In response to a ‘carte-blanche’ invitation by Mark Deputter to imagine an event for the Teatro São Luiz, a “day of multiple faces” came into being, a day with the potential to reflect the various elements that intertwine in my work: from the more formal ones, to the ones that denote a certain perspective on our being here in this world. As I was beginning the rehearsals for a new piece, I decided to turn this event into an inherent part of the creative process and vice-versa. Therefore, the people I invited are my collaborators on the piece, “the doers”, and a number of people whose thinking I admire and need, whom I will call “the thinkers”. But we are bound to
switch roles at some point in the work process… We’ll attempt to address two questions that, in my opinion, are encompassing and fundamental: 

- what do you think is important, maybe urgent, at this moment, in terms of our experiences, in this world and in the performance field?

- what do you feel should be present in performance works being done today?

Starting with lectures and film projections on the first two days and ending with a performance event, the programme is the result of a series of real and virtual encounters, exchanges and mutual “commissions” that the participants may have initiated several months ago or just a few days before the event. Formats and contents range from lectures to films, from politics to poetry, from thought to voice. All of us, together with the audience, will plunge into an interaction between thought and experience, reflection and action. We will try to turn this theatre into a mirror of our visions and yearnings.

Vera Mantero