Since September, the season dedicated to performance, art, and conversation, inspired by the artistic movements of absurdism and surrealism, has provided 15 events for audiences on the island of Pico. This year, it celebrates the centenary of the Surrealist Manifesto of 1924.

This weekend, November 8 and 9, MiratecArts is presenting 6 events at the Madalena Auditorium Library to close the season. On Friday, starting at 7:30pm, the Pieter Adriaans painting exhibition “Dreams” opens at the entrance to the cultural center of the youngest town on the island of Pico. A conference led by Sara Massa takes us to the absurd world of Samuel Beckett, a significant influence on the performances that take to the stage of the Madalena Auditorium over the weekend.

Two theater companies are presenting their works inspired by the theme from the island of Terceira. Grupo de Teatro A Sala presents Manuel Halpern’s play, “Palco”, with Bárbara Loução and Margarida Ferreira. The Cães do Mar company returns to Pico with “inBOX 0.2” by Diana Rosa and Ana Brum. Both performances take place on Friday from 9pm, while Terry Costa, artistic director of MiratecArts, brings two new experiments to the stage on Saturday. The first, “Fragmentos,” with actress Andreia Melo from Jorgão, explores the world of the writings of the 20th century’s greatest thinker, Beckett, while the second performance, “Disjecta,” with dancer Maria João Albuquerque, from Faial, and performers Cleiton Silva and Samuel Monteiro, from Pico, extracts surrealist images presented in the style of the theater of the absurd. “It’s been an adventurous season,” admits Terry Costa, “as we learn in ways that aren’t so widely explored in these parts. Taking on a project like this has been challenging but rewarding.”

SURREABSURDO, the season of performance, art, and conversation, thus closes next Saturday, November 9, with the original program, created on the island of Pico, at 9pm in the Madalena Auditorium. “There have been 15 events, with MiratecArts collaborators from 5 islands in the Azores, an experience that has borne fruit that could go on to other stages in the archipelago,” says Terry Costa. SURREABSURDO was made possible with the local support of various businesses, Cella Bar and Madalena Town Hall, and the support of the Regional Directorate for Culture. www.miratecarts.com

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks the Luso-American Education Foundation for sponsoring FILAMENTOS.