The Nation – A Play in Six episodes

It all starts with a mystery: in the multicultural Haia neighborhood Schilderswijk, a child disappears without a trace. Bloodsuckers orbit the family drama, seeing an opportunity for self-promotion in the tragedy. The plot unfolds in six separate episodes inspired by different television genres (police procedural, talk show, and documentary), like marathoning a streaming platform show. On stage, policemen, jihadists, businessmen, politicians, and journalists fight among themselves, losing sight of what’s most important: the life of a child.

In The Nation, which won the Taalunie Toneelschrijfprijs, an important Dutch stage award, Eric de Vroedt presents a complex, heterogeneous parade of characters, blending media and formats to build his narrative, potentializing the human kaleidoscope composing the piece. Translated by Newton Moreno, it’s one of the five titles published by the Dramaturgia Holandesa collections, which presents foundational Dutch contemporary theater texts translated by important names of Brazilian theater.

About the author
Eric de Vroedt was born in Rotterdam in 1972 and graduated from the Arnhem School of Acting. After graduating, in 1996, he founded, alongside his classmates, the Monk theater company, where he grew as a director and playwright, conceiving plays that reflect on sociopolitical issues in the form of satire. In 2016, he received the Amsterdam Award for mightysociety, a series of ten plays begun in 2004, dealing with contemporary issues such as terrorism, populism, and globalization, as well as existencial issues, such as aging. In 2016, De Vroedt joined the Het Nationale Theater, in Haia, and, two years later, became the company's artistic director. In 2018, his play The Nation (2017) was awarded the Taalunie Toneelschrijfprijs, an important Dutch stage award. In 2022, he premiered De eeuw van mijn moeder [My Mother’s Century], written and directed by him for Het Nationale Theater.

About the translator
Newton Moreno was born in Recife in 1968. He’s a playwright with a degree in Performing Arts from the Campinas State University (Unicamp), and a master’s and doctoral degree in Performing Arts from the University of São Paulo (USP). He’s the author of plays such as Agreste (2004), staged by Cia. Razões Inversas; As centenárias (2007), starring Marieta Severo and Andréa Beltrão; Maria do Caritó (2012), with Lilia Cabral; and O livro, with Du Moscovis (2010). Recently, he wrote the stage musical As cangaceiras, guerreiras do sertão (2019). He has won various theater awards, such as APCA, Shell, Bibi Ferreira, Questão de Crítica, and Aplauso Brasil. In 2003, he got a Vitae arts grant to stage a free adaptation of Gilberto Freyre’s Assombrações do Recife Velho. Moreno wrote two films, Maria do Caritó (2019) and Agreste, with a release date for 2022, and developed various television projects, such as the Rede Globo series AMorteAmo (2015). 

About the collection
The Dramaturgy collection has, since 2012, published writing by Brazilian and international playwrights. The books help in building a memory of current theater, making a new record in the contemporary theater scene. In 2015, Cobogó also launched Dramaturgia Espanhola, the Spanish collection, and, in 2019, Dramaturgia Francesa (2019), the French collection, as part of the Projeto de Internacionalização de Dramaturgias [Playwriting Internationalization Project], conceived by Márcia Dias, alongside the Núcleo dos Festivais Internacionais de Artes Cênicas do Brasil [Brazilian Performing Arts International Festival Center]. Now the Dutch collection, Dramaturgia Holandesa, arrives, with the support of Nederlands Letterenfonds – Dutch Foundation for Literature, and the Performing Arts Fund NL. There are over 100 titles published in the Dramaturgia collection, featuring various award-winning plays from over 70 important playwrights.

Specifications
Title A nação – Uma peça em seis episódios
[The Nation – A Play in Six episodes]
Collection Dutch Dramaturgy Collection
Author Eric de Vroedt
Translator Newton Moreno
Language Portuguese
Page count 216
ISBN 978-65-5691-068-0
Cover Radiográfico
Format Softcover
Size 13 x 19 cm
Year 2022