Theater, Dance and Performances

Theatre, dance, performance art, and multimedia productions formed an important part of Foundation OBRAS' programme. Some performances were presented independently, while others accompanied exhibitions or residency presentations. They ranged from intimate experimental works at Herdade da Marmeleira to larger productions in collaboration with theatres and cultural institutions in Évora and Lisbon. The following selection provides an impression of the performances presented by Foundation OBRAS.

Global Move
An improvisational dance performance by Manuela Tessi (Italy) and Nicolle Vieira (Brazil), accompanied by music by Vintani Nafassi (Mozambique). Dressed in black and white, the two dancers began with slow, solitary movements, as though searching for something. Gradually, the tempo increased, and their individual movements developed into a dynamic duet.

21 September 2025.
Patio of Herdade da Marmeleira, Evoramonte, Portugal.
A full video recording of the performance is available.

24 postcards.
A theatrical performance was presented by STEPHAN PELTON (dancer, choreographer), BRIAN THORSTENSON (writer) and TIM GLEASON (visual artist).
The artists contemplated life-long friendship as influenced by AIDS, Covid and distance.  
For this event the big hall of Marmeleira has been transformed into one multi-genre art work.

3 September 2023
Location: Foundation OBRAS, Herdade da Marmeleira, N18, Evoramonte
Duration: 40 minutes.
A video of this performance is published on Vimeo.  

O riso dos necrófagos.
musical theatre production by Teatro GRIOT.

Directing, text, staging: Zia Soares.
Actors: Benvindo Fonseca, Vera Cruz, Marcus Veiga, Binete Undonque, Daniel Martinho, Nuno Santos, Gio Lourenço ans Zia Soares.
Music: Mick Trovoada. Composition and sound design: Nuno Santos.
Scenery and costumes: Neusa Trovoada. Choreography: Lucília Raimundo.
Video and photography: António Castelo and Sofia Berberan.

The drama tells about the Batepá massacre in 1953 in São Tomé, a former Portuguese Island in the Atlantic Ocean. Hundreds of forros (native creoles) were massacred by the colonial administration and Portuguese landowners. The forros were mostly cacao farmers and refused to work as contract laborers on the building projects of the Portuguese governor. These projects were initially meant to improve living conditions and local economy, but turned into megalomaniac buildings.
The governor considered this unrest as a communistic conspiracy and mobilized the army and workers from Angola, Mozambique and Cape Verde to stop the protests. This quickly turned into a bloodbath: hundreds of forros were killed, tens were burned alive or tortured to death. Most bodies were dumped in the sea. 
The governor was forced to return to Lisbon where he was praised and got a promotion. Seven forros were convicted for killing two police men. An official investigation proved that there was no communist conspiracy.

Rehearsals: 7- 13 September 2020: Herdade da Marmeleira, Evoramonte, Portugal.
Premiere: 12 February 2021 at Culturgest, Lisbon, Portugal

Lakeside.
Karen Bernard (USA) did a theatrical performance centred on a courtroom trial. She portrayed a desperate defendant, while a live video link connected the audience with an actor in New York, who appeared as a witness during the proceedings.

28 October 2019. 
Herdade da Marmeleira, N18, Evoramonte, Portugal

Feeling Home.
Gwenn Sampé (France) did a musical performance exploring the despair of social exclusion and the longing to be accepted.

26 September 2019.
Herdade da Marmeleira, N18, Evoramonte, Portugal

NYAR KAKAN: I Contain Multitudes
A dance performance by Phyllis Akinyi (Denmark), inspired by flamenco. Percussion by Stephan Jarl (Sweden).

6 June 2019.
Patio of the Palácio de Barrocal, Évora, Portugal.

I Am the Size of What I See
A live quadraphonic multimedia performance based on the writings of Fernando Pessoa during the First World War. Developed and performed by DOGON, a musical collaboration between Paul Godwin (USA) and Miguel Ángel Noya (Venezuela), with multimedia projections by Ameera Godwin (USA).

6 October 2018.
Patio of the Palácio de Barrocal, Évora, Portugal.

Matthew Manowsky (USA) did a light and sound show on the occasion of the opening of Diaspora, an Exhibition of Kevin Morrow.

23 September 2017.
Castelo de Evoramonte, Evoramonte, Portugal. 

Dancing in Diaspora
At the opening of Kevin Morrow's exhibition, Márcio Pereira (Portugal) performed a dance piece that began approximately 200 metres from the exhibition venue, visible only through its windows, and culminated at the dining table that formed the exhibition's central installation.

23 September 2017.
Castelo de Evoramonte, Evoramonte, Portugal.

Don't Stop Wanting
A site-specific happening by Ruby Fiedler and Peter Emptage (Australia), staged in the ruins of the watermill at the Ribeira de Terra.

15 May 2016.
Pego do Sino, Evoramonte, Portugal.
A video impression is available.

The Profit of Seville
A musical theatre piece by Elena Cheah (USA) and Raphaëlle Oskar (Croatia).
The work tells the story of a boy who discovers that his parents have concealed a profound secret: although they have raised him as a Christian, his father is Jewish and his mother is Muslim. The revelation shatters his sense of identity and leaves him questioning the authenticity of his entire world.

30 August 2016.
Igreja de São Vicente, Évora, Portugal.
A video impression is available.

O Teatro de Passagem
A site-specific happening initiated by Bart Dorst (The Netherlands; murals), with contributions by Josef Kleindienst (Austria; theatre), Regan Halas (USA; music and murals), Ingrid Simons (The Netherlands; video), Kris Williamson (Malaysia; poetry), and Tim Pettit (USA; music).

24 May 2016.
Abandoned railway station, Evoramonte, Portugal.
A video impression is available.

IT IS OK
A try-out of a musical theatre production by Elena Cheah (USA) and Raphaëlle Oskar (Croatia). The work explores multicultural identity while offering a critique of the contemporary Western ideal that every individual must be unique and constantly feel exceptional.

13 September 2015.
Herdade da Marmeleira, Evoramonte, Portugal.

Telma Santos and Marcio Perreira did a dance improvisation in the garden of the Palácio dos Duques de Cadaval in Évora.  It was part of the site-specific-dancing workshop by Karen Kerkhoven (Australia).

September 2007.
Jardim do Paço. Evora, Portugal

Parts and Pieces
Combining video, performance, music, and a large hay installation, Paola Lobreiato (Italy) explored the relationship between reality and the inner world. The performance reflected on the formation of memory, the influence of perception on emotion, and the way our senses mediate between external reality and personal truth.

11 September 2015.
Herdade da Marmeleira, Evoramonte, Portugal.

Barinamo
The South Korean artist duo Bari Kim (dancer and poet) and Namo Jungmin (dancer and visual artist) presented two performances: Poong-gyung, at the Castle of Evoramonte (23 September 2014), and N18 Evoramonte, at Herdade da Marmeleira (27 September 2014).

See the Barinamo page for an impression.

Aiando
A multimedia performance combining live performance, sound, and projected images by Nuno Veiga (Portugal) and Melina Peña (Mexico), exploring the experience of living as global nomads.

22 August 2014.
Castle of Evoramonte, Portugal.

Divina Commedia 2.0
A site-specific theatre production staged in the abandoned Gradinha marble quarry, directed by Miira Sippola (Finland). The international cast included actors from Portugal, Finland and Japan.
Inspired by Dante Alighieri's fourteenth-century epic Divina Commedia, the production reinterpreted the journey from Hell through Purgatory to Paradise in a contemporary context. At its centre was a family in crisis: a child, her mother and, above all, her father, João. Trapped in his own obsessions and inner conflicts, João had become emotionally disconnected from his daughter. The performance followed his struggle to understand his mind and escape the prison of his thoughts in search of greater harmony, love and beauty.
The marble quarry itself functioned as a powerful metaphor for the human mind: a landscape of both beauty and darkness, at once inaccessible and inviting, containing its own versions of hell and paradise. An important source of inspiration for the production was the life and poetry of the Portuguese poet Florbela Espanca.
All four performances were sold out.

4–7 July 2012.
Gradinha Marble Quarry, Vila Viçosa, Portugal.

The Lost World of Marmoros
Dan and Trish Scott (United Kingdom) presented a performance in which they posed as archaeologists reporting on the results of their excavations in an abandoned marble quarry. Their fictional research revealed that these quarries were in fact cathedrals of the Marmoros, a prehistoric people who believed that God dwelt deep within the earth.

12 September 2008.
Courtyard of the heritage association Pró-Évora, Rua do Salvador, Évora, Portugal.

More info: marmoros