The director and actor Pedro Penim presents DOING IT and confesses a secret passion that takes him very far across the sea of Internet. An innocent and obscure addiction that he never revealed before: his “island collection”. Pedro has been researching, collecting and systematizing information about several uninhabited and/or remote islands for a long time and this piece intends to stage a discourse that gives some clues about this interest in isolation, evasion and in the demarcation of space. In DOING IT, Pedro brings the spectators into the mind of someone who is constantly seeking and makes us think about our own obsessions. What do we do in secret on our computers when no one sees us?
PEDRO PENIM is one of the artistic directors of Teatro Praga collective. His work as a director and actor also extends to writing, conferences, translation and teaching and has been presented throughout the Portuguese territory as well as in France, Italy, Brazil, the United Kingdom, China, Germany, Spain, Slovakia, Turkey, Israel, Slovenia, Norway and Hungary. Recently, his play “Antes / Before” served as a script for the film “Past Perfect” by Jorge Jácome, integrated in the official selection of Berlinale 2019. Outside Teatro Praga he worked with the British company Forced Entertainment (Quizoola!, 2014), the Belgian company tg STAN (Point Blank, 1998), Ant Hampton and Tim Etchells (The Quiet Volume, 2012) and Nassim Suleimanpour (White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, 2019).
CREATION AND PERFORMANCE Pedro Penim
DOING IT is a project created within the Portuguese edition of the cycle Mis Documentos by Lola Arias at Teatro do Bairro Alto – TBA, Lisbon – February 2020.
CURATED BY Lola Arias
DRAMATURGY Bibiana Mendes Picado
SUPPORT ARTISTIC RESIDENCY Estúdios Victor Córdon
COPRODUCTION Teatro do Bairro Alto – TBA and Teatro Praga
islomania
noun
an obsessional enthusiasm or partiality for islands
Pedro Penim, founder and member of Teatro Praga, one of Portugal’s top theatre collectives, takes us on a deep dive into a man’s (his own) obsession with islands. He embarks on a virtual trip around some of the world’s most remote, and some unknown, spots.
“Doing it” was originally performed as part of the Mis documentos (My documents) cycle, comissioned by Argentinian director and playright Lola Arias and premiered at TBA (Teatro do Bairro Alto) in Lisbon.
The piece was created and performed in a pre-COVID time, almost in a prescient way, as one of the themes present is isolation, a feeling we’re all too familiar with these days. Also, it was easily transfered to the online world, a standard of performance watching since the beginning of the pandemic.
Penim employs a confessional tone throughout, where a sense of fragility comes through in a very effective way, pulling us in with him.
This is a journey you’ll want to take.
Pedro Mendes
CONTACTS
Daniela Ribeiro
Direcção de Produção Praga – Associação Cultural
producao@teatropraga.com
Phone 919271631
Website
www.teatropraga.com
Mickael de Oliveira was born in France, in 1984, and has lived in Portugal since 1999. In 2013, he got his Ph.D. in contemporary Portuguese and European dramaturgy from the School of Humanities – University of Lisbon, where he is post-doctoral fellow researching the presence of literature in contemporary theatre and dance. In 2008, Mickael founded Colectivo 84, the theatre company for which he develops playwriting and directing projects. His work O que é teu entregou aos mortais was distinguished with the Maria Matos New Playwriting Award (Maria Matos Municipal Theatre, 2007), and Clytemnestra received an Honorable Mention – António José da Silva Prize (D. Maria II National Theatre, Lisbon / FUNARTE, Brazil, 2012). Some of his most recent productions include Oslo–Fuck Them All and Everything Will Be Wonderful (co-created with Nuno M Cardoso, Gil Vicente Academic Theatre, São Luiz Municipal Theatre), The Constitution (2016, Dona Maria National Theatre), and the diptych Socrates Must Die (Socrates’ Death / The Life of John Smith, 2017/2018, Vila Flor Cultural Centre, São Luiz Municipal Theatre, Viriato Theatre, Gil Vicente Academic Theatre. Mickael has served as the artistic director of END – New Dramaturgy Encounters, a project that aims to foster new Portuguese and international playwriting (1st edition at the São Luiz Municipal Theatre, Lisbon, Nov. 2010; 2nd and 3rd editions at the Gil Vicente Academic Theatre, March, Coimbra, 2015/2019). He was Assistant Professor of Arts Administration and Artistic Studies at the School of Education and Humanities (Leiria), guest Lecturer at the School of Theatre and Film Studies (Lisbon), and guest Assistant Professor at the School of Humanities – University of Coimbra. From September 2011 to August 2015, Mickael was Assistant Artistic Director of the Gil Vicente Academic Theatre (Coimbra).
Patrícia Portela is a writer and performance maker born in 1974, living between Belgium and Portugal. She has a BA in set and costume design by the high school of theatre and cinema of Lisbon, a Masters of Arts in scenography and dramaturgy of space from the University of Utrecht and Saint Martins college of art in Antwerp, a post-graduation in theatricality and performativity from APT in Antwerp, a film stage at the European film school in Ebeltoft, Denmark, and a Masters in Philosophy of the University of Leuven, Belgium. Since 2003 she has worked on her own performances and installations in collaboration with international artists. She has achieved national and international recognition for her unusual work and is considered one of the most daring artists and innovative writers of her generation. She won the Revelation Prize in 1994 for her creative work in performance and cinema, the Prize Teatro na Década for T5 in 1999, the Gulbenkian Foundation Prize Madalena de Azeredo Perdigão for the performance Flatland I in 2004 and was one of the 5 finalists of the Sonae Media Art Prize 2015 with her installation Parasomnia, amongst other prizes. She has been invited to participate in the prestigious International Writing Program (IWP) at the University of Iowa in 2013 and to be the first Outreach Fellow. She was the first literary resident in Berlin in 2016, sponsored by the Portuguese Embassy in Germany/Instituto Camões. She lectures “dramaturgy and space” and “image” regularly at Universities and cultural centers in Portugal (such as University of Minho or University of Lisbon) and abroad (University of Antwerp, Escola de Escrita in Curitiba, etc). She is the author of several novels, short stories and performances, such as Dias úteis (2016, considered one of the books of the year by several reviewers) or Banquet (finalist at the Novel Prize of APE 2012). She is a chronicle writer for the prestigious Jornal de Letras since 2017 and for the National Radio Antena 1.
Rui Horta was one of the most influencial choreographers of his generation, his work being presented all over the world such as the Theatre de la Ville, that co-produced it for over a decade. He directed S.O.A.P. at the Mousonturm, and created for many companies such as NDT, Cullberg, Geneva, Gotemburg, etc. 
