Musical Encounters serie: Yoràn Vroom invites… Remy van Kesteren

Teatro Munganga is a small theatre and concert space in Amsterdam Zuid, close to the southern entrance of Vondelpark. It occupies the former horse tram depot at Schinkelhavenstraat, a building put up in 1883 and 1884 to a design by the architect Abraham Salm. The depot is now a listed national monument. It is shared with OCCII, since the whole complex later became a squatter occupied space, and that history still colors the character of the place. The name and the company come first, though. Munganga was founded in 1987 by the Brazilian actors and directors Cláudia Maoli and Carlos Lagoeiro. The word is Brazilian, of African origin, and refers to communicating through exuberant gestures, expressive faces, grimaces and dance, which is a fair summary of how the group mixes theatre with music, dance and puppetry. In the 1990s and 2000s the company had government support and produced around 115 shows a year for children and young people, often with social critique and influences from Brazilian literature. After the 2008 financial crisis hit the cultural sector, the founders looked for other ways to carry on. They started the travelling theatre project Busganga in June 2013, and in June 2014 they turned their rehearsal space in the old tram depot into CASA Munganga. The room seats around 60, so the audience sits very close to the performers. Alongside the company's own productions, the programme gives space to other artists, activists and dreamers, with concerts, plays, dance including butoh and contemporary forms, puppetry, lectures, debates and workshops. There is a particular strength in Latin American and Brazilian performing arts, and the stage brings together diasporic and migrant stories that rarely find a home at larger Amsterdam institutions. The company also takes projects to schools, retirement homes, asylum seeker centres and psychiatric institutions.