By acknowledging the role of specific aesthetic influences on their artistic trajectory, the creative output of artists reveals their background, their way of developing expressive strategies based on these background references, and the affirmation of their creative autonomy. One of the main challenges for contemporary artists is to give specific meaning to their research topics.

The aim of the present study is to address. contemporary Brazilian experience in theater by discussing the trajectory of the Teatro Máquina and their play Nossos Mortos (Our Dead), written in 2018. To this end, we explore how this group has been developing its own language, raising possible connections with Brechtian practices based on the poetic materials that were important for the play's development. The article addresses not only the main scenes of Nossos Mortos and the importance of the different materials in this play (other plays, travels, stories, songs, use of body and voice) but also the decisive facts, such as the massacre of Sítio Caldeirão da Santa Cruz do Deserto and the lessons learned in the analysis of Antigonemodell 1948 (i.e., the modelbook of Brecht's production of Antigone in 1948). Therefore, our purpose is to contribute to the discussion on the epic theater's legacy for contemporary theater.

Teatro Máquina was founded in the city of Fortaleza, Ceará, in northeastern Brazil. The group started in 2003 and has been working continuously to build and maintain its repertoire, to develop training projects, and to write and produce new plays. For this group of artists, currently consisting of Fabiano Verísimo, Fran Teixeira, Levy Mota, Loreta Dialla, Luiza Rios, and Marcio Medeiros, creative practices are also political practices. Teatro Máquina is part of. theater group movement that started in 2000 in Fortaleza and that aims to develop continuous work, to affirm shared creations, and to struggle not only for spaces that offer adequate working conditions for rehearsals, research, and the archiving of previous productions but also for regular income of the groups’ members. Teatro Máquina’s theatrical performances are based on collaborative practices. Artists perform multiple roles in the group's creative and organizational routines.