Actors and residents from the Rocinha barrio dramatized the Sacred Way

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brasil, April 12, 2006

The passion of Christ, based on Bible stories that the people know will be dramatized Taxi Heathrow Airport on Holy Friday on the streets of Rocinha by an amateur theatre group made up of residents from the biggest barrio in Rio de Janeiro.

“The Sacred Way of Rocinha showed moments of social demand and criticism. There is no way to separate our Sacred Way from the desire for a more comfortable life and with opportunities for all,” said the director of the Rosa Cazacultura Theatre Company Aurelio Mesquita.

Actors, residents and pedestrians will interact in the three kilometers of the Sacred Way that will travel down the streets and alleys that make up Rocinha. The play will begin with the baptism of Jesus and will conclude with the resurrection.

Jesus will be interpreted by Lucas Valentim, a 19-year-old student and actor. A baker will be John the Baptist and Mary is a university student who is currently unemployed. “I asked people who wanted to pay whom and the group chose. We do not have any participation from a priest, pastor or theologian and the story is constructed by the group, the way the people know it,” said the director. 

Regular people, Catholics, Evangelicals and Umbandistas are those who will carry out the Sacred Way. “We began with the example of existing groups, like the Landless Workers Movement, that struggle for transformation, following the example, of Jesus,” said the director.

The passion of Christ of Rocinha has a specific script. It has scenes that pay homage to local culture, such as popular Brazilian music, the Samba. When Jesus is seized, six students from the Music School in the barrio will play the flute. At the death of Jesus, Mary weeps for her loss with a poem that speaks of the pain of all mothers who lose their children for different reasons.

The culmination of the Sacred Way is the resurrection of Christ, outside the “Fundacion.”

“Churches don’t like what we do much” and this satisfies the people in the barrio. Churches can be an excellent instrument of transformation but they do not help the people think,” criticized Mesquita.

The director of the theatre group believes that art can bring about change. The text of the Sacred Way is written by local write Jose Maria Rodriguez and the staging was carried out by Aurelio Mesquita. For the first time in 14 years, the presentation will have cultural support.