The University Theater Festival (Festu), considered the most important in the country in the category, holds its twelfth edition from today (1st), returning to the face-to-face format after the covid-19 pandemic. The 2020 and 2021 editions were held virtually, with the filming of the participating groups made at the Ipanema Theater, in the south of Rio. 
“Now, we are going to the João Caetano Theater, traditional and super important, the oldest in the city of Rio, located in Praça Tiradentes (central region of the city), precisely to celebrate this return in person”, said actor and screenwriter Felipe Cabral, creator of the event alongside cultural producer Miguel Colker. Cabral is the artistic director of Festu. The theme of the festival this year is The Theater Party“with a climate of resumption of culture, of theater, of the celebration of our artists”, highlighted Cabral.
The event will be held on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of July. Today and tomorrow, starting at 8 pm, 18 shows selected by the festival’s curatorship will be presented for the Competitive Show, with nine groups each day. Of these 18 groups, the judges will select eight who will perform on Sunday (3), at 5 pm, and will compete for awards in the categories: best sketch, best sketch by the popular jury, best actor, best actress, best direction, best director of movement, better original text, better lighting, better scenography and better costumes.
Sponsorship
The best sketch chosen by the technical jury will receive a sponsorship of R$ 30 thousand for the assembly of the show itself, in 2023. The group chosen as the best sketch by the popular jury will receive R$ 15 thousand for the same purpose. Those chosen from the other categories will receive scholarships in theater, music, dance and performing arts centers in the city of Rio.
The artistic director recalled that those contemplated with sponsorship for the production of the show, next year, will also receive the curatorship of a financial education program for better management of the sponsorship received in the Festu Investe project. This edition is curated by Banco Modalmais and HIG Capital, who will teach you how to best manage the amount received. Furthermore, when responding to a quiz with ten questions, whoever has the most correct answers can increase the amount of sponsorship received by up to 5%, said Cabral.
Parties
Felipe Cabral informed that at the end of the presentations each day, the public present at the Festu will be able to enjoy the free parties that will take place in the space next to the João Caetano Theater. “We are going to fence with a fence, put a chemical toilet, there will be food and drink stalls. We will have free popcorn every day and super popular prices too because, this year, we are in a public theater, with prices from R$ 5 (whole) and a half to R$ 2.50, which guarantees you to participate in the festival and still stay for the party. All this is part of the package”, said Felipe Cabral. Tickets for the Competitive Show can be purchased at site http://funarj.eleventickets.com
This Friday, the party will be led by the collective Minha luz é de LED, from 11pm. Tomorrow (2), the Carnival group Filhes da M, from the Martins Penna Theater School, the oldest public theater school in Latin America, and DJ Jojo Rodrigues will be responsible for the fun, starting at midnight. On Sunday (3), DJ Caio Bucker and DJ Tatah Toscano will be the main attractions of the night, which will start at 10:30 pm.
Valuation
According to the festival’s creator, all participating groups must be taking some university course or technical theater school, from anywhere in Brazil. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be a performing arts course. It could be any course. This has been the idea since the beginning of Festu in 2010,” he noted. The idea is to value those who are starting, those who are still able to experiment in theater, research languages, are entering or want to have visibility to enter the market.
“The goal is also to take away a little bit of the vision of university theater, made by students, as an amateur, smaller thing. Show that in academic centers there is a very young generation, which is having the freedom, even without market pressure, to experiment, research, form new collectives and companies. Festu has this vision of giving these people an even greater space for projection and the endorsement for them to experiment, get together, exchange with other schools and courses. The festival is also an opportunity for theatrical exchange between the different theater schools”, highlighted Cabral.
Artists
In this 12th edition, Festu will feature artists Samantha Schmütz, Ivan Mendes, Luiza Loroza, Gilberto Gawronski and Guilherme Gonzalez, who will take turns on the jury during the three days of the event. In previous editions, the technical jury was made up of names such as Lilia Cabral, Miguel Falabella, José Wilker, Patricia Pillar, José de Abreu, Marília Pera, Cássia Kiss, Tonico Pereira, Milton Gonçalves, Zezé Polessa, Wolf Maia, João Falcão, Catarina Abdala, Stella Miranda, Otávio Augusto, Nathalia Dill, Malu Galli, Babu Santana and Bianca Comparato, among others.
The public will also be able to watch the theatrical production of university companies that have won previous editions of Festu. They will be part of the 2022 edition show, which will be composed of the best sketch and best sketch winner shows by the popular jury of the ninth, tenth and eleventh festival. Information on show times can be found at site www.festu.com.br.
The twelfth edition of Festu is carried out by the federal government, through the Ministry of Tourism and the Special Secretariat for Culture and the Culture Incentive Law. Since its first edition, the event has received more than 3,300 entries from theater groups across the country, involving 50,000 young people. The presentations were watched by 280 thousand spectators. Festu also sponsored 17 shows and distributed R$ 800 thousand in prizes.
