A Activist Theatre Club will be born at Coliseu Porto Ageas

Coliseu launched the Activist Theatre Club, a project that unites and reinforces two founding areas of this institution – art and activism. Registrations open this Thursday and the sessions will take place between November 14, 2024, and July 3, 2025.

The launch of the Activist Theatre Club marks the beginning of the celebrations for the 30th anniversary of the Association Friends of Coliseu do Porto, whose origins are a living example of spontaneous popular activism in defence of this Theatre. And if it was in the street that “The Coliseu is ours!” was shouted, it is to the street that the Coliseu now opens, returning that activism which is a cornerstone of its History.

Driven by the Educational Service of Coliseu, the Activist Theatre Club will have artistic direction and guidance from actor, director, and teacher Pedro Lamares, from Porto. The goal is to create a free space for thought and debate, allowing art to guide action and thought to guide art. In this Club, everyone will give voice and body to a manifesto that aims to be disruptive, with artistic manifestations taking place in Coliseu and the city.

“With the Activist Theatre Club, a space opens in Coliseu Porto Ageas where theatre enlarges in action, where the stage expands to the lives of citizens, where the script emerges from the headlines and crosses everyone in an urgency for freedom, authenticity, commitment, and critical thinking,” explains Miguel Guedes, President of Coliseu.

“This project not only reinforces our mission of promoting art as a vehicle for change and social awareness: it keeps alive the memory of a space that belongs to everyone, and which since 1941 has opened its doors to those who love and defend the central role that culture can represent in everyone’s life,” he emphasizes.

Participants with or without artistic experience, aged 15 and older, are welcome. The sessions will be weekly and will take place every Thursday after work hours. Registrations are open and can be made until November 10 at www.coliseu.pt.

About the Association Friends of Coliseu do Porto

The Association Friends of Coliseu do Porto is a non-profit and public utility entity. It was founded in 1995 by public and private institutions, companies, collectives, and hundreds of people from Porto, the region, and the country, to prevent this Theatre from becoming a place of religious worship. In 2025, Coliseu will celebrate the 30th anniversary of this founding popular movement, a unique example of unity and resistance, which allows, to this day, the doors of this Theatre – one of the largest and most emblematic in the country – to continue to welcome around 300,000 spectators annually, of all ages, nationalities, beliefs, and social origins, in shows and events from all artistic areas.

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