An Atlas of Theatrical Aesthetics

ATLAS – Performing Arts Training Programme offers a series of learning and artistic exploration pathways within the landscape of contemporary performance.

Structured around four complementary strands, it balances theory and practice to foster broad knowledge, technical skills, critical reflection, and creative autonomy.

ATLAS invites participants to shape their own trajectories across performance analysis, dramaturgy, scenography, acting, body and voice work, and authorial creation.

AXIS 1 — Contemporary Directing and Dramaturgy

History and Aesthetics of Theatre

A journey through the major aesthetic transformations of modern and contemporary theatre, reflecting on the movements, languages and ideas that continue to shape artistic creation today. The course provides critical tools to approach theatre as an artistic and cultural practice in constant transformation.

Fundamentals of Directing

An exploration of the core principles of stage directing, focusing on the development of the artistic gaze, the composition of the stage and the relationship between actor, space and dramaturgy. A space for both reflection and practice on the art of shaping the theatrical event.

Dramaturgy and Scenic Composition

A training dedicated to dramaturgical construction and stage creation, exploring contemporary processes of composition through different performative devices and artistic strategies.

AXIS 2 — Visual Composition and Scenic Space

Scenography Masterclass — A Place to Transform Time

Drawing from the artistic trajectory of José Manuel Castanheira, this masterclass approaches scenic space as a territory of thought and creation. Scenography emerges as an expanded practice intersecting architecture, dramaturgy and sensory experience, exploring how space, matter and light shape and transform theatrical time.

Workshop on Stage Lighting and Lighting Design

A practical workshop dedicated to stage lighting as both artistic language and technical craft. Participants explore fundamental principles of light, equipment operation and the creation of visual atmospheres, articulating technical experimentation with aesthetic thinking.

AXIS 3 — Acting Practices

THEATRICALITY

A training focused on exploring theatricality as the practice of the actor-artist, developing sensory awareness, presence and consciousness of action on stage. Through exercises centred on gaze, focus, choral dynamics and collective improvisation, participants investigate the relationship between body, space and dramaturgy, deepening their ability to construct a precise, conscious and expressive stage presence.

Meyerhold’s Biomechanics

An introduction to one of the foundational techniques of twentieth-century physical theatre, exploring precision, rhythm and bodily awareness as fundamental elements in the construction of stage action.

Introduction to the Actor’s Work

A workshop centred on the fundamentals of acting, articulating body, voice and intention. The training develops essential tools for building stage presence and expressive capacity.

Viewpoints & Physical Action

A practice dedicated to developing perception, spatial composition and ensemble awareness. Through physical action and the Viewpoints method, participants explore time, movement and collective listening as key engines of performative creation.

AXIS 4 — POP Laboratories

Familie Flöz Workshop

A practical laboratory dedicated to the mask as a theatrical device, led by one of the most internationally acclaimed companies working with this technique. Exploring the relationship between gesture, body and presence, the workshop creates a space for experimentation that expands physical expressivity and character creation.

Cie Mossoux-Bonté Workshop

A training led by one of the leading companies in European visual theatre, exploring the intersections between dance, image and contemporary theatricality through an approach centred on movement and collective creation.

APOIOS FINANCEIROS - PDL26 E DRAC