ENTERTAIN COLUMN
Article written by Thiago Freitas, university student at ECOM/IDP.
Welcome to ENQUADRAMENTO, a new segment of ENTRETÊM, the Art and Entertainment column of Comunica. Here, our main objective is to showcase artists from the Federal District beyond their resumes; we will bring their experiences, their projects, their inspirations, and their dreams. And, to start off with a bang, we're going to feature Josuel Júnior, actor, cultural producer, teacher, a versatile artist.
We're talking about an artist with over twenty years of experience. Because of this, it's highly likely that a large portion of Brasília's residents have encountered Josuel's work at some point. So, our analysis begins with Josuel's childhood.
In the conversation between ENTRETÊM and Josuel, it becomes evident that he was a child whose childhood was based on imagination. And this is not only our perception, but also his own statement. At eight years old, Josuel watched the soap opera "Tieta," which was replayed every afternoon from Monday to Friday. For him, the entire narrative was new, but for his relatives, nothing was new. The first door to the artistic space opened there, when he realized that it was fiction, it was entertainment, it was art; even the agonizing death of the characters in a sandstorm was poetic.
We asked the question that every artist must hear at some point in their life: did you always think about being an artist? From that question onward, Josuel proved to be an extremely down-to-earth artist. Not only because of his self-awareness and understanding of his artistic processes, but also because he understands that the roots of his artistic development lie in the social context of Samambaia, Josuel's hometown.
In the early 2000s, at the age of fourteen, religious movements were often the entertainment in the outskirts of the city, and that's how Josuel encountered the Passion of the Black Christ. It functioned as a summer school, running from January until the eve of Easter, and even with the Christian text, the workshop was conducted by professors from the Dulcina de Moraes Faculty and technical courses.
The theatrical immersion during his adolescence transformed Josuel into a different person. In the workshops for the Passion of the Black Christ, the experience with other bodies, other people, and other ages significantly improved even his behavior at home. In addition to less inhibition and improved posture, of course.
The family's acceptance of Josuel's relationship with theater was complete, mainly due to the program being free. Josuel told us that, more than once, he heard at home: "Are you going to miss this weekend knowing that others want to participate?" A few years later, Josuel's entire family also joined the Passion of the Black Christ, where he went from being a student to a teacher, even teaching his mother from 2004 to 2006. It was also in the Passion of the Black Christ that Josuel had his first contact with the Cultural Support Fund (FAC). Something very clear to Josuel, and which he also made a point of telling us, is how the Passion of the Black Christ and the Quadrilhas (traditional square dances) are the driving force of Samambaia's culture, forming many artists who draw directly from these sources.
Although Josuel's artistic career has seemed clear to us since childhood, he revealed that after the Passion of Christ he still lived in a professional limbo. He tried to get into university to study sociology twice, then literature, but he couldn't get into the University of Brasília.
Then he saw an advertisement in the newspaper for an extra role in a soap opera. At 17, after meeting many people thanks to the Passion of the Black Christ, he already knew what those auditions were like: limited accessibility, exorbitant fees to be paid, the hidden requirement of having been a student of well-known directors. Even so, he wanted to understand the process. So, Josuel made contact, auditioned in Taguatinga itself, and, with great difficulty and help from his family, saved the necessary money. He stayed in Rio de Janeiro for four to five months, where he found several good opportunities.
No resident of the outskirts of Brasília had ever worked in television on Rede Globo until then. Soon after arriving, Josuel recorded a short segment for the telenovela "América," as one of the farmhands. The recording took place on a Friday, and the segment aired on Saturday; everyone saw Josuel: family, friends, acquaintances. When he returned to Samambaia, he came back with a wealth of experience, and Josuel embraced the opportunity to produce a film.
It was in this context that Josuel definitively found his calling in an interview for Rede TV!, when the reporter asked: “What are you?”. Beyond his involvement in the film, Josuel didn't know the answer at first. He was the film's producer, but professionally, who was Josuel? He went home and enrolled at the Dulcina de Moraes College the next day.
Josuel then entered university as the most knowledgeable student in his class, and the biggest clash of opinions came precisely from his different artistic vision. While other students defended the idea of more traditional theater, drawing directly from canonical theoretical sources like Grotowski and Stanislavski, Josuel focused on Tieta and other soap operas. Besides the natural difficulties of a university course, the cost was excessively high for Josuel at that time. This situation changed when Professor Graça Veloso gave a seminar on Brazilian culture in the 80s. Josuel, naturally, decided to talk about television programs: such as Xuxa, boy bands/girl bands of the time, and, inevitably, soap operas.
In this work, Josuel even promoted an Academic Paquita Contest, in which only students from Dulcina and UnB participated. The more traditional and experienced people saw Josuel's work as an affront and didn't understand the proposal he presented, while the administration began to look at him differently. For them, if Josuel could make all that noise in an academic seminar, he was someone who deserved to be followed and closely observed. Josuel won a scholarship and became a student producer at Dulcina. "I was a petulant student, but at the same time, I asserted myself," Josuel told us after finishing narrating his achievements thanks to the seminar.
Josuel's work features a list of personalities with whom he has collaborated and developed incredible projects, but among his closest inspirations, he immediately highlighted the work of Zé Regino, actor, clown, and director, with whom he took clowning courses for over two years. For Josuel, Zé represented many things: father of Pedro, who played the King of the Cattle; he represented Brasília's theater in an essential way. Josuel also mentioned Verônica Moreno, actress and personal friend, as well as Túlio Guimarães, Plínio Mosca, and André Amaro, who were among the first to believe in Josuel's work and the Fábrica de Teatro (Theater Factory).
Presenting at least one play a year, Josuel took a break due to exhaustion. He had no friends other than those directly involved with his work, and they frequently only talked about theater. This exhaustion was compounded by the difficulties of the production process, as he, a resident of the outskirts of the city, usually arrived at rehearsals first, while actors who lived in the Plano Piloto (the central area of Brasília) were often late. These issues were very exhausting and tired Josuel to the point of making him stop for a while.
Today he speaks openly about these issues, including clauses in the contractual agreement to ensure not only mutual respect but also ethical regulations and treatment of the actors. With the experience he has gained, Josuel now chooses to work only with a good team he trusts, ensuring clear schedules and fair fees for everyone.
Regarding the difficulties still encountered in his artistic career, Josuel surprises us once again with his response. “We need to take advantage of the pandemic and normalize shows at 20 PM!” – Josuel begins. Evening performances, which usually start at 21 PM, mean the team's departure is always rushed, as theater professionals may depend on public transportation to get home. “I'm tired of being kicked out of the theater,” he adds. – “I want to be able to finish the show, take a shower, and leave in decent clothes. I'm tired of having to put on baggy clothes that hide the dirt and sweat just to eat a hot dog at the little church.” As if anticipating our surprise at the answer, and already sensing the political implications of his response, he said a phrase that greatly impacted us:
This phrase was explained to us openly as Josuel spoke more about the projects that impacted him the most and which ones he would like to revisit after this pandemic period.
As soon as we asked him which work had impacted him the most, the immediate answer was "Dia de Visita" (Visiting Day), directed by Francis Wilker and Nei Cirqueira. This was the first time he felt that a play had been seen by the people of Brasília. Josuel recalled with us the pleasant surprise when people discovered he was in the cast, as the costume didn't allow for his instant identification.
For him, it was a great challenge in terms of acting, aesthetics, and production. One work that Josuel revisited during these pandemic times was "Peter Pan for Grown-Ups," directed by Luana Proença. Today, he better understands the quality of the show and how it would fill a theater. At the time, due to personal reasons, Josuel says he couldn't truly grasp the power of the show and that, even in current times, Peter Pan would bring a necessary lightness to the audience.
Other shows wouldn't have the same reception due to the political turmoil the country is immersed in. A lot of audience was lost between 2016 and now, Josuel told us. While this audience needs a jolt to understand the political landscape, they also need to be won back to the theater.
During the pandemic, and as a teacher, Josuel found himself needing to create engaging video lessons for his students. "If I don't laugh, if I don't have fun directing, I don't publish," Josuel said. It was also a great time to post memories – the famous ones. ThrowBackThursday (TBT) – speaking openly about other works he would have liked to talk more about, but didn't have time for. Josuel also used his voice to speak about how artists were suffering during these times, championed the category, suggested topics, even appearing on Jornal Nacional on TV Globo. "I only hesitated with the online aspect. I did one live stream, refused others," he concluded.
Listening to Josuel's story, we saw how he became a versatile and multi-talented artist. This made us question whether Josuel's work with so many art forms was a necessity. And no, it wasn't just that. Josuel became involved because of an identification with the art form, because he felt it wasn't so difficult to do. He wanted to take risks, he went there and learned, he did it, and if it worked, he continued, leading to the Josuel we know today.
Josuel, Frame by Frame!
- A song? Half Moon (Meia Lua inteira), Caetano Veloso.
- A movie? My first love.
- A series? Justice.
- A soap opera? Tieta.
- A play? NoctiLuzes, directed by Sérgio Sartori.
- An actor? Lima Duarte.
- An actress? Fernanda Montenegro, from Central Station to Zazá.
- A singer? Cazuza.
- A singer? Gal Costa.
- Best day of the week? Monday, Sunday is always so sad.
- Morning, afternoon, evening, or dawn? Night.
- Favorite obsession? Watch and rewind the stories to really understand what people are thinking.
- What taboo would you break? Male nudity is excessively sacralized. Artistic male nudity always hides the private parts, as if it were a guardian angel.
- A cluster of dreams? A samba, people playing and reuniting with friends.
- A dream? Knowing that you have money in your account to pay.
