The 2022 Art Week of the New Acropolis Organization in Fortaleza (CE) ended with the national premiere of the theatrical adaptation of “The Prophet”, the most famous book by Khalil Gibran, one of the most read works in the world and that next year will complete a century of its original publication.
The text of the show is by the teacher of New Acropolis, Lúcia Helena Galvão, who also signs the preface to yet another edition of the almost centenary work.

The book has 28 poetic essays. The piece with 12 of them. The choice privileges transversal themes, such as love and death, and, at the same time, invites the audience to go beyond the scenic to reach Gibran’s thought. According to Lúcia Helena Galvão, the objective of transforming “The Prophet” into a theatrical performance was to make it even more accessible.

“In the book The Prophet, the beauty of the form and the mystical depth of the content
embraced each other in an intense way”, wrote the teacher.

The monologue was staged at its premiere during the Art Week promoted by New Acropolis on two nights, June 4th and 5th, with a full capacity at the José de Alencar Theater, in Fortaleza. The book’s central character, Almustafa, on stage is played by the Lebanese Sami Bordokan, who is also a singer and with his brother Willian they sign the musical direction, enriching the play with ancestral instruments such as the lute, the nay flute, the rabab and the derbak. The staging is by Luiz Antônio Rocha, the lighting by Ricardo Fujii and scenery and costumes by the Uruguayan artist Eduardo Albini.

Gibran, it is said, did not like to be called a philosopher, but the play’s author explains that the word defines the author well. Philosopher, of course, understood in its primary sense, of one who is dedicated to knowledge. Knowing that it speaks of the life of each one of us.