A práxis teatral, a máscara e o professor: aprofundamento crítico em gênero dramático através de uma imersão em Hair – The American Tribal Love – Rock Musical

Abstract

This study demonstrates the importance of theatrical performance as a means of fostering critical engagement in the study of Dramatic Genre during the education of pre-service English language teachers at the Federal University of Western Pará, mediated by the artistic resource of masking from the perspective of Freirean praxis. To this end, the research draws on a reviewed theoretical framework that serves as a reference for the critical analysis of an artistic intervention carried out between September 28 and November 29, 2023. This intervention included the theatrical performance of an adaptation of Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical, proposed as a tool for study and assessment in the course Anglophone Literatures V for the 2019 cohort of the English Language and Literature program. Accordingly, a three-stage methodology was adopted: the first involved critical examination and dialogue among sources from Pedagogical and Literary Studies, as well as those related to the work’s themes and context; the second consisted of a systematic account of the experience; and the third comprised a referenced analysis of the reported intervention. The results elucidate the role of masking as an artistic tool that enables pre-service teachers to attain an artistic and epistemological state that broadens their reading of the world through the studied dramatic work and theatrical practices. These resources therefore play a central role in connecting theoretical and practical dimensions, enabling higher levels of critical awareness within a process of collective knowledge construction grounded in Freirean praxis.