Havana’s International Theater Festival Coming Soon

Havana’s International Theater Festival kicks off on October 25. Julio Cesar Ramirez, its artistic director, affirmed that the 15^th edition will be one of the biggest, as well as one of the “clearest and best organized of all times, with high artistic level, which is impressive.”

A group of 76 works have been chosen for this eight-day event, so over 20 theater installations are going to be performed in the city and other urban spaces. Just as it was announced during a press conference, the international event, made up of representatives from twenty nations, is going to be taken to seven provinces of the island, which are second venues.

The national show is mainly made up of works that have been awarded in previous national festivals, some of which are going to be honored during the event. This last group includes the work of four National Theater Awards: Nelson Dorr, Pancho Garcia, Rene Fernandez and Jose Milian.

One of the new elements proposed by the Festival is related to the meetings of the International Theater Institute (ITI), a non-governmental organization associated to UNESCO and headed by Carlos Celdran, after the passing of Hector Quintero.

The promotion and exchange carried out by ITI in the world is materialized, Celdran explained, in the National Centers of each country, whose boards will be gathered in Havana on October 22 - 26. “This is a unique opportunity for Cuba, since there is no precedent in the country of such a meeting, which is going to be attended by nearly 600 figures of stage arts from all over the world”, the director said.

Noel Bonilla Chongo, artistic curator of the event, pointed out during the press conference the importance of individual performances in the selection of works for this edition. He also spoke about the substantial confluence in Havana of Cuban artists that have been working in different countries for years and they will be performing their theater projects on the island.

On the other hand, the Festival will be presenting experiences of creation residences between Cuban companies and other international artists. One of them is actress Marcela Suez, with Ekos Cuban company of flamenco dance. There will be a space for stage oral narration, directed by Mayra Navarro, during the forum at Havana’s Grand Theater. The projects to be presented there are NarrArte, Proyecto Te-CUENTO, Abrapalabra, ContArte, ParaContarteMejor and CeiBaobab.

The theoretical section is one of the most promising ones within the event, and it has been organized by Tablas-Alarcos Publishing Company, Criterios Center, Norge Espinosa and Ruben Dario Salazar.

The opening ceremony, to take place on October 25, is set to include the staging of Russia’s State Academic Theater, a company with over 90 years of experience, with the premiere of Anna Karenina. Dedicated to master Stanislavski and his mark on Cuban theater, this tribute is going to be paid to the man that taught us to take the theater as life itself.

Source: La Jiribilla