Grupo teatro surdo: a construção da identidade surda através do trabalho no palco

Abstract

This work presents the result of observing the influence of theater in education and in constructing the identity of a deaf subject in the components of 'Grupo Teatro Surdo' (Deaf Theater Group) formed by students of 'Escola Estadual de Educação Especial Reinaldo Coser' (State School of Special Education Reinaldo Coser) in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. From the fundaments of Cultural Studies, Deaf studies and Theater in Education, it is analized some relations between deaf people and listeners during the creation and presentation of the theater play 'Construindo a Identidade' (Building the Identity), created by deaf people and directed by an educator without graduation in Special Education and all the situation involved in the process like the communication as an educator/listener and the deaf student with the audience and the student/deaf actor. The information here presented was collected through structured interviews, speeches and spontaneous testimony of deaf people's teachers, members of the deaf community, family members of the teachers, theater professionals related to 'ASPAC' (Santa Maria's Association of Acting Professionals) and those people who watched the group's work. For a better understanding of the questions pointed out in the speeches and testimonies collected, studies were necessary about the History of Theater in education and about the construction of identities and deaf identities. Next, facts and testimonies with comments are shown and, to conclude, detecting possible changes from the experience in the involved areas in the research, that is, the deaf students, their teachers, parents and the audience of this deaf's theater work.