Eva Sopher

Eva Sopher (June 18, 1923 – February 7, 2018) was a Brazilian theatre manager in Porto Alegre. She renovated the São Pedro Theatre and ran it for 41 years.

Life Sopher was born in 1923 in Frankfurt am Main in Germany. She was born Eva Margarete Plaut; her parents Max and Marie were Jewish and, like many, her family left Germany to avoid the rise of Nazism in 1936.

Sopher ran many artistic endeavours in Porto Alegre for the organisation Pro-Arte.

In the 1970s the São Pedro Theatre was in need of a major renovation. The theatre dated from 1858. To achieve this she had created the Theatro São Pedro Foundation in 1982 and she became its president. Sopher was to run the theatre for 41 years (the rest of her life). In 1991 there was a challenge to her leadership but admirers including the Brazilian director and actor Bete Coelho gathered to hold hands around the theatre to show their support.

Further extensions to the theatre's facilities had been started by Sopher with a budget of R$20m but as the work was started the estimated costs rose to R$50m. Although still not complete in 2018 the project had delivered a car park, rooms for administration, a new restaurant, and a music salon. The mayor Nelson Marchezan Júnior and José Ivo Sartori, who was Governor of Rio Grande do Sul declared three days of mourning. Sopher left two daughters, four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.