By Heart
Tiago Rodrigues
Presented in association with BAM
Schedule
Monday, November 3, 2025
Tuesday, November 4, 2025
Please note: no late seating. Please arrive on time to ensure entry.
Duration: 105 minutes
Returning to Crossing The Line after his directorial work on last year’s Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists, Tiago Rodrigues presents another internationally acclaimed performance—only this time, he’s directing his audience. Ten audience members come together onstage for an act of collective memorization, learning a Shakespearean sonnet by heart. The results are, according to a New York Times Critic’s Pick review, “miraculous … [a] communal act of translation,” performed while Rodrigues offers direction and commentary on the transformative personal and political dimensions of memorization.
“Rodrigues uses his memorization exercise to create an intimate performance that connects people through text.” — Maya Phillips, The New York Times
Enjoy the best of Crossing The Line at L’Alliance New York! Purchasing a Festival Pass will give you access to all five Crossing The Line programs taking place at L’Alliance New York—at 30% off the list price!
Venue
Event Pricing
Member Price: $40
Non Member Price: $50
Under 28 Price: $15
Part of Crossing The Line Festival Pass:
Members: $95
Non-Members: $120
Tiago Rodrigues
Tiago Rodrigues is a Portuguese actor, director, playwright and producer. He is the current Director of Festival d’Avignon, in France. Since he started as an actor 25 years ago, Tiago Rodrigues has always looked at the theatre as a human assembly: a place where people meet, like in a café, to confront their thoughts and share their time. Rodrigues’ work has been recognized for his ability to break borders between the theatre and different realities, challenging our perception of social and historical phenomenon. Throughout his career, Rodrigues has become a builder of bridges between cities and countries, at once host and advocate of a living theatre.
Billing Credits
Written, directed and performed by Tiago Rodrigues
English translation: Tiago Rodrigues, revised by Joana Frazão
Extracts and quotations from: William Shakespeare, Ray Bradbury, George Steiner and Joseph Brodsky
Scenography, costumes and props: Magda BizarroProduction Credits
Executive production: Festival d’Avignon
Based on an original creation by the company Mundo Perfeito
Co-production: O Espaço do Tempo, Maria Matos Teatro Municipal
With the support of: Camões Centre culturel portugais à Paris for the 77th edition of the Festival d’Avignon
Support for creation: Governo de Portugal – DGArtes
Executive production of the original creation: Magda Bizarro, Rita MendesAbout BAM
For more than 160 years, BAM has been a thriving, urban multi-arts complex renowned for presenting an unparalleled roster of visionary and cutting-edge dance, theater, music, opera, visual arts, literature, and film engagements. Attracting more than 750,000 people annually to its home in Brooklyn, BAM provides a welcoming cultural stage and meeting place for global and local communities of all backgrounds. BAM’s distinctive multi-theater campus is alive year-round with inspired new engagements and signature programs alike including the renowned Next Wave (one of the world’s most influential festivals of contemporary performing arts, founded in 1983), the iconic DanceAfrica, an acclaimed repertory film program, and literary, archival, educational and humanities programs. For more information visit BAM.org.
Support for Crossing The Line
and The Wescustogo Foundation
Supported by Theatre & New Forms, a program of Villa Albertine and the Albertine Foundation.
L’Alliance New York’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the Support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Header Image: By Heart © Christophe Raynaud de Lage / Festival d’Avignon
Tiago Rodrigues headshot: © Christophe Raynaud de Lage / Festival d’Avignon
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