Aida Jordão is a

Portuguese-Canadian Portuguese Canadians ( pt, luso-canadianos, italic=no) are Canadians, Canadian citizens of full or partial Portuguese people, Portuguese heritage or people who migrated from Portugal and reside in Canada. According to the Canada 2016 Census, 2016 ...

playwright, theatre director, and academic. She is a co-founder of the feminist theatre group,

Company of Sirens Company of Sirens is a Canadian feminist theatre company formed in 1986. Company of Sirens developed the feminist play ''The Working People's Picture Show''. History Company of Sirens was officially founded in 1986 by Lina Chartrand, Aida Jord� ...

, and she co-created '' This is For You, Anna'', a germinal Canadian feminist theatre play.

Early life and education

Jordão was born in Lisbon,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. At age 9, she and her family moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. She has a PhD from the Graduate Centre for Study of Drama at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

. Her dissertation was titled, "

Ines de Castro Ines or INES may refer to: People * Ines (name), a feminine given name, also written as Inés or Inês * Saint Ines or Agnes (), Roman virgin–martyr * Eda-Ines Etti (stage name: ''Ines''; born 1981), Estonian singer Places * Doña Ines, a volca ...

in Theatre and Film: A Feminist Exhumation of the Dead Queen."

Career

Jordão is sometimes credited as a member of the Anna Collective, a group of women who co-created the play, '' This is For You, Anna'', for

Nightwood Theatre Nightwood Theatre is Canada's oldest professional women's theatre and is based in Toronto. It was founded in 1979 by Cynthia Grant, Kim Renders, Mary Vingoe, and Maureen White and was originally a collective. Though it was not the founders' ori ...

. As Jordão left the collective before the play's completion to work as an actor in Portugal, the play is most consistently credited to Suzanne Odette Khuri, Ann-Marie MacDonald,

Baņuta Rubess Baņuta Rubess (born 1956) is a Canadian theatre director, playwright, and professor. She co-wrote ''This is For You, Anna'' as a member of the Anna Project. Rubess was a co-recipient of the 1988 Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award for childr ...

, and

Maureen White Patricia Maureen White, more commonly known as Maureen White, is a specialist in international humanitarian affairs and a fundraiser for the American Democratic Party. She is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins School ...

. In 1986, Jordão co-founded the feminist theatre group

with Lina Chartrand, Catherine Glen,

Lib Spry Lib Spry is a Canadian director, playwright, and academic. She is a co-founder of Company of Sirens and Straight Stitching Productions and served as the artistic director of Passionate Balance. Career In 1986, Spry co-founded the feminist thea ...

, Shawna Dempsey, and Cynthia Grant. As part of Company of Sirens, Jordão co-created the group's most popular play, ''The Working People's Picture Show''. In 1991, her bilingual Portuguese/English play, ''Funeral in White'', premiered with Company of Sirens. Twenty-two years later, it was published by Fidalgo Books. ''Mary The Slasher'', a play Jordão co-wrote with Rebecca Burton, premiered at the second Hysteria Festival, co-presented by Nightwood Theatre and

Buddies in Bad Times Buddies in Bad Times Theatre is a Canadian professional theatre company. Based in Toronto, Ontario and founded in 1978 by Matt Walsh, Jerry Ciccoritti, and Sky Gilbert, ''Buddies in Bad Times'' is dedicated to "the promotion of queer theatrical e ...

. At Nightwood Theatre's 22nd Groundswell Festival in August 2005, Jordão's play about a woman who had been a communist leader in the

Spanish civil war The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

, ''Las Pasionarias'', premiered. In 2006, Jordäo worked on the puppet play ''Camoes, the One-Eyed Poet of Portugal'' about the Portuguese poet,

Luís de Camões Luís Vaz de Camões (; sometimes rendered in English as Camoens or Camoëns, ; c. 1524 or 1525 – 10 June 1580) is considered Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespear ...

. The play was co-created with David Anderson, Nuno Cristo, Mark Keetch, and Larry Lewis. Jordão works as a sessional lecturer in the Spanish and Portuguese departments of the

and

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

Works

Plays: * ''This is For You, Anna'' (co-created with the Anna Collective, first staged 1983) * ''Funeral in White'' (first staged 1991, published 2013) * ''Mary The Slasher'' (co-written with Rebecca Burton, first staged 2004) * ''Las Pasionarias'' (first staged 2005) * '' Camoes, the One-Eyed Poet of Portugal'' (co-created with David Anderson, Nuno Cristo, Mark Keetch and Larry Lewis, first staged 2006)

References

{{Authority Control Portuguese emigrants to Canada Date of birth missing (living people) Canadian women dramatists and playwrights University of Toronto alumni University of Toronto faculty York University faculty People from Lisbon Year of birth missing (living people) Living people