“40 Years of Theater in the Azores”

By Valter Peres

Translated by Katharine F. Baker

Originally published in Portuguese in Diário Insular, December 27, 2016

“Theater cannot disappear because it’s the only art where humanity confronts itself.”

– Arthur Miller

It’s been 40 years since the Alpendre Theater Group first burst onto the scene. Guerras do Alecrim e da Manjerona [Wars between the Rosemary and the Marjoram] by António José da Silva served as the debut for a project that four decades later is in it for the long haul.

Forty-year-old theater groups are rare in Portugal. They can be counted on the fingers of one hand. A few days ago we found out that Cornucópia reported it was still around; others of Alpendre’s age are presently struggling to draw their last breaths in order to stay active. It is with great satisfaction that I congratulate Alpendre on its longevity.

These have been forty years of cultural life, with 98 works brought to the stage by a great number of people, among them actors, producers and directors. This is a feast day for the theater and for Azorean culture.

I take advantage of this date to honor all those who have built and supported this project. Since Álamo Oliveira planted the seed in 1976 there have been many who, at personal cost, have given of their energy to make 40 years of uninterrupted activity possible.

I know what it must have cost because theater requires the fullness of the senses, to total surrender, be it physical, emotional, intellectual or social.

When life is made in the theater, it becomes its own skin and we feel it is, as Federico García Lorca put it, “poetry that comes from the book to make itself human.” That is why Alpendre still remains alive today, precisely because it was the priority for all those who passed through it. To all of them, many thanks.

In addition to making people laugh and cry, theater is fundamental for a people’s cultural education; it is entertainment but also a form of social and political expression. Alpendre has done this over the years, and will continue to, every time someone takes the stage.

Contemporary life cannot afford to dispense with theater; to the contrary, it is enough for us to observe the conformity of society, its accommodation, selfishness and passivity in order to realize that we need more theater, not less.

After eight years as president of this useful public institution, the time has arrived to pass the baton to others. I do it with the joy of knowing that the team who will be leading this project at the start of 2017 will dedicate their full energies on behalf of Alpendre, as I always did.

To the Alpendre Theater Group and all the theatrical projects in this country, a toast to their determination to continue the cultural nurture of our society.

Lighthouse of the Word: Álamo Oliveira at 80
As we celebrate the 80th birthday of Álamo Oliveira—poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, and chronicler—FILAMENTOS honors the luminous path he has carved through Portuguese and Azorean literature. Born on May 2, 1945, in the heart of the Azores, Oliveira’s work transcends insularity and time, offering readers a language of resistance, memory, and profound human connection everywhere. Across genres, his voice rings clear in its defense of freedom, its insistence on justice, and its courage in dismantling taboos. His words are a persistent call to empathy and action, whether in verse or prose.

Oliveira’s literature is a beacon—a lighthouse in the storm of forgetting—guiding us not only through the landscapes of the Azores but also through the complex terrain of conscience and collective memory. His universal writing reveals the intimate wounds and dreams of his people, while at the same time inviting readers from all walks of life to confront their own truths. As FILAMENTOS publishes tributes, translations, and reflections on his prolific oeuvre, we celebrate Álamo Oliveira not only for the depth and breadth of his work but also for his unwavering belief in literature as a force to humanize us all.