Actress and theater director Paula Lucena , a member of Coletivo Rasga, celebrates the premiere of “Do Começo ao Fim”, a children’s play that will hit the Teatro Fashion Mall stage on June 14, with sessions on Saturdays and Sundays at 4 pm, until July 13. With a text by Aline Marosa and directed by Paula Águas and Toni Rodrigues, the show invites the audience to reflect on values such as love, family and friendship — themes that, according to Paula, are more urgent than ever.
You have an intense and multifaceted career in theater, including acting, directing, dramaturgy and even set design. How does this multiplicity of experiences change the way you see the stage and creative processes?
I think that having worked in these different roles has taught me not to see any of them as the center, but rather as small parts of a whole, small gears that need to work together to make the machine work. I feel that I have gained this broader perspective on theater, which has changed my relationship with each element of the scene. Furthermore, these are experiences that complement each other very much. Whether in dramaturgy, directing or acting, the angle from which one works is different, but, in essence, the goal is the same: to tell a good story.
The play Do início ao fim, in which you act, will premiere soon and features powerful names in direction and dramaturgy. What attracted you to this project and how did you connect with the proposal of the work from the rehearsals to the final production?
Marosa ‘s text is a big differentiator in this production. It was a play written in a collaborative process with Coletivo Rasga and our directors, Paula Aguas and Toni Rodrigues, so it was filled with a lot of affection, it has a lot of soul and every detail was thought out with great care. In addition, it deals with precious themes. The show follows the narrative of these space travelers who fled Earth in self-exile because they did not agree with the direction things were taking here. But what is beautiful about the story is that these beings are forced to confront earthly life, to mingle with it, and little by little they fall in love with its charms again. At a time when our relationship with the world seems increasingly impersonal and artificial, this play reminds us how good it is to be human! I think that is what we need, to talk about love, family and friendship, remembering that it is much better to live together than isolated.
In the show To Be or Not to Be: Hamlet, you played Ophelia and also experimented with elements such as clowning and physical theater. How did you find lightness and comedy within a universe as dense as Shakespeare’s?
Both Shakespeare’s plays and the language of clowning work on the surface. Not in the sense of superficiality, which is shallow, but rather of what lives on the surface and is expressed in the body. What is thought is said, emotions overflow from the inside out and everything is put into action. That is why the two languages converse so much, one enhances the other. And even tragedies have plenty of room for comedy. Shakespeare does not limit himself, he mixes genres, creating a complete gallery of human emotions. So even though it is a dense universe, he welcomes clowns very well.
Your work with Coletivo Rasga has been a constant construction of new languages and formats. How has this collective influenced your artistic vision and your stance as a creator in contemporary theater?
My work with Coletivo Rasga shaped my stance as an artist in many ways. Today, for me, it is impossible to think about theater without considering a group relationship, collaboration and collective creation. I learned to practice this with Rasga and I take these practices with me in all my other projects. Our dynamic of participating in all stages of the process, from artistic conception to technical execution, gave me a creative independence that I value greatly. Especially when it comes to independent productions, we all became capable of finding creative solutions to work with limited resources, and this became a great differentiator in our processes.
You also direct, as in Deslembrança, which won awards and toured several stages around the country. What changes in you when you are directing, compared to when you are acting? Is there a different Paula in each role?
Absolutely! As an actress, I can immerse myself in the character’s unique universe: her relationships, the places she lives, her desires and goals. When I’m directing, my biggest concern is communicating with the audience, making sure that everything I build with the actors is helping to convey the narrative in the most interesting, readable and genuine way possible. This definitely changes my attitude in the rehearsal room and my relationship with the crew members. As a director, I need to be more attentive to the needs of others, whereas as an actress, the focus is on being present and available.
The theater you do seems to carry a desire to provoke and welcome at the same time. What themes or feelings do you feel you need to put on stage today, as an artist and as a woman?
I want to explore on stage precisely the things that keep me awake at night. I am currently consumed by the process of dehumanization of social practices caused mainly by unbridled technological advances. This is something I would like to investigate artistically, and I feel that theater is a powerful tool to address this issue. After all, the act of going to the theater is, in itself, a collective ritual of human connection, a place where we are confronted by otherness and traversed by it. It can be a way of defending our humanity, or at least a refuge from this frenetic progression towards the future. This is the kind of experience I have sought to offer the public: an opportunity to stop, reflect and recalculate the route.
You are also an educator, teaching regular courses on theater games. What do you love most about interacting with students and how does this dialogue feed back into your own practice as an artist?
The theater games course, which I teach together with Cecília Imbelloni and Thaisa Santoth , is especially enjoyable for me because our students are non-actors. Many of them had never had any contact with theater before they started the course, so we have the opportunity to introduce them to some of the games and activities that we used to do when we first started our studies. This helps a lot in my own practice because it allows me to constantly practice the fundamentals of the craft. Not to mention that the games are a lot of fun! In the middle of a busy week, we get together to play, working on our imagination, creativity and our bodies. This is essential, not only for artists, but for anyone.
Coming from a path built with courage and persistence in the theater, you now work with big names and in diverse projects. When you look back, what moments or decisions seem to have been fundamental for you to get here?
I am a big fan of studying. I think the time I invested in my education was essential to acquire the tools that support my practice today. There is a freedom and experimental strength in the work developed within an academic environment that is difficult to find in the job market. The risks are greater and so are the limitations. That is why I am very grateful to have been able to daydream a little in the academic environment. Some people don’t like it, and I have great respect for those who learn best only through practice, but in my personal trajectory, studying and research were fundamental.
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