"It has completely changed my life," Margarida Fonseca admitted to the Lusa agency. She started going to the Teatro Viriato to take contemporary dance classes with dancers from the Paulo Ribeiro Company and watch shows, and ended up being invited to be a room assistant.

After returning to Viseu after finishing her higher education in Coimbra, she found in the Teatro Viriato the space that allowed her to give free rein to her "desire to drink culture".

Before being a room assistant, she also ran the café that existed in the 'foyer', open even during the day and where there was music and books available.

"I miss that time in the 'foyer' so much," Margarida admitted, regretting that this café concept did not take off, perhaps because "people were not used to it".

Ana Bento, founder of the cultural association Gira Sol Azul and creator of several musical projects, also recalled with longing the enthusiasm of those times, both for the classes she had with the company's dancers and for the programming that became available, thus avoiding trips to Coimbra, Porto or Lisbon.

"Since the theater opened its doors and the Paulo Ribeiro Company became the resident company, practically every day of the week there was a dancer who had a class and I went to all of them," she said.

The programming was also used to the maximum: "As I was very young, despite already doing a lot of things, I had a little more free time than I do now and I would go to see everything I could".

"We lived in a desert and, suddenly, an oasis appears there that is real," stressed Ana Bento, adding that until then "there was no training in the artistic field and, suddenly, every day there was an opportunity to be in contact with professionals, to experiment and learn with them".

To this day, Margarida and Ana continue to have their lives linked to the artistic world.

"All of us who drank this life that the Teatro Viriato brought us and who already had this cultural desire in us gained more courage, more energy, to follow our path," said Margarida, who works at the Lugar Presente dance school, being responsible for the administrative part and teacher of yoga and oriental dance.

Mother of a four-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy, Margarida Fonseca is a regular attendee of shows aimed at children - such as "Tatabitato", by Ana Bento and Bruno Pinto, which is part of the current program -- but also of many others.

"Just the other day we went to see Manel Cruz (vocalist of Ornatos Violeta), which they loved. Of course, having this connection since always makes me more attentive and more informed," she admitted.

When the Teatro Viriato reopened, Ana Bento was still studying in higher education, but was already working on some projects. She started by doing a workshop for children and their families on an individual basis and, in 2005, she was invited to design an identical workshop for the theater's educational service.

"The Viriato's programming, which has always had a component in various areas, was extremely important to feed my desire to be a professional," she stressed.

After that first workshop, Ana Bento joined teams of several projects designed by the Teatro Viriato, but later she started to present her own creations.

One of them was "Tangerina", co-produced by the Teatro Viriato and which premiered after the covid-19 pandemic. This musical show was only possible to materialize in a time of social confinement because it involved the whole family: Ana Bento and Bruno Pinto and their four children, who are currently between 12 and 18 years old.

"I attended many theater, contemporary dance and orchestra shows when they were very young, including some still on my lap, and, in the middle of the show, in the dark, I would breastfeed them. And they were there quietly watching," she said.

Ana Bento is certain: "Life is a succession of influences and people who were raised with this privilege of having a theater like the Viriato, which fed us, inspired us, now as parents we also set this example for our children".

Gabriel Gomes is 27 years old, started attending the Teatro Viriato two decades ago and was influenced by the energy of those who passed by.

"I wanted to do the same as those people I was watching," said Gabriel, who is now a director, playwright and writer, after having participated in the Panos and K Cena projects.

In K Cena, Gabriel Gomes had different functions. He was an interpreter in 2013, a playwright in 2018 and then an assistant director. This year, he was invited to give writing and theater training to the participants.

When he was still in Viseu, he created several "informal groups" of theater and later, when he was studying for a degree in Theater, in Lisbon, he founded the ArDemente company.

"As I always had this need to bring the projects I created in Lisbon to Viseu and, later, I had the need to create the projects here in Viseu, I decided to start inviting and integrating people I knew from here into the company," he said.

Henrique Amoedo, who took over the artistic direction of the Teatro Viriato about two years ago, stressed all the dynamics that were generated with the reopening in 1999 (after 38 years of inactivity), thanks to a partnership between the Paulo Ribeiro Company, the municipality of Viseu and the Ministry of Culture.

"The city of Viseu, through the Teatro Viriato or things that emerged from its initiatives, has a very intense cultural activity: different associations, initiatives, people who work in the area of culture", many of whom started in the theater's projects, he said.

In his opinion, today "the people of the city would not know how to live without the Teatro Viriato".

"The people who attended the Teatro Viriato in 1999 now have their families. They return to the Teatro Viriato bringing their children, that is, this relationship continues," he stressed.

In 2023, 16,100 people were at the Teatro Viriato, a number that Henrique Amoedo would like to increase by 15% this year, also attracting higher education students.

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