rs) Lost
The story of Orpheus revolves around the loss of his love, Eurydice, and
his attempt to retrieve her from the underworld. In another sense, the
character Mira lost her love when Orpheus forgot her, and Cleo loses
her son’s love when he is distracted and later consumed by his love for
Eurydice.
The Underworld
The story of Orpheus and Eurydice
gives audiences a glimpse of life
after death. There is an overtly
sexual quality to the world of Pluto
(the Roman god of the underworld) and Proserpina (his wife)
in Black Orpheus: Una Historia de
Amor. In contrast, Eurydice is portrayed as virginal, only agreeing to
have sex with Orpheus after their
wedding and commitment to one
another is certain.
Orpheus’s trip to the underworld also parallels stories in
Greek mythology of life after
death: Persephone was abducted by
Hades and taken into the under- Black Orpheus film poster (1959)
Courtesy Wikipedia Commons user
world; her son, Dionysus, visits the Andrzejbanas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
underworld to bring his mother File:BlackOrpheusposter.jpg.
back to the living. Orpheus has
also been linked to representations of Christ, who travels to the underworld between the time of his death and resurrection.
Death and Immortality
The mythical nature of this story makes it possible for the characters to
confront and almost overcome their own mortality. At first, the plot suggests that Orpheus can overcome death and save Eurydice through his
music; he is ultimately unable to save her or himself, but his voice lives on
after his violent death. This interpretation of the Orpheus myth suggests
that he is able to achieve immortality through his music. Additionally,

the character of Death in the A.C.T. production symbolizes mortality,
reminding the characters that death is an inevitable part of life.
Finally, death returns to Orpheus in the form of the women’s attack.
In ancient Greece, this was referred to as sparagmos, the ritual tearing apart
of a sacrificial victim in the worship of Dionysus (Sienkewicz).
Carnival
The setting of Carnival parallels the festivities of the ancient Greek celebrations of the god Dionysus (Bacchus in Rome), and in some respects
the Brazilian Carnaval can trace its roots to ancient European festivals.
Carnival is known for its bright colors, lively music, community participation, and embrace of pleasure. Characteristics of the Dionysian festivals
also associated with Carnival are “irrationality, public inebriation and
revelry, suspension of class distinctions, spirits roaming the streets, and
eroticism” (Fredricksmeyer).
The Musician
The mythical figure of Orpheus is thought to be one of the first famous
musicians. In ancient Greece and in cultures that practice traditions of
oral (as opposed to written) history, music and poetry serve the crucial
cultural function of helping communities to remember and preserve
important information and stories.
Orpheus’s music also has magical qualities. It is interesting to note
that in both the myth and the play, Orpheus’s father, Apollo, the god of
music, is responsible for teaching him to play, and that the Greek muse
Calliope (like Cleo) is portrayed as a singer. In Black Orpheus: Una Historia
de Amor, Orpheus uses the power of his music to communicate, to seduce,
to repel, to convince, and ultimately to cheat death, if only temporarily.
In the original Greek myth, Orpheus plays the lyre, a stringed harplike
instrument, which parallels Orpheus’s guitar in this modern adaptation.
SOURCES Hardy Fredricksmeyer, “Black Orpheus, Myth and Ritual: A Morphological Reading,”
International Journal of the Classical Tradition 14 (Summer 2007): 148; Tanya Gulevich,
Encylopedia of Easter, Carnival, and Lent (Detroit: Omnigraphics, 2002); “Orpheus and
Eurydice: Critical Evaluation,” Critical Survey of Literature for Students, edited by Laurence
W. Mazzeno, eNotes.com, Inc. (2010), accessed April 26, 2016, http://www.enotes.com/topics/orpheus-eurydice/critical-essays#critical-essays-critical-evaluation; Maríla Scaff Rocha
Ribeiro, “Variations on the Brazilian Orpheus Theme,” CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and
Culture 11.3 (2009), accessed April 26, 2016, http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol11/iss3/7;
Tom Sienkewicz, Orpheus PowerPoint, for his students at Monmouth College, accessed April
23, 2016, https://www.google.com/search?q=monmouth+orpheus+powerpoint&oq=monmout
h+orpheus+powerpoint&aqs=chrome..69i57.4471j1j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Colonization, Culture, and Carnival
Carnival
Carnival is a celebration that takes place before the Catholic period of
Lent, a six-week period of solemn religious observance marked by prayer,
penance, repentance of sins, atonement, and self-denial that precedes
Easter Sunday. The Carnival holiday likely originated in Europe during the Middle Ages as a way to blow off steam before the fasting and
religious restrictions of Lent. Today, Carnival is still celebrated around
the world in both religious and secular contexts, particularly in Europe
and Latin America. In many rural and urban communities, the traditions
of this period have evolved to reflect the specific beliefs and cultures of
that region. The celebration is referred to as Mardi Gras (French Creole),
Carnival (Spanish), Carnaval (Portuguese), Carnevale (Italian), and
Fasnact (Swiss-German).
Afro-Brazilian traditions were not always welcome in Brazilian
Carnival celebrations, which emerged out of the Portuguese pre-Lenten
holiday, Entrudo. Expressions of African culture, including religion, music,
and dance, were criminalized in the early twentieth century. The formation of samba schools in Black neighborhoods, as well as the government’s
Viva Carnevale (Roma 1841)
Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. New York Public Library
Digital Collections. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e4-1095-a3d9-e040e00a18064a99.

commitment to creating a unified national culture in Brazil, led to the
inclusion of Black Brazilians in Carnival festivities. In Brazil, the government began to regulate participation in these celebrations in the 1930s,
and in the mid-twentieth century, the
event began to attract international
tourists.
Samba
Samba is the best-known style of
Brazilian music and dance. It originated in the slave quarters of Brazil’s
northeastern Bahia region and spread
to Rio de Janeiro in the early twentieth
century. Originally played on homemade instruments, samba incorporates
a variety of percussion beats led by the
drum (batucada) with many variations.
A fusion of African rhythms, religious
Samba Dancer in Carnaval
practices, and colonial influences, the Parade
style was popularized in Brazil’s poor- Photo by Carnaval.com Studios from
est neighborhoods and bars, but the The Inner Mission San Francisco, Earth,
Grand-Rio-18.JPG. CC BY 2.0, https://
teaching and performance of samba commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.
was formalized through the creation php?curid=45288365Commons.
of organizations called “samba schools.”
These schools grew out of informal
groups of parading Carnaval partyers
called blocos de sujo.
Colonization
European colonists arrived on the
South American continent in the fifteenth century. In 1494, Portugal made
a deal with Spain through the Treaty
of Tordesillas to lay claim to a small
stretch of Brazilian coastline. The
best-known indigenous tribes living
in this territory were the Mundurucú,
the Tupinambá, and the Yanomami. Languages of South America
Eddo. Languages of South
Portuguese colonists and missionaries By
America.svg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://
were subsequently able to expand the commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.
php?curid=25556417.

borders of their territory with little resistance from other European forces
and only sporadic resistance from indigenous tribes.
Slavery
Portugal expanded the slave trade between Europe, Africa, and the
Atlantic Islands to include Brazil during the sixteenth century in response
to increasing demand for free labor. The Africans who were forced to
endure the violent and inhumane passage across the Atlantic were primarily from the mouth of the Congo River, regions that would become
the nations of Ghana, Angola, and Nigeria, and the Portuguese colony of
Mozambique. Slaves were required to support the economy by doing work
on plantations, in mines, and in homes.
Abolitionist writings and political discussion came later to Brazil than
to the North American continent. Slavery was finally abolished by the
Brazilian Assembly in 1888 through legislation called the Golden Law.
Race Relations
Brazil does not have the same history of legalized racial segregation and
racialized violence as the United States. When slavery was abolished, there
were already many free Afro-Brazilians living throughout the country. In
Brazil, race is considered a continuum based on skin color, class, level of
education, and position in society. Lighter skin and European features are
traditionally considered more beautiful, and in past centuries were markers of status and civilization. Racial hierarchy is an underlying reality in
Brazil, but many suggest that inequality stems from poverty, not race.
Religion
When African slaves were
brought to Brazil, the
Catholic Church practiced
forced baptism. Despite
having to present a façade
of Catholicism, many slaves
maintained their native
culture, which included
African religious practices.
Umbanda Ritual on Rio Vermelho Beach,
Passed down over genera- Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
tions, an Afro-Brazilian Photo by Fabio Rodrigues Pozzebom/Agência Brasil.
BY 3.0 br, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.
religious culture emerged, CC
php?curid=3815426.
influenced heavily by tra-

Barrio Santo Domingo, Colombia
Photo by Albeiror24 (2008). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Barrio_Santo_Domingo02.JPG.
ditions of the Yoruban people of southwestern Nigeria, Benin, and Togo.
The Yoruban religion, Candomblé, bears some structural similarities to
Catholicism but is led by female priestesses. Candomblé rests on a belief
in axé, a spiritual force that aids in communication with the orixás, who in
turn communicate with the supreme being, Olorun or Olodumaré. Some
of the most common rituals involve rhythmic dancing, smoking cigars,
storytelling, and entering a trancelike state.
A Note on the Setting: The Favela and El Barrio
In Brazil, during early-twentieth century efforts for urban renewal, the
poorest residents living in the city center of Rio de Janeiro, were forced to
move to the outskirts of town. These neighborhoods began to evolve into
shantytowns, or favelas. The favela signifies a neighborhood beyond the
reaches of typical governmental services and systems, such as trash collection, official policing, postal service, and public transportation. The term
barrio may also refer to a Latin American neighborhood of this classification. Industrialization and globalization have made it difficult for previously rural communities to compete in agricultural markets, fueling the
rapid growth of these areas. Black Orpheus highlights the love, beauty, and
community in the barrio, but historically favelas have also faced significant
challenges as a result of discriminatory and exclusionary social politics.
SOURCE Mike Davis, Planet of Slums (London: Verso, 2006); Tanya Gulevich, Encyclopedia
of Easter, Carnival, and Lent (Detroit: Omnigraphics, 2002); Barbara Mauldin, Carnaval!
(Seattle: University of Washington, Press, 2004); Teresa Meade, A Brief History of Brazil (New
York: Checkmark, 2010)

A Cultural Collage
An Interview with Director Stephen Buescher
By A.C.T. Stage Coach Fellow Ariella Wolfe
Stephen Buescher, head of movement and physical
theater for the A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)
Program, has been waiting for the opportunity to create
a theatrical adaptation of Black Orpheus. Since seeing
Marcel Camus’s 1959 film, Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus),
and experiencing Carnaval while studying theater in
Brazil, Buescher has felt a connection to the rhythms
and energy of the celebration as well as the cultural and
Director
romantic themes of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus
Stephen
and Eurydice. Black Orpheus: Una Historia de Amor
Buescher
marks the first time that A.C.T. Stage Coach and the
M.F.A. Program have collaborated on a production created specifically for a community tour. The relationships
fostered between A.C.T. and the larger Bay Area community through the
Stage Coach initiative have allowed for new partnerships and opportunities, bringing audiences and artists together to share in new theatrical
experiences. In March, just before casting Black Orpheus, Buescher shared
some thoughts on the play and his own artistic process and perspective.
What was your inspiration for this production?
I fell in love with the movie Orfeu Negro a while back. I’ve been to Brazil,
and I’ve been to Carnaval, and it was an amazing time. I was warned by a
lot of people—“Be careful, it’s dangerous there”—but when I was there it
was a huge love fest: strangers helping you, giving you things, pulling you
onto the trolley for free, grabbing you to get swept into this big samba line.
Later I found out that the movie was based on a Brazilian play, so
then I read the play—we were able to find a published Spanish translation,
which two of our M.F.A. students translated into English. I read that the
playwright, Vinicius de Moraes, saw the movie and didn’t like it, and now
I see one reason why. His language in the play is so poetic, so specific, and
in the movie it’s really colloquial. I’m drawn to the linguistics of the play,
but the rhythms of the movie.
The musical core of the A.C.T. production is artists of African
heritage and Afro-Latina women: Cesária Évora, Virginia Rodrigues, and
Iyeoka Okoawo. I want to follow the pulse of the source material and
where that comes from.

A float during Carnaval celebrations in Rio de Janeiro (2011)
Photo by Ian Gampon. 6th Float: Grandious Masked Balls, a Pagan Legacy, CC BY 2.0, https://
commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45322568.
Can you describe the creative process of developing your own
script based on these various influences?
The process involves splicing from several sources and trying to figure out
the characters and the story lines that are going to intersect. Developing
the script is a process of collaging different elements together. Then half
of the piece is going to be improvised in the studio with the actors, and
some of them are going to write poetry for the play.
How would you describe the setting of Black Orpheus: Una
Historia de Amor?
Carnaval will be a big part of the setting, and the symbolism of the moon
and the night are also main aspects. It’s not important to me to say, specifically, “This is Campinas, Brazil, 1964.” I’m trying to capture the spirit of
what it means that the moon is eclipsing and the waves are rising, and how
to stage that. I’m focusing more on a connection to nature than calendars.
I think part of it is the mythic nature of the production, and how the set
will be painted moons and things like that.
Are there specific cultural influences you hope to include in this
production?
There will be a Brazilian cultural aspect. Some of the songs will be sung
in Portuguese, and some will be in Spanish. Partially because we riffed off

of a Spanish translation, there’s going to be more Spanish in the text than
Portuguese. There will also be the Greek cultural influence from the original Orpheus and Eurydice myth, and African culture will inspire some of
the movement and songs.
Why is multicultural theater particularly important?
For me it’s a necessary expression. In my household, Swedish and English
are the main working languages, so I’m lost half the time. There’s something about being in a place of a different culture, a different language that
I have always loved. I love getting immersed in that.
You have mentioned that the love story between Orpheus and
Eurydice is the central relationship in the production. Why is
this love story particularly important?
With all the killings of Black folks, and everything else that’s happening in the world now, I just feel that we need a love story. We need to
see people falling in love, poetry, hope, and getting together. I’ve just
seen so many of the other images—and not to try to cover those other
images—that I want to pose the question, “What role does love still play
here?” and suggest to our audiences, “Let’s go there for a bit.” Hopefully
people will take away from this experience the power of love—when you
find someone who can meet you there—and what you’re willing to do to
not just give up on that.
What is it about Black Orpheus that makes it a good fit for a
community tour?
I love that there are different cultural themes in the piece. I’m also glad
there are students from Downtown High School who will be assisting me
in rehearsals and that we can reach out to the community to invite them
to create the scenery. We are also able to work with the [Brazilian dance]
group Sambaxé to get the dance and song and rhythms going. The other
thing is that I like street theater; this play is like street theater. Even if
we’re indoors, hopefully it will feel like you can shout back and you don’t
have to behave a certain way.
Is there anything else you’d like our audiences to know?
Improvisation will be a big aspect of the final performance. It’s going to
be really alive, and for some parts we won’t know what will happen. That’s
exciting!

Glossary of Spanish Words and Phrases
Portuguese translation by Marina Magalhães
Spanish
Portuguese
el barrio
neighborhood
o bairro
viejitos mios
my parents
meus pais
hijito
chiquito
¡por dios!
¡que dolor!
negrito
mi amor
la guitarra
querida mia
hasta lueguito
el juju
el cabrón
el corazón
pobre
mi adorada
sonso
mi hombre
gentuza
cielo mio
¡sufro y grito!
virgen santa

English
little son
little one
by god!
how painful!
diminutive of black,
a person of African descent
filhinho
baixinho
meu deus!
que dor!
neginho
my love
meu amor
my lover
minha amante
guitar
until a little later
supernatural power,
witchcraft
a guitarra
até daqui a pouquinho
a macumba
bastard (insult)
o canalha
poor
pobre
heart
my beloved
silly
my man
riffraff
my heaven
I suffer and shout
virgin saint
o coração
meu adorada
besta
meu homem
gentalha
meu céu
sofro e grito!
santa virgem
bendito
blessed
bendito
vete al diablo
go to hell (curse/command) vai pro inferno!
The Musical World
of the Play
Musicians That Inspired
Black Orpheus: Una
Historia de Amor
Virginia Rodrigues, “Deus do
fogo e da justiça,” Nos (2001)
http://tinyurl.com/j73tfb9
Cesária Évora, “Historia de un
amor,” Cesária & (2010)
Cesária Évora
Photo by Silvio Tanaka, As fotos da Virada! CC
http://tinyurl.com/jo4mzy5
BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/
index.php?curid=25730952.
Iyeoka Okoawo, “I Am
Descending,” Say Yes Evolved
(2015)
http://tinyurl.com/j5dlx3w
Iyeoka Okoawo, “Baba,” Say
Yes Evolved (2015)
http://tinyurl.com/jzdux76
Lenine, “O silêncio das estrelas,” Falange canibal (2002)
http://tinyurl.com/hk95f6l
Dorival Caymmi, Caymmi LP
(1972)
http://tinyurl.com/jsbv3je
Pitbull featuring Sensato
and Osmani Garcia, “El taxi,” Iyeoka Okoawo Performing in
Demasiado fuerte (2014)
Europe (2013)
http://tinyurl.com/js7jvf6
Photo by Tsungam. https://commons.wikimedia.
org/wiki/File:Iyeoka_Okoawo_(32).jpg.

Landscape with Orpheus and Eurydice (c. 1650)
By Nicolas Poussin. Musée du Louvre. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
File:Landscape_with_orpheus_and_eurydice_1650-51.jpg.
More Art Inspired by Orpheus and Eurydice
Orfeo (1480), Italian opera by Angelo Ambrogini (Poliziano)
L’Orfeo (1607), late Renaissance/early Baroque Italian opera by Claudio
Monteverdi
Orfeo ed Euridice/Orphée et Eurydice (1762), Italian/French opera by
Christoph Willibald Gluck
L’anima del f ilosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice (The Soul of the Philosopher, or
Orpheus and Euridice (1791), Joseph Haydn’s last opera
Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld, 1858), French operetta by
Jacques Offenbach
Orpheus and Eurydice (c. 1880–90), marble sculpture by French artist
Auguste Rodin
Die Sonette an Orpheus (Sonnets to Orpheus, 1922), 55 sonnets by
Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke
Eurydice (1941), play by French author Jean Anouilh
Orpheus (1948), ballet by American choreographer George Balanchine
with music by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky

The Orphic Trilogy, French films directed by Jean Cocteau: Le sang
d’un poète (The Blood of a Poet, 1930), Orphée (1950), and Le testament
d’Orphée (Testament of Orpheus, 1960)
Orpheus Descending (1958), play by American author Tennessee Williams
Orpheus and Eurydice Cycle (1976–86), three poems by Canadian author
Margaret Atwood
Orphée (1991), opera by American composer Philip Glass
Polaroid Stories (1999), play by American author Naomi Iizuka
Orfeu (2000), Brazilian film directed by Carlos Diegues
Eurydice (2003), play by American author Sarah Ruhl
Reflektor (2013), album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire that
includes the songs “Awful Sound (Oh Eurydice)” and “It’s Never Over
(Hey Orpheus)”
Talk to a Friend
Questions to Consider . . .
1. What is your favorite part of the production? Why?
2. What do you think is the importance of the production’s use of different
languages and cultural elements?
3. What is a moment in your life when you felt the power of music?
4. What in the production is familiar to you? What is something new that
you learned?
5. Why do you think Orpheus chooses to look back at Eurydice?
6. Were you familiar with the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice before
seeing this production? If so, how is the portrayal of the myth in Black
Orpheus: Una Historia de Amor different from what you know? What is
different about this play compared to other love stories you know?
7. Why do you think adaptations of the Orpheus myth are still popular?
For More Information . . .
Camus, Marcel, dir. Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus). DVD. Criterion
Collection, 1959, 2010.
Jobim, Antônio Carlos, and Luiz Bonfa. Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro): The
Original Soundtrack from the Film. Verve, 1990. http://www.amazon.com/
Black-Orpheus-Orfeu-Negro-Original/dp/B000004726.
Moraes, Vinicius de. Orfeu da Conceição. 1956. http://www.viniciusde
moraes.com.br/en/teatro/pecas/orfeu-da-conceicao.

———, Antônio Carlos Jobim, and Luiz Bonfá. Musicas de Orfeu da
Conceição. CD. EMI Music Brasil Ltda, 2006. https://www.amazon.com/
gp/product/B004IYREBM?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0.
Oliver, María Rosa, and Horacio Ferrer, trans. Orfeo de la Concepcion.
Spanish translation of Vinicius de Moraes’s 1956 play. Buenos Aires:
Libro Castellano, 1973.
Greek Mythology
Bierlein, J. F. Parallel Myths. New York: Ballantine Books, 1994.
Bulfinch, Thomas. Bulfinch’s Mythology. New York: Avenel Books, 1978.
Grant, Michael, and John Hazel. Who’s Who in Classical Mythology. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. New York: New American Library, 1953.
Kosinski, Dorothy M. Orpheus in Nineteenth-Century Symbolism. Ann
Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1989.
Rilke, Rainer Maria, and J. B. Leishman. Possibility of Being: A Selection of
Poems. New York: New Directions, 1977.
Brazilian Culture
Fryer, Peter. Rhythms of Resistance: The African Musical Heritage of Brazil.
Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2000.
Ickes, Scott. African-Brazilian Culture and Regional Identity in Bahia,
Brazil. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2013.
McGowan, Chris, and Ricardo Pessanha. The Brazilian Sound: Samba, Bossa
Nova, and the Popular Music of Brazil. New York: Billboard Books, 1991.
Meade, Teresa A. A Brief History of Brazil. New York: Checkmark, 2010.
Favela Rising. Directed by Matt Mochary and Jeff Zimbalist. HBO/
Cinemax Documentary, THINKFilm, and VOY Pictures, 2006.
Additional Topics
Davis, Mike. Planet of Slums. London: Verso, 2006.
Gulevich, Tanya. Encyclopedia of Easter, Carnival, and Lent. Detroit, MI: Omnigraphics, 2002.
Mauldin, Barbara. Carnaval! Seattle: U of Washington, 2004.

For the Whole Family
Papi, Liza. Carnavalia!: African-Brazilian Folklore and Crafts. New York:
Rizzoli, 1994.
Hollihan, Kerrie Logan. Carnival in Latin America = Carnaval En
Latinoamérica. New York: PowerKids, 2010.
Ancona, George. Carnaval. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1999.
Beyond the Performance
Continue the Celebration
Carnaval San Francisco
Family-friendly celebrations in
the Mission District, May 28-29th.
http://www.carnavalsanfrancisco.
org/about
Sunstream Coffee
2884 Geary Boulevard
(between Collins & Wood streets)
San Francisco, CA 94118
http://www.sunstreamcoffee.com
Pastel Brazzuca
290 De Haro Street (inside the
World Gym, 16th & De Haro St)
San Francisco, CA 94103
http://pastelbrazucca.com
Fogo de Chão Brazilian
Steakhouse
201 Third Street
Suite 100 (between Tehama &
Howard streets)
San Francisco, CA 94103
http://fogodechao.com/location/
san-francisco
Sambaxé Dance
Classes for all ages and levels at
ODC Rhythm & Motion Dance
Program
351 Shotwell Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
http://sambaxedance.com/classes
ABADÁ–Capoeira San
Francisco
3221 22nd Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
http://abada.org
BrasArte
Casa de Cultura (Culture House)
1901 San Pablo Avenue at Hearst
Street
Berkeley, California 94702
http://www.brasarte.com/
Brazil Café
2161 University Ave
Berkeley, CA 94704
http://cafebraziltogo.com/

join the party online
BLACK ORPHEUS
Photo by Beatriz Miranda-Torres
Tweet @ACTSanFrancisco or post to Instagram
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