The National Arts Foundation (Funarte) signed today (21) the assignment of use of the Brazilian Comedy Theater (TBC) to Sesc São Paulo for 35 years. The agreement will allow the completion of the renovation works, the reactivation of activities and the return of the historic theater to the cultural scene of the capital of São Paulo. Funarte, in turn, will have the right to use TBC for 30 programming days per year.
Sesc is committed to delivering an architectural project in two years and to completing the works to start operating the space in another six years. The reform will be carried out based on the sketches already presented, with attention to accessibility items.
“To rescue the TBC is to bring to society the right to attend this historic theater and give back to the artists this illuminated stage. Sesc plays a fundamental role in this recovery, being the ideal partner to rescue the theater and its history”, said the president of Funarte, Tamoio Athayde Marcondes.
The president of Sesc, businessman Abram Szajman, highlighted that occupying that historic space, making it yet another Sesc unit in the capital “shows itself as one of the most important moments for the institution, due to the expansion of service capacity, offering provide the population of São Paulo with more options for leisure and permanent learning, in a space conducive to human development and the practice of citizenship”.
The building will be returned to society with the programming of the Sesc network, in addition to the development of sports, leisure and cultural activities, free or at popular prices, and also with the programming of Funarte.
Patrimony
Located in the Bixiga neighborhood, in the city of São Paulo, the TBC has been closed for renovations since 2008, before being taken over by Funarte, which bought the space. Structural and masonry works were carried out. Before starting a new phase of works, in 2016, the beginning of talks between the Ministry of Culture and Sesc was announced. In 2019, the then special secretary of Culture of the federal government, Henrique Medeiros Pires, resumed negotiations.
The Teatro Brasileiro de Comédia was inaugurated in 1948 and, until 1964, was the headquarters of the theater company of the same name, which brought together actors such as Fernanda Montenegro, Fernando Torres, Cacilda Becker, Paulo Autran, Tônia Carrero and Walmor Chagas. Afterwards, it continued functioning as an autonomous theater until it closed its doors in 2008.
TBC represented a milestone in the trajectory of Brazilian theater and innovated by proposing a management model inspired by European theaters, with an artistic director at the head of curatorial thinking and composing an artistic framework that brought together different directors, Funarte reported.
The theater’s headquarters building was listed, in 1982, by the Council for the Defense of Historical, Archaeological, Artistic and Tourist Heritage (Condephaat), linked to the Secretary of Culture of the State and, in 1991, by the Municipal Council for Preservation of Historical Heritage, Cultural and Environmental of the City of São Paulo.
