Zoombies
Zoombies uses the figure of the zombie as a metaphor to explore how, throughout history, we have constructed external enemies. Blending theatre, political discourse, and pop culture, the piece reveals how fear and dehumanization have been used to justify wars and reinforce imperial and colonial power.
Pedro Vilela
Pedro Vilela (Recife, Brazil, 1985) is an artist, curator, and researcher in the fields of performing arts and decolonial studies, with an established career between Brazil and Portugal. He holds a PhD in Art Education from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto and a Master’s degree in Performing Arts from the Federal University of Bahia. He is also a researcher affiliated with I2ADs – Institute for Research in Art, Design and Society.
Between 2009 and 2015, he served as manager and artistic director of Grupo Magiluth, one of Brazil’s leading theatre groups. Within this collective, he directed O CANTO DE GREGÓRIO, VIÚVA, PORÉM HONESTA, and LUIZ LUA GONZAGA, the latter two created by invitation of the National Arts Foundation (FUNARTE). He later developed the TREMA! Platform, consolidating his authorial work with ALTÍSSIMO and TERRORISMO.
Living in Portugal since 2019, he created TRAVESSIA for the Cultura em Expansão program, a site-specific performance based on testimonies from 50 Brazilian immigrants. He premiered FIGUEIREDO, about the Indigenous genocide during Brazil’s military dictatorship; GRANDE NELSON, in collaboration with Bolivian theatre artist Diego Aramburo; FISSURA, with award-winning Brazilian playwright Alexandre Dal Farra; and PRIMAVERA, with Chilean playwright Alexis Moreno. He has also participated in international co-productions such as ESTRECHO/ESTREITO and G.O.L.P., with Teatro La María (Chile) and Teatro Experimental do Porto (Portugal), as well as performances with Spanish collectives such as NyamNyam and Azkona&Toloza.
He was part of WEYA – World Event Young Artist (2012) in Nottingham and the Momentum Programme in Edinburgh (2017), invited by the British Council. In 2023, his work was highlighted by Antro Positivo magazine as one of the leading stage directors currently active in Brazil, and he became the first Latin American to receive the Magaly Muguercia Award (Iberescena, 2024).
As a curator, he programmed the TREMA! Festival in Recife (2012–2022) and Central Eléctrica (2019–2025), a venue in Porto managed by Circolando, with emphasis on VOLTS – International Meeting of Performing Arts. Since 2019, he has also collaborated in the curatorial support of FITEI. In 2023, he conceived Quilombo_TREMA!, dedicated to Black and racialized artists, with its second edition scheduled for 2026.
Between 2015 and 2020, he founded and coordinated TREMA! Magazine and worked as a critic for Continente magazine. He is currently part of the international platform Performing Borders and networks such as IETM and Aerowaves, participating in projects funded by Erasmus+, Culture Moves, and Creative Europe.