Abstract:

Introduction:
The performing arts promote the appreciation of the knowledge of individuals, and theatrical language is a form of elevating human relations. The group Teatro Renascer was born in 2002, in the city of Manaus, Amazonas, and later became part of the Fundação Universidade Aberta da Terceira Idade – FUNATI. Over 18 years, with theater games and exercises, the elderly have had the opportunity of experiencing not only the art of acting but also a cognitive process within a university environment, reflecting on their existence and world, their life stories and daily life.

Objective:
To demonstrate that theater can bring significant changes to social and cognitive aspects, especially in relation to autonomy, given that it is a practice through which the elderly use their body (the actor’s tool) and mind (cognitive aspects) to discover themselves and to relate to others, contributing to their social participation, quality of life and longevity, for they are cultivating a healthier life when practicing the performing arts.

Methods:
This article presents part of an undergraduate research entitled “História de Vida: trajetória dos idosos antes e depois do grupo de Teatro Renascer sob o olhar do Serviço Social”. The life story reports were extracted from a doctoral thesis defended in 2019, entitled “Adultos Mayores y el Impacto de la Educación Permanente en la Calidad de vida: un estudio comparativo en UNATI/UEA – Amazonas”, which had the elderly, education, theater and quality of life as its axis. The aforementioned thesis carried out a descriptive cross-sectional study, with a quanti-qualitative approach, and made use of 220 interviews with elderly people, as well as applied the WHOQOL-BREF and WHOQOL-OLD tools, both approved by the World Health Organization, with the objective of measuring the quality of life of the elderly.

Conclusion:
After participating in the theater activities, the elderly reported an increase in their satisfaction with their lives; they said they felt happy that they had a place and an opportunity to fill up their previously idle time with activities that brought them pleasure, activities that were meaningful and fulfilling. The educational intervention through the performing arts can awaken different ways in the process of informing and rethinking pertinent subjects; and, faced with so many benefits and their social impacts, as well as considering the high number of elderly people estimated for the Brazilian society, it is expected that this segment will be the focus of public policies and actions, and that public administrators will be concerned with the formulation of proposals for the promotion of Permanent Education.

Keywords:

Elderly, Permanent Education, Theater.