Almiro Andrade

Dr. Almiro Andrade is a Black Queer Latinx actor, director, playwright, dramaturg, educationist, theatre translator and researcher with over 25 years of experience across Brazil and the UK. Originally trained at Brazil’s pioneering theatre programme that first integrated Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed into its curriculum, their career has bridged practice and pedagogy through socially engaged, intercultural, and collaborative approaches to performance and directing. Their approach sees all stages of theatre-making as acts of translation and their practice champions the production of international pieces in the most diverse settings across the globe.

They have worked extensively in higher education, most recently as Lecturer in Contemporary Acting on the BA Acting & Performance at the University of the Arts London, where they taught and co-developed units on performance theory, collaborative theatre-making, and global practices, while also co-supervising doctoral research. Their teaching is grounded in psychophysical and ensemble methodologies, combined with decolonial and trauma-informed pedagogies.

Dr. Andrade has also played a key role in nurturing emerging directors. For over a decade they co-facilitated and coordinated StoneCrabs Theatre Company’s Directors in Practice (formerly the Young Directors Programme), widely regarded as one of the UK’s most important pathways for early-career directors, with alumni now leading major companies and institutions. Alongside this, they have held leadership positions across the cultural sector, including as Chair of Stanley Arts and StoneCrabs Theatre, and advisory roles with Jermyn Street Theatre and other collectives.

Their research spans translation, dramaturgy, and decolonial performance studies. Recent projects include Transnational Landscapes: Voices and Margins and Dramaturgies of the Body, both linking UK and international partners in practice-led research, as well as Decolonising Melodrama, currently an AHRC bid investigating new approaches to realism across stage and screen. He has published translations, essays, and peer-reviewed articles, and is an active member of UAL’s TrAIN Research Centre and the Decolonising Arts Institute. Their latest published works include: the R&D project for the first English translation of Namibia, Não! by Aldri Anunciação in partnership with King’s College London and Soho Theatre; The Trial – from iconic 800-page Jorge Amado’s novel Tieta to a breaking-form theatre event as dramaturg and assistant director to Franko Figueiredo from StoneCrabs Theatre; a gender-bending adaptation of The Blind One and The Mad One by Cláudia Barral (IntiPress) produced by Foreign Affairs Theatre; the translation of Brazilian canonical playwright Nelson Rodrigues: Selected Plays (Bloomsbury/Oberon); dramaturgy and translation of Royal Court’s production of Black Horses Are Massive from the Brazilian playwright Barbara Esmenia Rae and Out of the Wings production of Tropical Pharaoh by Rafael Cristiano (Inti Press).

In 2025, Dr. Andrade was appointed Head of MA Drama Directing at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, where their international outlook, sector experience, and commitment to equity and innovation in performer training will now shape the next generation of directors for theatre, film, and interdisciplinary practices.