Artei­ros 60+: the theatrical experience with older adults

Abstract

This article analyzes the experience of the theater group Arteiros 60+, composed of actors over 60 years old in Porto Alegre (Brazil), whose purpose is to create and perform plays while offering a meaningful artistic experience to its members. The theme is relevant in light of population aging and its growing discussion in the fields of arts and education. The aim is to reflect on art-education practices and the confrontation of ageism through the observation and analysis of the creative process of O Despertar, an adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s Spring Awakening (1891), still in rehearsal, with a brief parallel to Pina Bausch’s Kontakthof (2000) as a complementary reference. The study adopts an Arts-Based Research (ABR) approach, recognizing artistic processes as legitimate and sensitive forms of learning and knowledge production. It draws on theoretical concepts of ageism in performing arts to highlight the potential of Arteiros 60+ as a space of resistance, expression, and reinvention, where the body and life experience of older adults become poetic drivers of creation. Findings suggest that theater with older adults can contribute to confronting ageism, fostering artistic protagonism, and challenging normative discourses and social perceptions about the body, aging, and artistic creation.