Janaina Leite

Janaina Leite (São Paulo, 1981) is an actress, director and playwright and a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Communication and Arts at the University of São Paulo. She is one of the founders of the award-winning Grupo XIX de Teatro in São Paulo, with whom she creates a range of pieces that tour at home and abroad with great success. Her research into documentaries and the use of autobiographical material on stage resulted in a book, Autoescrituras performativas: do diario à cena, and various theatre pieces: Festa de Separação: um documentário cênico, Conversas com meu Pai and Stabat Mater. The taboos surrounding female sexuality have been an integral part of her theatre work and artistic research.

Leite is a founder and coordinator of the study groups Feminino Abjeto 1, Memórias, Arquivos e (Auto) Biografias and Feminino Abjeto 2. She lectures at various European universities, including the Sorbonne in Paris, on her research and methodology.

Building on her research into theatre and pornography that started with Stabat Mater, Leite made the virtual show Camming 101 noites en História do Olho - um conto de fadas pornô-noir. Currently, Leite is part of a programme for Latin-American playwrights in Buenos Aires. Her latest project Deeper, which explores virtual reality, psychosis and altered states of consciousness, was featured at the last Edinburgh Festival.