Professor and director Jorge Fraga dies at 71

Director and theatre teacher Jorge Fraga died on the night between Sunday and Monday in the Algarve at the age of 71 from heart problems, a close source told Lusa this Monday.

Jorge Manuel Fraga de Mendonça was born in Riajosa, Torres Novas, on April 24, 1953 and studied at the Higher School of Theatre of the National Conservatory of Lisbon.

Director, actor and teacher, Fraga was one of the founders of the troupe A Centelha and the Companhia de Teatro de Viseu, a city he arrived in 1976 and with which he remained forever linked, teaching at the Higher School of Political Education.

“In Viseu, Jorge Fraga and his fellow adventurers faced an outdated conservatism, they were labeled with the names of political drugs, forbidden in the nostalgic diet. They were the first professional group in the Viseu area. A stone in the pond for the courage of the theatre they presented, breaking traditionalist models and making an aesthetic revolution with their position in relation to the established authorities,” recalls the biography published by Associaçãocultural e Recreativa de Tondela (ACERT), of which Fraga was an “affective activist”.

In the same text, ACERT-Trigo Limpo emphasizes: “Her teaching activity in the theater field has allowed artistic education to become part of the alternative for students in higher education from an early age. But do not think that Jorge Fraga stopped his madness. constant presence in the theater when it stopped being part of the “formal groups”. Constantly moving through many cities and projects, it brings people together to learn and leaves theatrical umbilical cords that often create groups with those who create the shows.”

“In Viseu he was a permanent carpenter, restless and irreverent,” the company added.

There have been comments on social media mourning the death of Jorge Fraga, from both companies and individuals associated with the theatre.

“The transformative creative and artistic force with which director Fraga arrived in Viseu is undeniable, when the city’s cultural panorama was still quite unfavourable and bland,” wrote Teatro Viriato on the social network Instagram.

In the “cultural desert” he was experiencing, Fraga “lit up” Centella, his artistic troupe at the time, and made it possible, inspired others to make it possible and was always there for everyone who wanted to make this world a better place. “It is beautiful thanks to the Theatre. That is why many know him as the Master,” adds the theatre in Viseu, where the director has also presented his works.

“The history of the Viriato Theatre would have been very different if he had not always been present with his transformative power,” the theatre adds, emphasizing that “at this moment of farewell, when words are always not enough, the heartfelt thanks of the entire team of the Viriato Theatre ao Mestre e ao Amigo.”

Culture Minister Dalila Rodrigues also expressed regret at the death of Jorge Fraga, recalling the director’s “pioneering actions” in territorial decentralization projects, such as the creation of Centelha.

“Versatile, demanding and irreverent, he worked for many years on the relationship between artistic education as a teacher at the Higher Pedagogical School of the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu and various communities, with a special focus on the Academy,” the governor wrote, mourning the director’s death and expressing condolences to his family, friends and fans.

The premiere of “Martírio y Passion” and “Romaría dos agravados” took place on June 20 in the cloisters of the Grão Vasco Museum in Viseu, while “Martírio y Paixão” was staged from August 2 to 11 at the medieval fair of Santa Maria da Feira, which Jorge Fraga directed at the invitation of the organization, were the last works he performed.