Made in Brasil festival brings five Brazilian solo works to Santa Monica

By AI, Created 10:59 AM UTC, May 20, 2026, /AGP/ – Made in Brasil: Solo Works returns to Los Angeles on May 8 and 9 with five Brazilian solo performances at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica. The festival centers immigrant identity, cultural memory and Brazilian voices in the city’s theatre scene.

Why it matters: - Made in Brasil is positioning Brazilian artists at the center of Los Angeles performance culture, not on the margins. - The festival is framed as a cultural intervention for Brazilian voices often overlooked in Hollywood and the wider theatre ecosystem. - The event spotlights immigrant identity and cultural memory at a moment when diaspora stories carry added weight in U.S. arts programming.

What happened: - Made in Brasil: Solo Works takes place May 8 and 9, 2026, at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica. - The two-night festival features five solo performances by Brazilian artists working across theatre, performance art and multidisciplinary design. - Leopold Nunan produced the festival, and Bia Oliveira directed it. - The community event is built around independent solo works by Brazilian artists.

The details: - Andrea Ferraz hosts the program, which is structured as a curated journey through memory, identity and transformation. - The lineup includes Minotaur.exe, a techno-myth solo by Leopold Nunan that blends ritual with digital dystopia. - Bruna Fachetti performs Clarice and the Chicos, a poetic play inspired by Clarice Lispector and Chico Buarque. - Renato Fimene presents 158 Steps, a multimedia work about memory and migration. - Bia Borin performs Marilyn Times, a cross-cultural reimagining of Marilyn Monroe. - Tickets are priced at $25. - Andrea Oliveira is listed as producer and fundraising lead. - Made in Brasil is a Los Angeles-based performance platform founded by Leopold Nunan. - The organization describes itself as a 501(c)3 that highlights the Brazilian diaspora through theatre, music and multidisciplinary art. - The festival announcement also names a festival Instagram page for updates.

Between the lines: - The festival’s emphasis on hybridity suggests a push to broaden what Brazilian performance looks like in Los Angeles. - The framing around awareness points to a larger goal than one weekend of shows: building visibility for a community of artists already working in the city. - The program mixes literary references, migration themes and pop-icon reinterpretation, signaling an audience for both cultural memory and experimentation.

What’s next: - Audiences can attend the two performances on May 8 and 9 at Highways Performance Space. - Made in Brasil is likely using the festival to strengthen its role as a recurring platform for Brazilian diaspora artists in Los Angeles. - The event’s success could shape future programming and visibility for independent Brazilian solo work in the region.

The bottom line: - Made in Brasil is using a compact, two-night festival to make a bigger claim: Brazilian artists belong in the center of Los Angeles performance culture.