A Barraca is a Portuguese theatre company founded 1975 and directed by Hélder Costa and leading actress Maria do Céu Guerra. It is based at the Teatro Cinearte on 2 Largo de Santos, Lisbon.

Venue: A Barraca
Town: Lisbon, PT

A Barraca is a Portuguese theatre company founded 1975 and directed by Hélder Costa and leading actress Maria do Céu Guerra. It is based at the Teatro Cinearte on 2 Largo de Santos, Lisbon. The company was founded in 1975 by actress and stage director Maria do Céu Guerra and director Mario Alberto. It belonged to an emerging movement of experimental independent theater companies located mainly in Lisbon. During 1976 the group spent most of its time touring the country. The Europa Year Book of 1983 listed it as one of the main Portuguese theater companies of the period following the Carnation Revolution of 25 April 1974. The group was described at the time as the most popular of the independent theater companies in Portugal. Maria do Céu Guerra and stage director and playwright Hélder Costa have managed the company since its foundation. Costa has written, transcribed and staged many of the shows presented by the group. During his time of exile in Lisbon, the Brazilian playwright Augusto Boal participated in directing the company. He left a strong influence on the group's repertoire. The actor Mário Viegas first appeared with the company. In 1976 the company moved to precarious facilities at the top of Rua Alexandre Herculano, near the Largo do Rato. In 1989 they were granted the Cinearte theater in Largo de Santos by the Lisbon City Council for a period of 25 years. The theater was also used as a cafe-concert space. On 4 March 2011 the theater group celebrated 35 years with a party that feted two of the leading figures in its history, Augusto Boal and the actress Fernanda Alves. Rita Lello put on a special staging of the play Angel City by Sam Shepard. The theatrical productions of A Barraca are mainly adaptations of historical and political subjects to the popular, traditional and modern format of narrative theater. The company has a special focus on national production, due to the subsidies allocated to it by the state. A Barraca debuted in March 1976 in the Incrív