We announce the 3 finalists for the 5th edition of the New Female Drama Award

It is with great pleasure that we announce the three finalists of the 5th edition of the New Dramaturgy Award by Female Authors, promoted by Companhia Cepa Torta as part of the Theatre Text Reading Festival Esta noite grito-se .

After the application period, which ran from January 1 to March 31, 2025, and during which 133 texts from several Portuguese-speaking countries were received, the jury — composed this year by Ana Lázaro , Inês Barahona and Mickaël de Oliveira — selected the following finalist authors and works:

Emma Fonseca, with Immigrants

Marta Prieto, with On Board

Sabrina Marthendal, with Stone

About the finalist works:

Stone is a work about the female condition, transgenerational. In a metaphorical relationship between stones and women, the author explores, in a poetic tone, the story of a Pedral: a living testimony of the history of stoned women, of contained emotions. It is a scenic proposal that is constructed through the overlapping of several monologues, some more abstract with a poetic dimension, using verse, others more concrete and narrative, in a crossing of distinct stories about women, which are gradually sedimented throughout the work. A language with a unique signature that asks to be heard.

Immigrants is a text in the tradition of social drama, which explores the life of a family and young Portuguese emigrants living in the United Kingdom, in precarious conditions. The text highlights the discomfort of cultural integration — the language, the habits, the low wages, the nostalgia for the country — through everyday scenes of work, shared meals, cigarettes at the door, arguments between couples and family ghosts. The unexpected event of death challenges the family's apparent lethargy in the face of the conditions in which they have settled and creates a rupture with the direction of events. The play is structured in short scenes, with fluid dialogue and a cinematic imagery and rhythm. It establishes a very interesting and peculiar focus on human relationships, in apparently prosaic and mundane situations, where permanent discomfort and latent tension are evident.

On Board portrays a dystopian reality that denounces practices of animal and human exploitation, through poetic, political, allegorical and metatheatrical language. The narrative is divided into three interconnected acts that reveal, from different angles, the interior of a warehouse where women — treated as merchandise — are kept in captivity, fed adulterated food and prepared for transport. The protagonists, Stella, Ariete and Betty, share a dirty, inhumane space, marked by physical and psychological pain. The text, composed of short dialogues, action stage directions and some soliloquies, reveals technical mastery of the theatrical text, proposing an eccentric farce. At times approaching the literary and cinematic genre of the detective story, it intelligently uses humor and irony to portray a position of social and ecological criticism.

The three authors are now beginning a mentoring phase and possible review of the texts with the supervision of the jury, which will run until the end of August.

The winner will be announced in October and will receive a prize worth €1,000 , will see her piece published in book form and will be included in the programme of the 9th season of Festim Esta noite grito-se , which will take place between October and December 2025.

The New Female Drama Award, now in its 5th edition, aims to promote, recognize and disseminate female drama in the Portuguese language. It is open to all individuals, of legal age, who identify as female — whether cisgender or transgender — and who submit an unpublished and unrepresented work.

Since its creation, the Prize has received more than 560 applications. The winners of previous editions:

2024 : Luz Ribeiro – Gap; 2023 : Sofia Perpétua – Tank; 2022 : Maria Giulia Pinheiro – That’s Not Relevant; 2021 : Lara Mesquita – Whenever I Wake Up.

More information about the 5th edition of the New Dramatic Writing Award by Female Authors on our website www.cepatorta.org/premio-literario .

photo credits: Ema Fonseca by ©Filipe Ferreira; Marta Prieto by @Mário Borges; Sabrina Marthendal - self-portrait.