The transfer of Teatro Lethes to ACTA-The Algarve Theater Company was made official last week, with the signing of a loan agreement between the Algarve theater company and the Câmara de Faro. In addition to being a resident company, ACTA becomes responsible for the space management and programming.
On the same day that it hosted Teatro Lethes, the theater company also formalized a partnership with the association Grémio das Músicas, also based in the Algarve capital, to launch "an ambitious Jazz program".
ACTA admits that the work it proposed could be "Herculean", since the "target audience of ACTA, the main consumer of culture, has been - and in an aggravated way will continue to be - the most penalized by the austerity measures ». The reference to Greek mythology is not by chance, since Lethes “is the river that calms the souls of those who have died, that summons them to the oblivion of earthly hardships”.
«In any case, ACTA believes in a path of hope, of resistance, and in this belief it is accompanied by Grémio das Músicas, an association also based in Faro, directed by musician Zé Eduardo, to whom ACTA confers the responsibility for programming in the Jazz area», the same document reads.
The gaze is set on the future and the change is significant, but ACTA made a point of showing that it has not forgotten the path taken so far. Teatro Lethes will have a mascot, closely linked to the history of the theater company, «o Jorge».
This is the name “of a large mask, a survivor of a show that ACTA produced twelve years ago, and which was created by the then actor and puppet artist Jorge Soares”, revealed the company.
«This is a fun, tender and socially useful way to pay tribute to Jorge. We symbolically perpetuate his relationship with us, it's as if he's here every day, and at the same time establishes a relationship with the public, which was an aspect that Jorge greatly emphasized», illustrated ACTA director Luís Vicente.
«He was at the foundation of VATe, our Educational Service, he was the one who brought to ACTA the aspect of work with animated forms, which today we develop with great national and international success. Afterwards, the mask is very well made, it was a craftsman's work very well conceived and carried out», he added.
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