João Brites

João Brites (b. 1947) attended Liceu Pedro Nunes (1957-65) and A Gravura (1963-66), where his teachers included Alice Jorge, Hogan, Rossini Perez, Carmen Garcia, and William Hayter. He obtained political refugee status from the UN after being banned from studying.

At the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels (1966-71), he graduated in printmaking with a Gulbenkian scholarship. His work is represented in the Centro de Arte Moderna and other European museums. He held solo printmaking exhibitions. He worked as a cultural animator, scenographer, and puppeteer, eventually creating the Théâtre Inti (1972-74) in Brussels.

Upon his return, he founded Teatro O Bando (1974), which prioritises the relationship with children, avoiding a reductive approach to content and aesthetic standards. As a dramaturg, he adapts non-dramatic texts; as a director, he encourages the construction of extravagant characters; as a scenographer, he sketches dramatographies to exercise the interdependence of actors with materials and polysemic Stage Machines. As a result of these activities, he was appointed commissioner of the Portuguese Official Representation at the Prague Quadrennial (2011).

He has received several awards while working with actors such as Horácio Manuel, Paula Só, Antónia Terrinha, Raul Atalaia, Nicolás Brites, Sara de Castro, Rita Brito, and Juliana Pinho. He writes annually one of the nine volumes of Atriz e Ator Artistas, published since 2023 by Teatro Nacional D. Maria II.