Venue: Teatro Maria Matos
Town: Alvalade, PT

The Maria Matos Theatre (Portuguese: Teatro Maria Matos) is a theatre located in the civil parish of Alvalade, in the municipality and Portuguese capital of Lisbon. Originally, the building was designed by the architect Fernando Ramalho. The construction of the theatre occurred between 1963 and 1969, a project authored by architect Barros da Fonseca; a bold architectural project for the time, the site consisted of a fifteen-story building, that integrated a hotel, a theater and a cinema. The theatre Maria Matos was inaugurated on 22 October 1969, under the direction of its artistic director Igrejas Caeiro, presenting the piece Tombo no Inferno, by Aquilino Ribeiro in honor of an actress of great prestige, Maria Matos. On its stage passed, during the 1970s and early 1980s, various companies, namely the theatrical company of RDP (Portuguese: Companhia de Teatro da RDP) under the direction of artistic director Artur Ramos, and the Portuguese Cooperative Theatre Repertory (Portuguese: Repertório-Cooperativa Portuguesa de Teatro) under its director Armando Cortez. On 24 September 1982, the theatre was acquired by the municipal council of Lisbon, resulting in the loss of its resident company and passing to the regime of independent theatre companies and those smaller groups involved in theatre, dance and music. In 2003, the management of Maria Matos was passed to the municipal company EGEAC Empresa de Gestão de Equipamentos e Animação Cultural (Company for the Management of Equipment and Cultural Animation). Due to its state of degradation, in August 2004, renovations and interventions began at the site to remodel the cultural spaces conferring on the theatre a new identity with better conditions for events. The project included the remodelling of the main hall and backstage, improved acoustics, illumination, climate control, reinforcing security measures and removing architectural barriers in the interior. The Municipal Theatre Maria Matos reopened to the public on 27 Ma