Portuguese Association of Theatre Critics
The Portuguese Association of Theatre Critics or Associação Portuguesa de Críticos de Teatro (APCT) is the leading theatrical critic association in Portugal. Although it dates back to before the 25th of April 1974, it was formally established on 28 November 1984. Its head office is located at 31 Avenida Duque de Loulé, in Lisbon.
The association was founded by Luiz Francisco Rebello, Carlos Porto, Fernando Midões, Jorge Listopad, Manuela de Azevedo, Maria Helena Serôdio, José Valentim Lemos, Maria Helena Dá Mesquita, Mário Sério, Orlando Neves, Tito Lívio and José Manuel da Nóbrega.
The formal entry of the Portuguese Association of Theatre Critics internationally occurred in 1987 in East Berlin, at the Tenth Congress of the International Association of Theatre Critics, and was then represented by the Association members Maria Helena and Eugenia Serôdio Vasques.
The Portuguese Association of Theater Critics has developed its activities in various ways, actively intervening in the allocation of annual premiums, and the organization of (and participation in) meetings, seminars and conferences, both nationally and internationally.
Since 1990, and in various forms, the Portuguese Association of Theater Critics been actively participating in many of the initiatives of the International Association; it was represented in the Executive Committee from 1990 to 1992, when Helena Serôdio was elected as Secretary General, having been successively re-elected in 1994 and 1996. In 1998 she was elected Honorary Secretary General and later passed to direct the International Seminars for young critics. Many young critics and scholars of Portuguese theatre participated in some of these seminars, in several countries.
The most recent Congress of the International Association of Theater Critics, iwas held in October 2003 in Bucharest, when the Portuguese came to join the Executive Committee, represented by Paulo Eduardo Carvalho.