ONE MILLION WORDS
Production History
May 21, 2026 — Los Angeles, California / Art Share L.A. / LA Tour
April 24 – May 3, 2026 — Pasadena, California / Sierra Madre Playhouse / West Coast Premiere – LA Tour
Opening night featured pianist Vicki Ray, followed by a conversation with Vicki Ray and Artistic Director Matt Cook.
March 29, 2026 — Santa Monica, California / Odyssey Theatre Ensemble / Threshold of Invention Series – LA Tour
Followed by a conversation with curator Tony Abatemarco and actor/director Darrell Larson.
March 14, 2026 — San Pedro, California / Collage: A Place for Art and Culture / LA Tour
Followed by a conversation with Artistic Director Richard Foss.
February 22, 2026 — Santa Monica, California / Church in Ocean Park / Site-specific performance – LA Tour
December 4, 2025 — Northridge, California / California State University, Northridge
Followed by a conversation with Adrian Perez-Boluda, Ph.D. (Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures).
January 2025 — New York, USA / Torn Page / 12-performance immersive workshop of the English-language version at the historic home of Geraldine Page and Rip Torn.
Followed by conversations with authors Rachel Cobert, Jennifer Firestone,
Brazilian production Version 2: RILKE
2020–2021 — Online performances during the COVID-19 pandemic expanded the project’s reach to audiences outside Brazil.
April–May 2019 — São Paulo, Brazil / SESC Pinheiros
January 2019 — São Paulo, Brazil / Espaço Parlapatões / 4ª Mostra de Solos
December 2018 — São Paulo, Brazil / Biblioteca Mário de Andrade / Premiere of the new stage version RILKE commissioned by the library.
Version 1: LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET
A solo show by Ivo Müller
Directed by Arieta Correa 🎭
Rilke – One Million Words connects an actor in the present with a poet from the past. It tells the story of a writer who, for nearly a year, struggles to create poetry and can only express himself through letters. An actor uses these letters to navigate his own challenges as an immigrant in a country where even his name feels foreign, shaking the foundations of his identity. Together, the poet and the actor explore themes of love, the creative process, and a sense of not belonging, highlighting the importance of being grounded in the present moment—topics that resonate deeply in today’s world.
OUR TEAM/NY 2025
Ivo Müller, actor/producer/writer/set design
Arieta Correa, director
Mariana Goulart, assistant director
Luana Frez Ichikawa, Nara Chaib Mendes, stage managers Lucca Del Carlo, lighting and video projection design Sophia April Grose, costume designer John Zalewski, sound designer Michaela Eremiasova, composer Leonardo Junqueira, graphic designer
Domingas Person, Helena Sroulevich, Daniel Knight, associated producers
Carolina Moreira, assistant producer
Thiago Leoni, filmmaker/behind the scenes
RILKE - 2018/2022
Besides my work on film and with group theater, I have a solo performance research on the works of poet Rainer Maria Rilke. It started in 2010 with “Letters to a Young Poet”, based on the famous letters Rilke wrote to a young man who wanted to be a writer. This “first version” had puppets on stage, a reference to Tadeusz Kantor works. It was performed for 4 years, in venues in São Paulo and many cities across Brazil.
In 2011 TV Cultura recorded a Television Version. You can watch it on Youtube and have an idea of how it was on stage.
In 2018, I decided to recreate the piece, making a much more simple version: an actor, a desk, and a bunch of envelopes. The new version is called simply RILKE, and the poet breaks the fourth wall, speaking to the audience.
This second version was performed for two years. During the pandemic of Covid-19, in 2020, I performed a version on-line, streamed on Instagram and on Zoom.
Actor/Author: Ivo Müller
Based on the works of poet Rainer Maria Rike
Director: Arieta Correa
Assistant director: Juliana Navarro
Light design: Cesar Baptista
Light operator: Vânia Jaconis
Sound editing: Vitor Bathaus
Set design: Rilke collective and
Galpão Base
Wardrobe: Domingas Person
Photos: Priscila Prade
LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET - 2010/2013
Author: Rainer Maria Rilke
Cast: Ivo Müller
Collaborative directors: Claudio Cabral and Arieta Corrêa
Light Designer: Davi de Brito e Vânia Jaconis
Costume: Domingas Person
Original Soundtrack: Gustav Mahler
Stagehand, editing and sound operation: Daniel Becker
Art graphic web: Mauro Ventura
Photos: Betina Humeres
Producer: Helena Sroulevich, Domingas Person and Fernando De Marchi
Realization: Blau!, Caribe Produções and Lauper Films.
All the info about this version is here.
