Sábato Magaldi

Sábato Antônio Magaldi was born in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, on May 9, 1927. He graduated in Law from the University of Minas
Gerais in 1949, but soon abandoned his career and the following year began collaborating as a theater critic for Diário Carioca.
In the early 1950s, he went to study in France, where he obtained a certificate in Aesthetics from the Sorbonne. Upon returning to Brazil, he began teaching History of Theater at the newly inaugurated School of Dramatic Arts at USP. There, he trained, among other well-known actors: Ney Latorraca, Juca de Oliveira, and Glória Menezes.
In 1962, Sábato Magaldi published “Panorama do Teatro Brasileiro,” which became one of his most emblematic books. He received the Gold Medal from the São Paulo Association of Theater Critics as the Theatrical Personality of 1962. In the same year, he created the course “History of Brazilian Theater.” He received the Jabuti Prize for Theater from the Brazilian Book Chamber in 1963 and 1965.
In 1970, Sábato Magaldi began teaching at the School of Communication and Arts at the University of São Paulo (ECA). He earned a doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters, and Human Sciences, with a thesis on “Theater of Oswald de Andrade.” In 1995, he was appointed the first Municipal Secretary of Culture of São Paulo. In 1983, he obtained his livre-docência at ECA, defending the thesis “Nelson Rodrigues: Dramaturgy and Stagings.”
As an associate professor at the Institute of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, he taught at the University of Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris and at the University of Provence in Aix-en-Provence.
A specialist in the work of Nelson Rodrigues, of whom he was a personal friend, he organized and wrote the preface for the publication “Teatro Completo de Nelson Rodrigues,” in four volumes, published in 1989. In 1994, Sábato Magaldi was elected to chair No. 24 of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.
Among his publications are: “Iniciação ao Teatro” (1995), “O Texto no Teatro” (1989), “Moderna Dramaturgia Brasileira” (1998), “Depois do Espetáculo” (2003), “Teatro da Ruptura: Oswald de Andrade and Teatro da Obsessão: Nelson Rodrigues” (2004).
Sábato Magaldi passed away in São Paulo on July 14, 2016.
Source: www.ebiografia.com by Dilva Frazão