Azira’i

The solo performance narrates the relationship between the actress and her mother, Azira’i, the first woman shaman of the Cana Brava Indigenous reserve, in Maranhão. The matriarch has many gifts, particularly the gift of healing, and she left her daughter not only her spiritual legacy, but also the frustrations of the process of acculturation they have experienced. With few elements on the set, Zahy retraces these memories in a conversational tone with the audience, alternating between Portuguese and parts in Ze’eng eté, her mother tongue. She also expresses herself through singing, including both original songs and laments her mother taught her. 

Zahy Tentehar is a Tentehara Guajajara artivist born in the Colônia Village in the Cana Brava Indigenous Reserve (Maranhão, Brazil). She is an actress and has had experiences as photographer, singer, and performer. She played a part in the miniseries Dois Irmãos [The Brothers], directed by Luiz Fernando Carvalho, and in films including Não Devore Meu Coração [Don’t Swallow My Heart, Alligator Girl!], directed by Felipe Bragança. She created, wrote the screenplay for, and performed in the video performance Aiku’è (I R-exist), in partnership with Mariana Villas-Bôas.   

CAST AND CREW
A solo performance by Zahy Tentehar 
Playwriting: Zahy Tentehar e Duda Rios 
Direction: Denise Stutz e Duda Rios 
Art direction and graphic design: Batman Zavareze 
Set design: Mariana Villas-Bôas
Costumes: Carol Lobato 
Lighting: Ana Luzia Molinari de Simoni 
Soundtrack: Elísio Freitas 
Sound design: Gabriel D’angelo 
Production and artistic production direction: Andréa Alves e Leila Maria Moreno
Production coordination: Rafael Lydio  
Executive production: Matheus Castro
Production: Sarau Cultura Brasileira 

www.sarauculturabrasileira.com.br/azirai | @aziraiespetaculo