Josep Maria Mestres, the first 'son' of the TNC who will direct the theater

BarcelonaJosep Maria Mestres (Calaf, 1959) will be the new artistic director of the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya (TNC). He will take over from Carme Portaceli, who has held the position since 2020. Chosen through a public competition that received 40 candidacies, Mestres will lead the TNC for four seasons, until 2030-2031, with an option to extend for three more. He will assume leadership starting September 1, 2026, and during the 2026-2027 season, he will work on defining and planning the 2027-2028 season while Portaceli concludes her term.

Mestres will take on the role "with responsibility" and with the idea of "giving back" to Catalan theater. "I have been fortunate enough to dedicate myself to a profession that I am passionate about. Now I want to broaden the scope and think about the country's ecosystem and the institution itself, which has shaped me," explains the director, in a conversation with ARA. Mestres is the first 'son' of the TNC to direct the theater, which already has 30 years of history. From his point of view, this professional change "is not an opportunity but a challenge," through which he hopes to "make the dreams, ideas, and creativity of others possible." Nevertheless, he hopes to be able to combine the management of the TNC with his work as a stage director, as the position allows him to do so.

In the project presented to the TNC, Mestres has placed significant emphasis on contemporary Catalan dramaturgy without excluding the classics. "We are living in a golden age of current Catalan playwrights. We must give them an even more powerful push and put them in the spotlight they deserve," says the director. At the helm of the TNC, he adds that he will not neglect "heritage and the classics" but will seek "bold" proposals capable of turning them "into living material."

Graduated in Educational Sciences and with a Diploma in Acting from the Institut del Teatre, Josep Maria Mestres has a long career as a stage director. He was a member of the Zitzània company –created in 1981 by Pere Planella and Guillem-Jordi Graells– and one of the founders of Kràmpack, which was born in 1994 and would later become the production company for the TV3 series Plats bruts. He was also the founding director of the Pompeu Fabra University Theatre Workshop (1995-99). Mestres has directed dozens of shows, including Dakota (1996), by Jordi Galceran, for which he received a Butaca award; Salvats (1998), and Un matrimoni de Boston, starring Anna Lizaran and Emma Vilarasau, in 2005. That show about a lesbian couple in the 19th century attracted nearly 16,000 spectators and left such an impact that the director decided to revive it in 2024 in a new version. An award-winning master builder

Mestres has worked with the leading Catalan performers in many of the country's theaters and also in others outside Catalonia, such as the Teatro Español, the CNTC, and the Teatro de la Zarzuela. The director has focused a large part of his career on promoting realistic plays with a strong political, social, and human component, which have received awards such as the Adrià Gual Prize, the Critics' Awards, and the Butaca Awards. Among his most recent productions are Justícia (2020), L'oreneta (2022), and the award-winning L’herència (2025), which will return next season to the Teatre Lliure. Precisely, the director's next theatrical project will be in the Sala Gran of the TNC: at the end of April, he will premiere La mare coratge i els seus fills, by Bertolt Brecht, starring Emma Vilarasau. The gross annual remuneration for Maestros will be 105,049.04 euros, for all seasons and with 100% dedication. Likewise, the new director may be awarded some professional task on stage (direction, performance, scenography, dramaturgy, etc.) for one show per year. At most, the remuneration for this work can be 25,000 euros, so the director's total annual salary can rise, at most, to 130,049.04 euros.Carme Portaceli will close her tenure at the TNC with a final season that has achieved an average occupancy of 77% — pending finalization of the programming — and which has incorporated shows by artists such as Victoria Szpunberg, Angélica Liddell, and La Veronal. Her time at the theatre has been linked to the arrival of Terra baixa in Brussels and to successes such as the musical Ànima and Sagarra's classic, which became a small phenomenon La corona d'espines. Portaceli will leave her position in July 2027. In total, the director until now has been at the head of the TNC for six years. Previously, the artistic direction of the public theatre has been held by Xavier Albertí, Sergi Belbel, Domènec Reixach, and Josep Maria Flotats.