Tapping into Imagination

Tiago Rodrigues has been a prolific initiator of projects since the very start of his career—not just in his home of Portugal but across Europe, where he has pursued numerous collaborations and received many honours and awards. In 2003, he and his partner Magda Bizarro founded the company Mundo Perfeito, with which he created around 30 shows. These have been performed in over 20 countries, including two appearances in Montreal at the invitation of Festival TransAmériques. After his tenure as artistic director of the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II in Lisbon from 2015 to 2021, Rodrigues took over the reins of the Festival d’Avignon in September 2022, becoming the first foreign artist to helm the prestigious French institution.

A charismatic actor, director, scriptwriter, instructor, and—perhaps first and foremost—author, Rodrigues has an open, contemporary view of writing, which involves shaping the work in collaboration with the performers and leads him to revisit classics, adapt novels, delve into myths, and mix fiction with reality. At the heart of Rodrigues’s approach is a vision of theatre as a gathering of people. With each work, he aims to rediscover what is truly vital in a particular story and its staging, producing shows stripped of artifice that use the poetry of the world as their raw material.

At an early stage of her journey, she had the opportunity to collaborate on Avoir 20 ans en 2015 by Wajdi Mouawad, which expanded her horizons through theatre. She often takes part in collective creative projects, including multiple collaborations with the site-specific, community-based art company CréActifs. In her work, she interrogates the impulse to violence and the nature of love via her surreal imagination.

Drawing on her academic background in linguistics, feminist studies, and dramaturgy, she is sensitive to the echoes between art, politics, and society. Evelyne has worked as a dramaturgical consultant with Frédéric Dubois, Théâtre PÀP, and Marie Brassard.

Her academic career at the National Theatre School and her participation in a number of theatre creation projects, laboratories, and workshops with young people from different backgrounds bear witness to her unfailing commitment. She aspires to create art that reflects the beauty and diversity of society.

Her work hinges on a constant questioning of the idiosyncrasies of human beings and their role in community. Originally from Mexico, she trained as a performer at the Autonomous University of Puebla and acted in a number of national and international productions. After moving to Montreal, she directed VOIX at the Théâtre aux Écuries (2015), and Mateï Visniec’s Migraaaant at the Théâtre Prospero and on tour in Montreal (2019–2023). She is a founding member of the interdisciplinary arts collective Ludotek-Art.