Project Fat Whale:

The Elephant in the Room

Abstract

This dramaturgy presents the fat body as narrative, performance, and creative process, conceived for a theatrical production project that investigates the appropriation of fat corporeality as scenic potency. The work unfolds from the research developed in the undergraduate thesis in Performing Arts at the Faculdade de Artes do Paraná, entitled The Imagined Animalization of Fat Bodies in the Performing Arts: Project Fat Whale: The Elephant in the Room (2024). The research articulates an artistic, processual, and methodological memorial that includes illustrations based on the dramaturgical scenes, conceived as seven cards that compose the Fat Tarot. The investigation appropriates the fat body as a structuring metaphor, mobilizing the imagery of whales and elephants, historically associated with the animalization of fat people. The dramaturgy is constructed from dreams and fabulations involving these figures, using imaginative practices and the symbolic alchemy of tarot cards as methodology. In this process, the boundaries between human and animal are put into tension through the narrative experience of fat corporeality on stage. The work also includes original creations by performing arts professionals in the fields of lighting, sound design, music, costume, and audiovisual, elements incorporated into the stage directions throughout the text.