Stage Direction + Text + Set & Costumes Design
Set & Cotumes Design Sketches
Musical Theatre | Andaluz
A new production for the Centennial Celebrations of the Congregation of the Servants of Our Lady of Fatima | Music > Paulo Jorge Pires | Book & Lyrics > Liliana Moreira, Pedro Ribeiro | Stage Director & Set, Costumes Designer > Pedro Ribeiro | Music Director > Paulo Jorge Pires Pires | Light Designer > Pedro Abreu | Cast > Ines Ferreira, Patricia Quinta, Ana Stillwell, Andre Lourenço, Catia Pimpista, Maria Mascarenhas, Maria Prata | Ensemble > Alice Resende, Aurora Raposo, Bruna Peças, Claudia Rosa, Constança Barreira, Ines Teles, Madalena Almeida, Martin Frere, Miguel Pina, Rita Branco; Amelia Cortes, Concha Cortes, Domingos Camarate, Joao Camarate, Luz Camarate, Luz Cortes, Madalena Baptista, Marta Moser, Rosa Sousa | Orchestra > Leonor Palha,Marta Conceicao, Precilia Diamantino, Sara Abreu, Manuel Francisco, Ana Baganha, Bruna Moreira, Maria Eira, Andre Nadais | Production > Armando Calado Prod. | S.Joao de Brito Auditorium – Lisbon; C.P.Paulo VI Auditorium – Fatima; Sa da Bandeira Theatre – Santarem, PTG | © Images by Paulo Sabino & Rafaela do Valle | 2023
Director’s note
“There was a long corridor with no lights and I, as a little girl, was afraid to cross it, but with a quick run I would get to the end of it.” Luiza says, in her own words, that during her childhood she needed to go through this corridor to get to the “ironing room” – where the maids were working – to read them stories from the bible.
Luiza’s life permanently reminds us that the fear of darkness is something temporary… At the end of a “corridor/challenge,” there is always the warm embrace of light. The book that Luiza Andaluz wrote, “The Congregation History”, was the imaginative starting point for text, music, staging, set, and costumes. This book immersed me in hundreds of key moments of our national history. Because it is in the light of Portugal’s history that Luiza’s life story truly becomes dramatic and dazzling.
Thus we follow the path to understand the fascination, the love, and why a young woman from Portuguese high society ended her active life as a servant at the Sanctuary of Fatima and along the way founded one of the first religious congregations after the 5 October 1910 revolution. But this production doesn’t just live thanks to one book. It also lives on thanks to the Luiza Andaluz Knowledge Centre / where we navigated history through objects; and also thanks to the inexplicable energy of the women who continue to turn the helm of her vision, filled with confidence and love. It was by bringing people together in the history, the exchange of ideas, the freedom of action and of imagination – and with the affection of a smile – that today we are here celebrating the extraordinary life of a woman – as they all are.
By Pedro Ribeiro