The first call for Mayo Teatral (Theater May) was already issued. The event, organized by Casa de las Americas every two tears since 1998, is a meeting point for theater pieces and artists from the continent.
Its tenth edition will take place from May 16 through 25 in Havana and will bring theater pieces from Mexico, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, the Dominican Republicand Cuba. People will be able to enjoy the Latin American and Caribbean Theater Season outside the capital city in provinces such as Santa Clara, Cienfuegos, Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba.
Brazilian companies like Boa Companhia (Good Company) andTeatro da Margemwill take part in the event. The first one will stage the piece Primus, which is basedon the short story Informe para una academia, by Franz Kafka, and Cartas del paraíso; and the second one will present a play entitled Potestad, by Argentinean actor and director Eduardo Pavlovsky, and Memorial de silencias y margaritas, on texts by Eduardo Galeano and testimonies from victims of the Brazilian military dictatorship.
Another two Bolivian theater groups will participate in this event. The Kiknteatr Company will stage Romeo and Juliet from Aramburo, and Teatro de los Andes will come with the piece Hamlet de los Andes. Both plays reflect –from Shakespeare’s texts– on the current Bolivian reality and are an invitation to think about it.
Ecuadorean actor, director and playwright Arístides Vargas and teacher CharoFrancés with the group Malayerba will bring the piece Instrucciones para abrazar el aire, written by Vargas himself.
Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes will arrive from Mexico with the play El automóvil gris, directed by Claudio Valdés Kuri.
The director and founder of the National Contemporary Dance Company, Cuban Marianela Boán, coming from the Dominican Republic, will stage the piece Sed.
Cuba will present productions by Estudio Teatral from Santa Clara (Hojas de papel volando), Teatro El Público (Antigonón), Teatrode la Luna (Matrimonioblanco) andT eatro de las Estaciones (Alicia en busca del conejo blanco).
As in previous editions of the event, Mayo Teatral has also arranged concerts, meetings, lectures, etc. Creative workshops El silencio de la actriz-actor (the silence of actors and actresses), for professional actors, will be developed by Charo Francés; and La dramaturgia contra el Teatro y viceversa (Playwriting against theater and viceversa ), by Gabriel Calderón, director of the Uruguayan group Complot, addressed to playwrights, directors, professional actors and students from higher schools.
According to Vivian Martínez Tabares, who is in charge of the Theater Division at the Casa de las Americas and of the magazine Conjunto and is also the main curator of this event, the topic for next year’s event is “cultural, geographic and language mixture (…) in recognition of theater, as a space where several art manifestations come together, interdisciplinary and intercultural convergence which in our region is a sign of integration”.
Photo: Antigonón/Yuris Nórido
The Conjunto magazine and the Theater Division at the Casa de las Americas have turned this event into an essential and direct referent of Latin American theater, and a meeting point for creative exchange and the confrontation of aesthetics in the continental scenario.
