Lili Renteria´s ideal country

How can I dare / make you mourn Lili?

Lili is a rope that passes through that historic moment of the premiere of Electra Garrigó – through her mother, she goes through top ranking shows of Roberto Blanco – who was also at the premiere , and transcends Cuban borders from here and there, to land ¨Ana en el tropico¨ at Trianon theatre.

She believes much in the stars. I want to raise my head and see her in ¨Mariana¨, tied to the tail of a horse, to the stage machinery of Mella theatre, to the painful history of a country.

And then the rope is broken and there is no dead on the gallows. The gallows is a fiction, so there is no need to look at her. She, Lili, is lying on the stage of a theater and feels herself actress, woman mother, girlfriend forever.

And she gives me her joy / her country: “But how well I do understand what this light is saying! / Love, love , love and eternal solitudes “. (1)Why did you leave Cuba?

I was eager to see the world but otherwise things that I did not like at all were happening here. And when Roberto Blanco in Irrumpe Theatre had no choice but to gather a group of us to say that we had to come together to create the Rapid Response Brigades, that terrified me. I could deal with many other things but not with that. That was the trigger. I think the conflict is for drama and drama should be represented not lived. And I always prefer to leave, give back because I detest organized violence.

I was in Venezuela. I was invited to some international theater workshops which were organized by the late Carlos Jimenez, who had seen ¨Mariana¨ and ¨Los Enamorados¨ at Havana’s Festival. And I was gradually staying there . There I made soap operas and that allowed me to survive and be independent. Then I went to Argentina to have my daughter Mariana. And when I want to return Cuba, at a particular time, I was told that I was grounded for nine years and I could not enter Cuba. First they asked me for a letter of authorization from Abel Prieto and another from Alfredo Guevara, which I requested and were given to me. But for some strange reason, the representative of the Cuban embassy in Argentina simply told me that they had tried but someone in the Interior Ministry did not allowed it. I remember that my phrase was: you then have decided me to be against the Revolution. And I went to Miami.

I had a hard time at first. And then I ended up opening a theatre (2) and a school ( 3). I discovered that teaching is a wonderful thing. But I had some troubles. I did not attend Cuban-American media television, I did not go to Channel 21, I did not get into anything. I stayed in the theater and school. And now I’m very tense with that because the co-founder wants the absolute power. And I did not have papers properly secured; because that’s an inconvenient of Cubans at any ism, wanting power.

How did you get linked to the project of Ana en el Tropico?

I had a great debt to Carlos Diaz. We cooked ¨El Rey Lear (4) in the room of my house, with Maria Elena Diardes and Lola Pedro. He was assistant of Roberto Blanco and we did not even dream of having a theater. My mom once told him: “Roberto is not going to let you directing”. And when he made ¨La trilogia¨ I had already gone.

When he went to Miami with ¨Las amargas lágrimas de Petra von Kant¨ and ¨ Caligula¨ I went there and I said to him: Carlos, when are we going to do something together? He replied: the time will come, Lili.

And one day I was called by Carlos Miguel Caballero and Ever Chavez de Fundarte, who are people I much respect due to the work they have done, and they proposed me that. They say it is still some months for the work. And I asked them to inform me when it was materialized. Because it’s something I learned in life: you may have dreams, but can’t become obsessed with them, you must let them fly because you can break them.

And at the very moment in which that Cuban-American mister, co-founder of the school with me, wrongly expels me, I was told about the materialization of Ana en el Tropico.

I know, at this stage of the game, that there are people who have the ability, as Carlos Diaz, to turn every little thing into a marvel. The text seems interesting to me, it has good moments , but there are texts that may be enriched because if not, they could go anywhere, just like ¨Mariana Pineda¨, which is Lorca’s worst text, and you saw what happened on Roberto’s production. To me what mattered the most was the excuse to reconnect me with Carlos.

Although the first meetings were made in Miami, with Nilo Cruz, Mabel Roch and you, Carlos assembled the scenic structure of the play with Cuban actors, was it easy to you to get into a so fast rehearsal dynamics?

I go to the rehearsal room and breathe happiness. Working with Carlos is fabulous. I always compare it to wine. It is not the same as a reserve wine. And it was not the same working with Roberto Blanco than with another director. And Carlos maintains that spirit. I’ve spent a week that I can not stop dreaming about the work, and I had forgotten that. Carlos tells me: what happened to your hands that are so tight, let them go, become yourself crazy. I believe the body is the main instrument of the actor. And I, to support the structure of everything else, had abandoned it. Here everyone is a divinity. There are many actors who I did not know. And in the end the theater is like a planet. Theater people have to know each other and there is no need to be separated.

What does return to Havana mean to you?

When Ever and Carlos Miguel talked me about Havana I said why not. I’ve never had a problem with being here. In fact I dreamed I came to Havana in one of those mountain carts that move by cables. It had been created something between here and there. And when I was on board I saw the sea and dolphins. And my boyfriend said he saw himself swimming. And I answered he could not go swimming. And, what a coincidence, the next day we heard the news of the lady in her sixties who crossed Florida Strait swimming.

And when you’re in Argentina, in Spain, and time goes by and one day you come direct here, you can not believe in the existence of a barrier in such a small distance. The plane takes off and you just have time to take a drink. It’s a very short journey. I asked myself: why all this have to happen?

I’m not American. I am a Cuban who lives anywhere in the world. For us it is a great topic. But it is hard to understand for my daughter : Cuban mother, Venezuelan father, she was born in Argentina, and was raised and educated in the United States. It is difficult for her, but she respects it and says: “When will they come out of this tragedy?” But Cubans have a great tragic vocation. We need a spiritual evolution and to realize ourselves that we can live in peace. Maybe I could not see it; my daughter sees it inside of her. She worries about the global issue, the survival of the entire planet.

Do you think the relationship between Miami and Cuba will change, if projects like this continue?

I like you to say Miami because I think the problem is not with the United States, it is in Miami. I think relations will change. And for me to come here is a way to tell people: how long? With my attitude, not with my words. One thing is to talk and another thing is to do. As Virgilio Piñera said: facts. And here I am. And it is needed not only me or theater people to come but popular artists as Willy Chirino. I wish I could see this. But if I can not see it, I’m doing it. At least I see it in me, I see it with me.

I wish that all those who worked here in ¨Ana en el tropico¨ to go and work there, although they could not stay in a big hotel, we took them to our houses. The vibrations of the theater, historically, have been more realistic, poorer, so to speak. A while ago, I was thinking that in the midst of such a disaster, the theater is like getting out of the world. And in Miami, to justify so much pain, there is an exaggerated view of this reality.

But there are thousands who would give anything to come. Even those who you ask you “how can you … ?” In the end, I know they want it. Because another thing I’ve learned in life is that the more someone protests, the pain inside is softer.

Sometimes I think that pain makes us speak, because there is indeed a history of pain. Lots of people were hurt. And when those people talk I do not judge them. I close my eyes and I put a purple quartz giant cloth on them to heal that pain. I respect that much. But I do not understand it in someone who left Cuba the other day and tells you one of those.

For example, Radio Marti did not say anything against my attitude and Mabel’s with the project. The fact is that this country is ours too and we have every right in the world to come whenever we please and do what we please and act as we want. We do not die for having crossed the pond, we survived.

There are Cubans in other regions who stand out as Cubans. I am more Cuban now than when I lived here. When you leave, it’s very subtle, but you like to highlight your identity. Because in the end, what is identity? Is this, is to know us, to love, is my family, my friends, my boyfriend and I go back to Mariana, what are we talking about? About t he planet.

Which is the ideal country for Lili Renteria?

When my mom told me that wise men did not exist, I took all my toys and spent all night cleaning and washing them and put them around me an in the morning I told her: Mommy, look what the wise men brought me. What do I mean? If there is not, I make it up. It is in us, in the virgin forest that we still have to conquer, that we still are. I dream of founding a city associated with education and art. I even have its name: Paxia.

And although every day I am more aware of my invention, it sometimes surprises me. There are people that exceed my inventions from whom I like to learn. The other day I met a boy named Jose Adrian Vitier. He belongs to the country that I want. He’s all peace. I wish we could get to that time in which we can represent how the man looked before, with many conflicts.At this time, my ideal country is my family, my home, my boyfriend and my daughter Mariana.

1 Mariana Pineda, by Federico Garcia Lorca.

2 Abanico Theater.

3 Arts & Minds Center.

4 Carlos Diaz shows this assembly project to Roberto Blanco to direct it in Irrumpe Theater, and Roberto advises Carlos to make his own theater group.