Fifteen shows by eight Cuban companies and seven from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Martinique, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, were presented in theaters in the capital, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, Holguín, Camagüey, Ciego de Ávila, Cienfuegos, Villa Clara, and Matanzas.

Both the visiting groups and the local ones performed their most recent stagings, and spectators could appreciate the plurality of discourses and themes being presented currently around the region.

In the words of Vivian Martínez Tabares, Mayo Teatral artistic director, a good portion of the pieces arriving this time “address controversial and pressing issues, of decisive relevance. This is theater for an uncomfortable time, always revealing.”

The outstanding critic explained how the Casa managed to attract “once again, a group of companies with varied artistic proposals, rigorous in their formal elaboration, and connected organically to social problems of their respective contexts, with proven experience in confronting spectators, and which thanks to their artistic rigor, are references in terms of high quality aesthetics and the diversity that results from the numerous expressive tendencies that characterize the region’s scene.”

Referring to the selection of Cuban participants, she insisted that the same principles and high expectations apply, stating, “We attempt to cover a broad spectrum of performance expressions, styles, and genres, and that groupings of proven experience and new groups coexist – tradition and experimentation.”

COMPANIES AND PERFORMANCES

Appreciated was the presence, after a ten-year absence, of actor and clown Hernán Gené (son of the eminent Argentine director Juan Carlos Gené), who brought to Cuba his Mutis, a one-man show based on the texts of William Shakespeare, which became one of the festival’s major attractions.

Two other one-actor performances were also noteworthy: from Martinique, Histeria, by artist Annabel Guèrèdrat, and from the Bolivian company LATEscena, Animales domésticos, by actor Piti Campos Villanueva.

Mateluna, from the Chilean company of the same name, staged and directed by Guillermo Calderón, is a testimonial, self-referenced work on the life of the group, showing the process of creation of a performance. The play is focused on the social situation and the judicial process surrounding the release of a former guerilla Jorge Mateluna, victim of false evidence – which the company refutes and condemns.

With an attention-grabbing title and content, El Divino Narciso, directed by Raquel Araujo, was presented by the Mexican group Teatro de La Rendija. According to program notes, “We started with Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz to arrive at our own take, provoked by the reading of El Divino Narciso, reviewing her verses over and over again, on the basis of our concerns as women living in a Mexico in constant transformation.”

The Brazilian company Ói Nói Aquí Traveiz, brought the performance ¿Dónde? Acción no. 2, that emerged from Viudas, a novel by Chilean Ariel Dorfman. With the lead taken by Tania Farias, actress and group leader, the play provoked debate and refection on the nature of the military dictatorship in Brazil, in an act of theatrical resistance of explosive beauty.

The performance begins with the women standing in front of empty chairs, asking each other: Where are those who disappeared under the dictatorship? The question still floats in the air today, unanswered.

Hij@s de la Bernarda, from Tojunto, Puerto Rico, directed by Rosa Luisa Márquez, is a piece inspired by La casa de Bernarda Alba, by Federico García Lorca, and the creation of the masterful Boricua Gilda Navarra. It was the first work of theater/dance presented at the San Juan Museum of Contemporary Art, where tickets were bought with food and medicine for those impacted by Hurricane Maria. The show included theater, performance, flamenco, and experimental dance.

Cuban groups added to the diversity exhibited by the visiting companies. Argos Teatro re-staged Diez millones, written and directed by National Prize for Theater winner Carlos Celdrán, and Santiago de Cuba’s Theater Studio Macubá, Caballas, directed by Fátima Patterson, another National Prize winner.

Two works by Teatro de las Estaciones, from Matanzas, were selected: Cuatro and Retablillo de Don Cristóbal and Señá Rosita. Also from this city’s Teatro el Portazo, presented was CCPC, La República Light, while participating from Holguín was the Trébol Theater with Jacuzzi, script, staging, and lights by Yunior García.

Teatro de La Luna’s Raúl Martín re-staged the work scripted by Alberto Pedro, El banquete infinito, and from the Centro Promotor del Humor, included in the program was La Cita, written by Andrea Doimeadiós, and directed by Osvaldo Doimeadiós, in which two young actresses, Andrea Doimeadiós and Venecia Feria, demonstrated “feminine and intelligent humor … and essentially critical.”

WORKSHOPS

Alongside the programming in theaters, the event included workshops organized around the theme of “Process-result,” chosen for this 10th edition of the festival. Martínez Tabares reported that this thematic axis was selected given the importance of both the process of creating a piece and the results obtained, as a reflection of a company’s work.

She explained that the result is what we see on the stage, but now groups are invited to artistically deconstruct the work from a conceptual point of view – addressing the methodology they used, the priorities in technical terms, that is, the problems of creation.

Workshops were led by dramaturges Rosa Luisa Márquez (Brincos y saltos. El juego como disciplina teatral and Raquel Araujom, with actresses from Teatro de La Rendija (Palabra y sentido. Sobre el trabajo del actor y el verso en escena), and the Brazilian collective Ói Nóis Aquí Traveiz, (in charge of Teatro Calle, Vivencia con la Tribu de Atuadores)

Over the course of these ten seasons, Mayo Teatral has provided an opportunity for dialogue amongst Latin Americans and Caribbeans, a festival for Cuban audiences, which has been able to enjoy the artwork of the continent’s principal exponents, such as La Candelaria, Yuyachkani, Teatro de los Andes, Matacandelas, and Malayerba – in perhaps not the most recent, but high quality works, for sure.

Mayo Teatral continued this history in 2018 with attractive stagings, organized moreover in such a way that the interested spectator could see them all during one spring month.

(Granma)

“Theater has such a thriving life that it defies space and time,” stated French star Isabelle Huppert on March 27 this year, in her World Theater Day Message. I returned to this beautiful idea after enjoying Luna Nueva (New Moon)in Havana’s Raquel Revuelta Cultural Complex, located on Línea Street, Vedado, the most recent proposal from the Vital Teatro group, directed by Alejandro Palomino.

The play combines texts from four pieces written for female characters by playwright Amado del Pino (Cuba, 1960 – Spain, 2017):

Triángulo, a work of excellence on emotions and encounters, premiered in 2004 precisely by Vital Teatro; the monologue En falso; Cuatro menos, which won the 2009 Carlos Arniches Prize in Spain, making Del Pino the first Cuban to win the award; and Revolico a dúo, written for the group in 2016.

Palomino’s proposal in Luna Nueva maintains the fluency of the dialogues, and the playwright’s choice of language for each character. This combination of texts allows the theater group to present certain contemporary Cuban dilemmas to audiences.

In this theatrical gamble, Palomino achieves a dynamic staging and, as a Vital Teatro premise, the work of the actors is the crowning point, portraying the characters with minimal resources, as noted in the scenery, without grandiloquence, but with complete dedication to their performance and the world created on stage.
The first scene of Luna Nueva combines texts from Triángulo, En falso and Cuatro menos. Photo: Courtesy of Alejandro Palomino

The first scene (with texts from Triángulo, En falso and Cuatro menos) was well executed by Nora Elena Rodríguez, Alina Molina, Gretel Cazón, Leivy Rosy, and Adriana Quesada, alongside the only male character (played by Marlon López or Abel Cedre), while Yia Caamaño and Susana Ruiz’s internalization and strong characterization was appreciated in Revolico a dúo, which was presented in full.

Moments before the show, on a rainy Sunday that heralded Hurricane Irma, Alejandro Palomino offered an interview for our readers.

You have staged several works by Del Pino. How did you conceive this piece?

Luna Nueva is a point where, precisely in the dramaturgical sense, several of Amado del Pino’s female characters come together. A large number of Amado’s leading characters are masculine, but these have always been accompanied by female characters who see important developments in the dramatic action. He was also a man concerned about the role of contemporary women in Cuba, and the decisions and expressive elements that the female character can contribute within his dramaturgy.

So we decided that it was the female characters who would star in Luna Nueva, and it is they who develop the dramatic action, and represent on stage many of the obsessions that accompanied him during his life.

Where does the title come from?

It’s from the lines of the character of Miriam in Triángulo, which in full go: ‘and she looks at me like a new moon and I can not offer her another face.’

Let’s go back to the female characters…

For Amado, women have been catalysts, agents of change in society. This is a point of view with which I agree, and that is precisely why we decided that women would be the protagonists. There is only one male character, a young man who is there as a reference, memories, in the sphere of delusions.

The female characters are very solid, with a well-designed structure, they have a vision of the future and of life that are non-negotiable.

Do you respect Amado’s use of language in Luna Nueva, often described as strong and poetic at the same time?

In the performance there is absolute respect for what has been called the poetry of crudeness in Amado’s dramaturgy. Feminine voices are present in Luna Nueva, those creatures that prevail in his pieces.

The play maintains the same aesthetics of the group…

Yes, we have always worked on the basis of the role of the actor. Our shows depend on the work of the actor. Very handcrafted, with few scenographic resources, but rather the contrast of complementary colors, in this case red and green. The costumes are quite sober, black and white. The actor and his expressive skills are the core of our work and this is no exception.

Could you tell us about upcoming performances?

We are making an assessment of U.S. theater. At one point, on the recommendation of Amado himself, with whom we worked systematically for 15 years and owe much of our repertoire, we turned to Williams, O’Neill, Albee, Miller. We are currently reviewing some texts of this intense and interesting theater.

Amado del Pino passed away at the age of 56, a victim of cancer, on January 22, coinciding with Cuban Theater Day, designated in memory of the storming of the Villanueva Theater in 1869.

A few years ago I commented that it was “at least surprising that a contemporary Cuban playwright simultaneously has four of his works on stage. Such good fortune befell Amado del Pino…”

At that time, audiences could choose between Penumbra en el noveno cuarto (2003 UNEAC Theater Award); Tren hacia la dicha (his first work from 1988); El zapato sucio (Critic’s Prize, Virgilio Piñera Prize) and Triángulo.

Vital Teatro and its director Alejandro Palomino, with whom Amado worked so intensely, today honors him with Luna Nueva and the strength of his female characters.
Del Pino’s career (playwright, journalist, critic) was vital and ascendant and his dramaturgy is, and will forever be, central to Cuban theater.

Just as Isabelle Huppert understood: “Theater is always reborn from its ashes… theater has such a thriving life that it defies space and time.”

(Granma)

The theatre space located on the corner of the streets Ayestarán and 20 de Mayo, now too small for Celdrán’s Argos Theater company, was once again filled by an audience familiar with every one of his singular productions, and as on every occasion, left thoroughly satisfied.

Protocolo is a rework of Henrik Ibsen’s original An enemy of the people, written especially for Spanish actors Ernesto Arias and Paloma Zavala, who traveled to Havana for the premier (five performances followed by a European tour).

Ernesto Arias, with an extensive professional resume ranging from theater to cinema and television, and Paloma Zavala, artistic director of the Crossing Stages project (also director of Las mujeres sabias, based on a work by Molière), are visiting Cuba for the first time, invited by the National Performing Arts Council and Cuban delegation to the International Theater Institute (ITI) of which Celdrán is President, with the support of the Spanish Embassy.

Both Arias and Zavala are familiar with the works of González-Melo and Celdrán’s meticulous directorial style, having debuted another of their pieces Chamaco, which met with great public acclaim in Madrid.

Playwright Abel González-Melo (left) and director Carlos Celdrán. Photo: Yeandro Tamayo
Once again Celdrán does a superb job of directing the actors. Both permanently positioned center stage, their outstanding and flawless performances transmitting – through both vocal tone and delivery – conflicting emotions, passions, fears and messages.

Protocolo is a minimalist work, with just the essential staging components, coherent in its simplicity. The hour-and-a-half long performance flies by.

González-Melo’s Protocolo focuses on the story of a modern-day Spanish couple, immersed in the contradictions of contemporary society. The piece is structured around 10 key moments, “a Decalogue of protocol rules.” (Speak when spoken to, acknowledge differences, enjoy yourself more but don’t over do it, don’t give too much away, back down although you don’t want to, remain calm, promise to do whatever necessary, trust just enough, always wash your hands and always keep one card up your sleeve).

Celdrán’s characteristic staging style is present in this new production as he achieves his goal of creating a clear and sharp dialogue with the present; the work of an experienced director with a precise vision.

Discussing Protocolo with both the author and director prior to the premier, I spoke first to González-Melo.

Why did you return to Ibsen for this production?
In regards to Protocolo specifically, we had recently worked with Celdrán on Mecánica, based on A doll’s house by Ibsen. It is based on another work by Ibsen, An enemy of the people, which features 10 characters, but this version is centered on a married couple and despite being set outside of Cuba includes issues present in Mecánica, such as marital relationships, betrayal, and corruption, in this case set against the backdrop of Spanish society. So, we are back with Protocolo, very freely interpreted.

This time the story is focused on Spain’s current situation, the hysteria that erupted when Ebola was believed to have arrived to Europe from Africa and how a couple can remain faithful to each other. I also changed it so thatStockman is no longer Ibsen’s romantic hero; he is no longer the person who reveals the truth no matter what, now he has other considerations, a new lifestyle to which he has become accustomed, and believing himself to be the master of his own destiny. That’s my vision, a rereading and homage to Ibsen.”

What other plans do you have 2016?

I hope that we will see,in Cuba by the middle of the year, Epopeya, directed by Aguijón Theater’s Sandor Menéndez and Virgilio Piñera prize winner, premiered on January 22, in Chicago, with Pedro Franco’s El Portazo project. I am currently working on a production provisionally called Intemperie. This year I’m resident playwright at Home Manchester,one of the UK’s most important theaters and will be working directly with director Walter Meierjohann. I am writing a piece which takes place in two different eras, 1993-94 and 2015-16, with characters from two generations.

Speaking to Celdrán who has received 16 Critics Awards and eight Prizes from the Performing Arts Association of the National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC), he begins by talking about his company, Argos Theater, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

How would you sum up these last two decades?
Celebrating 20 years in theater isn’t easy; it’s a long journey on which you discover your own language, space, audience, to whom you are theatrically speaking. On many occasions I have had to forget everything I have learned in order to re-learn, to continuously re-invent myself. It has been a steep learning curve to finally get here; one full of mistakes, blunders, and achievements. I’m very happy that we are still here making innovative theater for the public.

Prólogo isn’t a new work for you after your 2006 play Stockman, enemigo del pueblo, an important piece which also won the Critics Award. How did you approach this new project, and what was your focus?

Enemigo del pueblo was one of Argos Theater’s most important productions and continues to be one of the best examples of my work. When Abel told me he was going to do a version I almost died because it’s a seminal piece which the public saw and remembers. The interesting thing about this version is its modern setting, in Spain. Remember Abel also has a tendency to create works set in Spain because he lives in both countries. I have also worked a lot over there and feel the need for an in-depth conversation with this reality.

The piece touches on some of Spain’s main problems, its crisis of power, economy, corruption, the ruling classes and politics. Beyond the work Enemigo del pueblo itself, what interested me was Abel’s contemporary reflection on Spain. Also, the fact that it is written for two Spanish actors whom I love very dearly: Ernesto Arias, perhaps one of the finest Spanish theater actors of the moment, and Paloma Zavala a talented and intelligent young actress.

The work addresses universal problems…
Yes, they are universal issues and this is Ibsen’s contribution, the couple’s marital problems, their lies and deceit triggered by their own actions.

What can you tell us about your debut work as a playwright?
It’s called Diez millones. It was a text I wrote several years ago. I presented it in the Virgilio Piñera scriptwriting competition and received an honorable mention. This encouraged me to consider taking it to the stage. I was always unsure whether or not to do so because it’s not exactly a theatrical text in the traditional sense, but rather a narrative text where the characters tell stories. Its autobiographical, it talks about my relationship with my parents when I was a teenager and the moments which marked my personal and social life, given significant social events which occurred in the late 1960s, 70s and early 80s, important years in Cuba’s recent history. This is what the story is about, my personal relationship to those events and their impact on all facets of my life. It is scheduled for June with four Argos actors, Caleb Casas, Daniel Romero, Maridelmys and Waldo Franco.

Carlos Celdrán and Abel González-Melo have created a truly contemporaryprotocol for Ibsen’s works.

(Granma)