The Geraldos group, with a 15-year presence in Campinas, engages in three core areas of research and artistic expression (primarily in the realm of theater): 1)CREATION, producing and touring captivating plays; 2) TRAINING, offering courses, workshops, and professional initiation projects. 3) CULTURAL TERRITORIES, handling spaces that, extending beyond the group's creative and production endeavors, transform into hubs for cultural promotion, audience engagement, and collaboration with artists and society. Due to these broad performances – coupled with the creation of spaces dedicated to art and culture, in addition to our main headquarters, our group earned a nomination for the Cultural Territories Award from the State Governor in 2017.

Creation, as the primordial and guiding principle of the other two, corresponds to the mounting and circulation of its shows, with the group currently boasting eight works in its repertoire. The latest addition is "Cordel do Amor sem Fim – ou A Flor do Chico," a creation by Claudia Barral and directed by Gabriel Villela, a talented director from Minas Gerais. Villela is set to direct our upcoming show: "Ubu Roi", featuring a text by Alfred Jarry and translated by Bárbara and Gregório Duvivier, the premiere is slated for September 2022.

In the field of Training – where education and poetics inherited from creative processes, cultural management methodologies, and the individual research of the members converge, there are four projects that cover the range from theatrical initiation to professional practice: Free Course, Actor Training Course, "Transformations - from learning to the craft" and "Incubator of Artistic Groups.”  

Lastly, in the field of Cultural Territories, the group has been managing the Theater Art and Craft (TAO for its acronym in Portuguese) since 2017, revitalizing its structure for the realization of creative activities that include: 1. Stage: Equipped with infrastructure for rehearsals and classes; 2. Visualities of the spectacle Workshop: An artisanal workshop occasionally open to the public, where scenery, costumes, and other visual elements of the productions are conceived and realized; 3. Cultural diffusion actions: Involving the reception of shows of different languages and the organization of traditional events on the group's calendar, such as the Theater Journey and the General Theater Show. These events aim at the sharing of plays and workshops by artists and groups from various regions of São Paulo; 4. Pedagogical programming: Encompassing courses, workshops, and immersion programs at TAO for both monitoring the group's artistic work, in rehearsals and in the Visualities Workshop, as well as for cultural management practice; 5. Maintenance and continuity of the Theater Art and Craft: An independent cultural space with a 37-year tradition in the interior of São Paulo. In 2019, the group also managed the Ponto de Arte e Ofício (Point of Art and Craft), approved in first place in the municipal call for Cultural Points in Campinas.  

The group's foundation is linked to the course of Performing Arts at Unicamp, one of the most important courses for actor training in Brazil. As a result, Os Geraldos came into existence shaped by the dynamic interplay between the erudition of academic research and the simplicity of popular theater. Since its foundation, the group has maintained a set of research lines, conducting artistic training, internal study groups dedicated to music and dramaturgy, and research for master's and doctoral degrees, which several members are currently involved in or have already completed at Unicamp as well. 

The staging of their eight shows led to an exploration of diverse languages and techniques. "Numeros" (Numbers) (2008, directed by Roberto Mallet) inaugurated the repertoire, laying the foundation on the study of the circus tradition, comic action, and the language of the clown. In "Hay Amor!" (There is love!) (2009, directed collectively), the second show, the group delved into collective dramaturgical creation, dance, and the crafting of archetypal characters. "Números para Crianças" (Numbers for Children) (2011, directed by Roberto Mallet) and "As Estrelas do Céu" (The Stars of the Sky) (2017, directed by Ricardo Harada) led the group towards the exploration of children's theater, seeking, in the first place, the children's games of the clown and the circus and, second, animated forms and the study of the technique of the Kôkens, the puppeteers of Japanese theater. In ““O Drama e Outros Contos de Anton Tchekhov” (The Drama and Other Tales of Anton Chekhov) (2015, directed by Arman Saribekyan), the group ventured into a methodology inspired by the processes of Théâtre du Soleil, of which Saribekyan has been a member since 2009, resulting into an intimate staging, with a closer language to realism, aimed at perfecting the subtleties of interpretation. 

In the past six years, the group's focus has shifted towards vocal and musical exploration, resulting in the production of plays such as "The Last Soirée - a play of present body" (2014, directed by Roberto Mallet), "Doubling Back" (2018, directed by Dagoberto Feliz), "Cordel do Amor sem Fim - ou A Flor do Chico" (2021, directed by Gabriel Villela), and the currently in-process creation "Ubu Roi" (2022, also directed by Gabriel Villela). These four works are characterized by a strong musical appeal, featuring live songs. To enhance their musical endeavors, the group dedicated time to the study and practice of musical theory, rhythm, and singing. Collaborating with esteemed professionals in the performing arts from Brazil and Europe, including Babaya Morais, Francesca Della Monica, Ernani Malleta, Felipe Lesage, Everton Gennari, and Marcelo Onofri.

This trajectory unveils a consistent research of acting techniques that resonate with a tradition of popular theater. In Brazil, this tradition is intricately tied to forms like revue theater, circus theater, and amateur theater. True to their name, “Os Geraldos” (from the portuguese geral, meaning general) engage in research languages that align with this objective: to establish a connection with a general audience, or with any "Geraldo", this Is not a mere generalization or standardization of the audience but a deliberate effort to reconnect with the roots of popular theater—a revival of audience engagement.

Dissemination is, for the group, both an objective and a point of return for the definition of its languages. Through the performances of its shows, the group has garnered 44 awards and actively participated in various national and international festivals, such as FITUB, in Blumenau (Santa Catarina); FENATA, in Ponta Grossa (Paraná); Festival Atos, in Campina Grande (PB), Mostra Capiba de Teatro, in Recife (PE), in addition to the international ones, such as the Festival Internacional de Acciones Escénicas, in Peru, Julio Cultural, in Tucumán (Argentina) and Festival International du Théâtre Universitaire d’Agadir, in Morocco. The recent show, "Cordel do Amor sem Fim – ou A Flor do Chico," directed by Villela with dramaturgy by Claudia Barral, premiered at the end of 2021 at the Industry Social Service (SESI by its acronyms in Portuguese) of Itapetininga and Ribeirão Preto (São Paulo). It continues its national circulation in 2022, featuring appearances at the Curitiba Theater Festival, Tiradentes em Cena Festival, Cena Contemporânea in Brasília, and scheduled presentations in Campinas, Ribeirão Preto, Passos, Ouro Preto, Belo Horizonte, and Guaranhuns.

The group's cultural dissemination work also develops as an "incubator" for the development of network actions and training of emerging artists, through the execution of independent projects at its headquarters in Campinas (SP), such as the Mostra Geral do Teatro (General Theater Show), held uninterruptedly for seven years (in 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it adapted to an online format, achieving national coverage with registrations from groups across all of Brazil), and the Jornada Teatral (Theater Journey), with eight editions held - took place virtually in 2021, still in a pandemic situation, also obtaining national coverage -, which involves the dissemination of the academic research object conducted by group members, along with presentations—both their own and those of artists and partner groups—open rehearsals, workshops, and masterclasses featuring prominent figures like Gabriel Villela, Denise Weinberg, Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos, Renato Borghi, and Miriam Mehler.

This acting approach, rooted in engaging in dialogues with established artists as sources of inspiration, aligns with the themes and language of their initial shows: the rescue and valorization of a cultural tradition. By promoting open meetings with these great artists, the group places emphasis on their personal journeys, the training of brazilian artists, and the significance of mentorship and reference as integral aspects of theater education.

As for its training actions, the group develops them both independently and through incentive laws and state projects. Since 2012, it has already received more than 60 young artists in its "Transformations - from learning to the craft" Project, which operates as an Oriented Internship Program, offering training in the field of cultural management, connecting learning and doing, student activity and professional realization. Since 2015, the group has been organizing the Actor Training Course –although it was temporarily suspended due to the pandemic, this course demands a minimum commitment of 9 hours per week, offering a curriculum that encompasses the development of artistic skills alongside key concepts of cultural management. Since its first edition, it has trained about 200 students from Campinas and the region, directing graduates to enroll in universities and the job market and to professionalize their artistic performance, obtaining professional certification.

In 2013, the group began a pilot project with the Arts Qualification Program – Ademar Guerra, from the State Secretariat of Culture, establishing a new category of artistic guidance – Group Guides Group, through which, until 2019, the group guided companies from the cities of Botucatu, Bragança Paulista, Santos, Piracicaba and Campinas.

The group's most extensive cultural management training project is the "Incubator for Artistic Groups." , whose first edition, in 2017, was held in Tatuí, with sponsorship from the CCR institute and CCR SPVias. Subsequent editions occurred through partnerships with Fábricas de Cultura São Paulo (2017), the Programa de Qualificação em Artes / Ademar Guerra Project (2017 and 2018), and, through ProAC ICMS, with sponsorship from Tuberfil and Magna, in the cities of Indaiatuba, Salto, and Vinhedo (2019). In 2021, the first edition in an online format took place, the "Virtual Incubator for Artistic Groups", whose program - featuring Galpão group performance, masterclasses by directors Gabriel Villela and Sérgio Ferrara and Creative Economy Meetings, with guests exponents of the area such as Deolinda Vilhena, Romulo Avelar, Andréa Alves, Gilma Oliveira, among others, in addition to cultural management workshops and mentorships with group leaders - achieved national reach, with the participation of 136 groups and artists from 23 Brazilian states. Since the first edition, the project has served 2,115 people and 83 artistic groups from 102 Brazilian cities.