Editing Augusto Boal (section)

===Work at the Arena Theatre of São Paulo===
While working at the [[Teatro de Arena|Arena Theatre]] in São Paulo, Boal directed a number of classical dramas, which he transformed to make them more pertinent to Brazilian society and its economy. Among these plays was [[John Steinbeck]]'s ''[[Of Mice and Men (play)|Of Mice and Men]]'', known in Brazil as ''Ratos e Homens.'' This was Boal's first performance as a director at the Arena Theatre of São Paulo. Critics acclaimed this piece and Boal won the ''Prêmio de Revelação de Direção'' (Direction Revelation Award) from the Association of Art Critics of São Paulo, in 1956. In the early sixties, the ratings at the Arena Theatre of São Paulo started to drop, almost causing the theatre to go bankrupt. Consequently, the company decided to start investing in national theatre (pieces written by Brazilian dramaturgs) as a move that could possibly save it from bankruptcy. The new investment proved to be a success, opening up the path for a national theatre scene. Boal then suggested the creation of a Seminar in Dramaturgy at the Arena Theatre, which was quickly implemented and soon became a national platform for many young playwrights. Many successful productions were born from this Seminar and now form part of the Arena Theatre of São Paulo's nationalist phase repertoire. One of these productions was ''Chapetuba Futebol Clube'', written by [[Oduvaldo Vianna Filho]] in 1959 and directed by Augusto Boal.<ref>[[:pt:Augusto Boal#Teatro de Arena|Directly translated from the Augusto Boal Wiki page in Portuguese.]]</ref>