The Trials and Passions of Unfamous Women

Janaina Leite is an actress, director, playwright, and postdoctoral researcher at the School of Communication and Arts at the University of São Paulo (USP). She is a reference in the Brazilian scene for research on ‘theatres of the real’ with award-winning works such as Stabat Mater (Shell Dramaturgy Award in 2020) and the project Scopophilic Essays, researching the relationship between theatre and pornography in works such as Camming 101 nights and History of the Eye – a porn-noir fairy tale. Her research focuses on hybrid languages, the obscene perspective that approximates theatre and performance, art and life, and diffuses borders between artistic practices and socio-cultural practices. Janaina’s work has been attracting interest outside of Brazil; her shows and research have been presented at significant festivals and universities in countries such as Chile, Argentina, Mexico, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, England, and Scotland.

Recently, through the Art in the Metaverse grant from Itaú Cultural, she created a new work Deeper about virtual reality and the limits of the body and consciousness, which premiered in São Paulo.  

Janaina published the books Autoescrituras Performativas: do diário à cena (Performative selfinscripcions: from the intimate diary to the scene) by Editora Perspectiva and Conversas com meu pai + Stabat Mater – Uma trajetória de Janaina Leite (Conversations with my father + Stabat Mater, a trajectory by Janaina Leite), launched by the Javali publishing house. In 2024 she will publish her next book Ensaios sobre o feminino e a abjeção na (ob)scena contemporânea (Essays on the feminine and abjection in the contemporary (ob)scene), through Anna Blume publishing house. 

Lara Duarte is a playwright, director, actress and researcher. She has a Masters in Performing Arts from UNICAMP with the research Por uma dramaturgia monstra! and a BA in Performing Arts from UFBA, where she received a PIBIC scholarship for her research Spoken writing: dramaturgy of storytelling. She graduated in dramaturgy from SP Escola de Teatro. She was a member of the Base Theatre and is Author of the book Gambiarras Sentimentais, published by Patuá; performer.

Her credits include: playwright and director of Pânico Vaginal (Vaginal Panic), which won awards at the São Paulo Short Film Week and the CRASH Fantastic Cinema Showcase; organiser and curator of the Jornadas Heroicas Possíveis drama festival; dramaturg and assistant director of the plays Stabat Mater (winner of the Shell Award for dramaturgy), História do Olho (nominated for the Shell Award for direction) and Camming – 101 nights, directed by Janaína Leite; actress and assistant dramaturg in the play Acúmulos, directed by Kênia Dias and dramaturged by Márcio Abreu; dramaturg for the play Capô, directed by Georgette Fadel; librettist at the lyrical atelier of the São Pedro Theatre. As a performer and playwright, she worked on the play A Bunda De Simone, directed by Diego Pinheiro, which was nominated for best text by the BRASKEM theatre award. She took part in the História Sob Rocha project, directed by Daniel Guerra, as part of the programme for the International Festival of Performing Arts. She is the creator of the stage performance Como Medeia Para Minha Mãe and the play Re-Medeia. 

Athena Maria is a designer, performer and Clean Break Member artist. She joined Clean Break as part of the Young Artist Development Programme for which she performed in Inside This Box by Yasmin Joseph (Arcola and Omnibus Theatre). She also appeared in the ensemble for Merry Wives of Windsor (Shakespeare’s Globe).

Her recent performance credits include: Brass Altar (Canal Dream Art Festival), and MILITARIA (Camden People’s Theatre). Athena has also worked as a Set Designer for The Pidgeon & The Mouse (The Space) and Consent (Tower Theatre), and as a Design Assistant for Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City. 
 

Yvonne Wickham is an actor, writer and Clean Break Member artist. Yvonne joined Clean Break in 2007 and she then went on to train at London Metropolitan University with a BA in Performing Arts (2012). For Clean Break she has performed in: Through This Mist, Sounds Like an Insult and Cakehole.

Her credits include: Road (Hoxton Hall), Kineara Southwark, To Whom it May Concern and Cathy Come Home (Barbican, Cardboard Citizens); Lysistrata (Arcola Theatre); And Yet it Moves, Go Between (Young Vic); Dusa, Fish Stars and VI and You Say You Want a Revolution (Synergy); and EastEnders (BBC). She has also featured in several commercials including for HSBC (2023) and the NHS (2021).
 

Sarah-Jane Dent is a writer, actress and Clean Break Member artist. She has been in several Clean Break productions including Hours til Midnight by Sonya Hale, Meal Ticket (Latitude Festival), Hear by Deborah Bruce, and There Are Mountains by Chloë Moss. For Clean Break she worked with Chloë Moss to write and perform in Maren for Through This Mist. Her recent film credits include: Silver Haze (dir. Sasha Polak, EMU Films Limited), My Dad’s Christmas Date (Dir Mick Davis, Cinema Films ltd), My Mother’s Daughter (short film, dir. Amelia Morek) and Cywife (Champ Dog Films). Her recent theatre credits include: Change (Union Theatre) and Zina (one woman show, Vault Festival). She was also in the company as the prison guard and understudy for The Donmar Warehouse's All-Female Shakespeare Trilogy (dir. Phyllida Lloyd).

Dominique Lavine Wood-Whyte is a support worker, performer, and Clean Break Member artist. She joined Clean Break as part of the Brazen Young Artist Development Programme and performed in Belong (Arcola and Lyric Hammersmith), All the Lights are On (with Cardboard Citizens), and the Young Women’s Digital Project. She has worked extensively with Cardboard Citizens including as a performer in the UK tours of Lewisham Housing Project, Priority Needs, My Options, Don’t Kick the Bucket, and Street Life, and in productions of Meta (Wellcome Trust) and Cathy Come Home (Barbican).

Kim Teresa (KT) Marsh is a writer, performer, and Clean Break Member artist. For Clean Break she has appeared in Write 2 Connect (short film), Sisters (Podcast), Missing, All the Lights are On (with Carboard Citizens) and in the chorus for Hope (short film). Her credits include: Maryland (Royal Court Theatre), The Outrun (feature film, dir. Nora Fingscheidt), Heroine’s Journey (Boundless), Two Brothers - London on Lockdown (short film), La Dialogue des Carmelites (Royal Opera House), The Heroin Project (Raging Calm), HOME (Young Vic), and Every Person Wandering -The Vagrancy Act (Cardboard Citizens, BBC Radio 4). 

Rachel Valentine Smith is director for stage and screen and a freelance artist working across projects nationally and internationally.

Rachel is former Co-Artistic Director of The Faction for which her credits include DUENDE (Wiltons Music Hall/Stephen Joseph); MLD (short film); MEDEA (short film); (Toronto Womens Film Festival Best Director Nominee); LEAR/الملك لير (Masrah Al Madina, Beirut); MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (UnFashioned Theatre commission); VASSA (Southwark Playhouse); METAMORPHOSIS & FAUST (Wiltons Music Hall); ROMEO & JULIET; THEBES; BLOOD WEDDING (New Diorama Theatre and UK Tours)

Further directing credits include: PLAYWRIGHTS PATHWAYS (Royal Court Theatre); MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE (Zoukak Theatre, Beirut – British Council and EUNIC commission); NO DEMAND NO SUPPLY (Gate Theatre/Shubbak Festival); SAHAR SPEAKS; REFRACTIONS; NIGHTCLUB (Theatre503). Other curated invents include The Abolitionist Dinner Party and Letters to Leaders.

Rachel has recently completed her tenure as Creative Associate for Clean Break and is currently a Trustee for NSDF.