Témoi_

Témoi_ is a testimony, from me to you. It comes from the French word témoin, this time without the “N” (for nominal identity). Témoi_ is an exercise in writing — living — straight through crooked lines. A place of memory open to drawing the future, remembering its perfect past. Témoi_ presents a (bio)graphic chronology, where it is assumed that the story continues.

Manuela Marques (1982) Lisbon, Portugal

Completed her Bachelor's degree in Pedagogy – Teacher, 1st and 2nd cycle – EVT, at ESELx in 2005. At the same time, she developed artistic training in theatre, dance and performance, highlighting the Intensive Accompanied Training at c.e.m. and the Acting for Film course at the Metropolitan Film School under the tutelage of David Tucker. As an actress, she has worked with: Paula Sá Nogueira (Cão Solteiro), Ana Borralho & João Galante, Joana Craveiro (Teatro do Vestido), Maria Emília Correia, Miguel Moreira (Útero), Ricardo Gageiro, Sofia Neuparth (c.e.m.), Alexandre Lyra Leite (Inestética), Leonor Fonseca, Melissa Rodrigues, and Os Burgueses. Artistically, she conceived and presented the plays “Copo d’água” and “Reborn”.

Between 2010 and 2019, she worked as a casting director on fiction projects for TVI and RTP, and also worked in the Actors Department at Elite Lisbon as a booker. ma-da-faca emerged in 2015 as a pseudonym for writing articles/reviews of shows. Currently, she teaches Visual Arts in the public school system and collaborates as a columnist with the periodicals PARQ and Brotéria.