I'm Sarah Branco and I'm in this group for 18 years. I do not live in Camacha, my father was from here and brought me to this land. I belong here from heart and soul. Since I was 14 years old I wanted to do theater, did not know why, but I wanted to do it. My mother would not let me, because she said that the theater did not give anyone anything and that I should concentrate on studies. For many years I tried to get into the theater, at 18 I spoke with someone connected to the Experimental Theater of Funchal who told me that it was hard and from that moment that I almost given up my dream when, in college I meet the person who brought me for the TEC, Hugo Andrade. He spoke to the group leaders Ilda Teixeira and Jose Ferreira and I entered. My first work was not a part, in 1995, went up on stage to recite a poem, destinations. My first proper play was the "Sea" of Miguel Torga, Rita was the main character. I feel in the theater, like I feel like forever, I'm always very nervous and afraid of making mistakes before going on stage, when I go on I'm happy. I remember two moments that marked my route, one was the play "Cinderella" based on a movie, I was one of the sisters, and I was bad and terrible. It was the show that had the largest number of spectators and at the end as the actors came on stage the audience was applauding, but when my turn came up all jeered which made me overjoyed because I felt I had done well. I loved doing it. The other play that is very dear to me is the "man among women," an adaptation of " The house of Bernarda Alba" by Garcia Lorca, was a performance that cost me a lot, was a very rich part, the character was dense, and I was still very young. It had a very large inner drama, I was someone who caused pain to my daughters and We feel all this when we dedicated ourselves. The theater creates all these moments of fellowship and friendship and that is why we are here, after twenty-five years. I never thought we got here. Not so far. Everything happens day by day, year by year, facing many obstacles that appear in the art world and yet we continued to stay alive as the oldest amateur theater groups of Madeira. This is commendable.
My name is Sandra Cardoso and from a young age I wanted to enter the theater group Camacho. I started as a spectator, watching the play I saw the actors and my ambition was to be on stage, but there were no inscriptions, we only could got in by invitation. My first opportunity came in 1996 with my entry into the dance group of the House of the People Camacha, after that I joined the TEC as an actress. My first work was the "international breakfast" and was a milestone. It was my first theatrical experience, I portrait a prostitute and drug addict and had a monologue, so I felt a great weight early on. When I walked on stage I felt fear, but the responsible Ilda helped me a lot, gave me numerous exercises and improvisations to reach the state of the character and all this was a great achievement when I stepped on the stage. In the end, people felt involved with my character and it paid off huge. In this same show, the actress who came before me brook a cup and my scene was in the same place, over the shards and it did not hurt me. Behind all were afraid, because they thought I was going to cut myself, but I had a sort of artistic protection. 25 years after the TEC is a major project, is a great route. All groups have more golden time and lower ones, but always we had a very strong bond and I think this is the relationship of people is very important for the group to remain active. It is this magic that makes us want to always be on stage.
My name is Carina Teixeira and I came to the theater in 2001. I was a very shy girl and a little closed and my father decided to speak with Patricia Fernandes and told her I should be part of the theater. My first show was a magazine where I had various roles. From that moment my passion for theater grew, grew and became one of the most important things in my life. It helped me in terms of self-esteem and to develop many other skills. It was where I met true friends and where I have a sense of belonging to a group. My comical moment occurred in 2002 in a play "man among women" I quit running away from the scene, but it just too fast and I slammed against a wall in back and immediately went on stage a bit stunned, but are things that happen and we laugh about it. 25 years later this group is a good example of amateur theater, the people who comprise it and by those who come to see us. Throughout these days I reflected as seeing so many photographs and images on the elements that passed through here, but they always continued to come and it is this friendship, this union, this delivery of each not only to the theater, which is the soul of this group. I hope that we continue to grow for a further 25.
