Cadela Força Trilogy
Chapter I: The Bride and the Goodnight Cinderella
Performance
Theater
Carolina Bianchi y Cara de Cavalo
Co-presented with L’Alliance New York’s Crossing The Line Festival
BRAZIL / NETHERLANDS
Oct 23–25
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“a landmark in the history of the Avignon Festival”
—Le Monde
In the first chapter of the Cadela Força Trilogy, Brazilian director and writer Carolina Bianchi stages a shocking and vulnerable exploration of art and narratives of sexual violence that haunt women across history. Blending theater and performance art, she constructs a layered, destabilizing tapestry of stories, images, movement, and figures drawn from both contemporary and art-historical sources.
The catalyst is a real event: the rape and murder of a performance artist whose work explored faith in human kindness. From there, Bianchi assembles a fractured mythology of femicide, where memory blurs and trauma generates new meaning. Created with the collective Cara de Cavalo, The Bride and the Goodnight Cinderella is a journey into the abyss, a hole in the desert, a spiked glass of “Goodnight Cinderella.” What happens after?
CONTENT NOTE
Recommended for ages 18+.
This performance confronts sexual assault, and contains intermittent loud music, strobe lights, haze, nudity, and depictions of sexual violence. Certain emotionally intense and/or graphic scenes may offend the sensibilities of some spectators.
Carolina Bianchi’s U.S. Premiere
“there were tears. Audience interruptions. Post-show conversations that stretched into the early hours.”
—New York Times
RUNNING TIME
2 hr, 30 min (no intermission)
CONTENT NOTE
LANGUAGE
Performed in Brazilian Portuguese with English subtitles
About the Artist
Carolina Bianchi is a Brazilian playwright, performer, and director of the São Paulo-based collective Cara de Cavalo (The Face of the Horse). Her work fuses literary and cinematic language, musical sampling, theatre, and physical risk to confront gender, sexual violence, and the legacies of art history. Her trilogy Cadela Força (Strength Bitch)—including the most recent installment, The Brotherhood, which premiered at KVS – Brussels at the KunstenFestivaldesArts (2025)—has established her as a singular voice in the international theatre landscape. In 2023, she premiered The Bride and Goodnight Cinderella at the Avignon Festival, followed by performances at leading festivals and performance venues in Europe, UK and Australia. Other major works include O Tremor Magnífico (The Magnificent Tremor) and Lobo (Wolf) (BR). She lives in Amsterdam. Carolina Bianchi was awarded the Silver Lion by Biennale di Danza di Venezia 2025. The Bride and the Goodnight Cinderella was selected as the best foreign premiere of the season 2023/24 in France.
Conception, text and direction: Carolina Bianchi
Translation into English and revision: Larissa Ballarotti, Luisa Dalgalarrondo, Joana Ferraz, Marina Matheus
Dramaturgist and partnership in continuous research process: Carolina Mendonça
Cast: Bruta, Carolina Bianchi, Chico Lima, Fernanda Libman, Joana Ferraz, José Artur, Larissa Ballarotti, Marina Matheus and Rafael Limongelli
Technical direction, sound design and original music: Miguel Caldas
Set design, art and graphic design: Luisa Callegari
Light design: Jo Rios
Videos and screenings: Montserrat Fonseca Llach
Karaoke video: Thany Sanches
Costumes: Tomás Decina, Luisa Callegari, Carolina Bianchi
Art assistant and general artistic collaboration: Tomás Decina
Collaboration in body and voice training: Pat Fudyda, Yantó
Dialogue on theory and dramaturgy: Silvia Bottiroli
Photos: Christophe Raynaud de Lage
Stage manager and production assistant: AnaCris Medina
Production assistant: Zuzanna Kubiak
Production direction, tour manager and communication: Carla Estefan
International relations, production and diffusion: Metro Gestão Cultural (Brasil)
Sponsors
A Production by: Metro Gestão Cultural (Brasil), Carolina Bianchi Y Cara de Cavalo
In Coproduction with: Festival d’Avignon, KVS Brussels, Maillon,Théâtre de Strasbourg, Frascati Amsterdam.
Residency to finish the play and set construction: La FabricA du Festival d’Avignon
Residencies: Frascati Theater, DAS Theatre (Amsterdam), Festival Proximamente/KVS (Brussels), Festival 21 Voltz/Central Elétrica (Porto), Pride Festival (Belgrade), Greta Galpão (São Paulo) e Espaço Desterro (Rio de Janeiro).
With the Support of: Theater Der Welt, The Ammodo Foundation, DAS Theatre Master Program, 3 Package Deal of the AFK - Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst, Kaaitheater.
International relations, Production and Diffusion: Metro Gestão Cultural (Brasil)
*World Premiere July 6, 2023, at the Festival d’Avignon
Co-presented with L’Alliance New York’s Crossing The Line Festival
L’Alliance New York is an independent, not-for-profit organization committed to providing its audience and students with engaging French language classes and audacious multi-disciplinary programming that celebrates the diversity of francophone cultures and creativity around the world. A welcoming and inclusive community for all ages and all backgrounds, L’Alliance New York is a place where people can meet, learn, and explore the richness of our heritages and share discoveries. L’Alliance New York strives to amplify voices and build bridges from the entire francophone world to New York and beyond.
Crossing The Line is a citywide festival that engages international artists and New York City audiences in artistic discovery and critical dialogue to re-imagine the world around us. Crossing The Line is produced by L’Alliance New York in partnership with leading cultural institutions.
Photo Credit
Christophe Raynaud