Henrique Delgado Award 2026
On World Puppetry Day, 21 March 2026, at Theatre São Luiz, the Henrique Delgado Cultural Merit Award was given to university professor and researcher Christine Zurbach.
A prominent figure in the fields of theatrical research and training with a unique career path, she has distinguished herself through her studies on puppetry arts - most notably the Bonecos de Santo Aleixo. This award is a tribute to a lifetime of dedication to the performing arts, celebrating a trajectory that has blazed trails, uncovered artists, and elevated our culture.
Christine Zurbach was born in France but has lived in Portugal since 1975. That year, having recently graduated in Lettres Modernes from the University of Strasbourg, it was passion - both personal and for the theatre - that brought her to a country recently emerged from dictatorship, accompanying the young Luís Varela, whom she had met while a student at that city's National Theatre. Forty-five years later, in 2021, she retired as a Full Professor at the University of Évora. Indeed, it is in and from that city that she has conducted, individually or as a coordinator, some of the most relevant research produced in Portugal over the last 50 years in the field of puppetry studies.
At the University of Évora, she served as Director of the Master’s Degree in Theatre, Director of the Center for Art History and Artistic Research (CHAIA), and President of the Scientific Council of the School of Arts. Her primary areas of teaching and research included translation studies (the subject of her doctoral thesis, Translation and Theatre Practice in Portugal from 1975 to 1988, completed in 1997 and published by Colibri in 2002) as well as dramaturgy and puppet theatre, with a specific focus on the Bonecos de Santo Aleixo.
As an educator, she also taught as a guest lecturer at the Catholic University of Louvain and the Higher Institute of Translation and Interpretation (both in Belgium), the State University of Santa Catarina (Brazil), and several Portuguese institutions including the Universities of Minho and Porto, and the Polytechnics of Leiria and Lisbon - in the latter case, joining the faculty for the 1st edition of the Post-Graduate program in Puppetry and Animated Forms at the Lisbon School of Education.
Since 1975, she has collaborated as a dramaturg with the Évora Cultural Center (later CENDREV) and, since 1997, has been responsible for organizing the Évora International Puppetry Seminars. She belongs to organizations such as the Portuguese Association of Theatre Critics and UNIMA International, and has been linked to leading theatre publications as both an advisory board member and author, including the Portuguese magazines Sinais de Cena and Adágio, and international titles such as Móin-Móin and Puck.
From her vast published work—which includes books, book chapters, specialized journal articles, translations, and theatre criticism - the annotated edition of the Bonecos de Santo Aleixo repertoire, titled Autos, Passos e Bailinhos (published by Casa do Sul in 2007), stands out.
In her retirement lecture at the University of Évora, titled "Of Text and Stage: An Unfinished Conversation," she emphasized the idea of "unfinishedness." She noted that alongside artistic forms that are known or disappearing, others emerge and must be studied. She embraced the commitment to continue this unfinished work, with her eyes set on the future...
It is this promise of constant renewal that we celebrate by awarding the Henrique Delgado Prize to Christine Zurbach, recognizing that her work, much like the art she studies, remains a living dialogue in constant construction.
Congratulations, Christine Zurbach!
Now in its fourth edition, the Henrique Delgado Cultural Merit Award, granted by A Tarumba/FIMFA, is a biennial honor that recognizes individuals or institutions for their high cultural merit in the promotion and preservation of Puppetry Arts.
Henrique Delgado Award: Design by Flúor Studio / Photography: Alípio Padilha
