Blessed Gloria, Albanta, Cadiz Spain, Friday and Saturday, July 19 and 20 at 8:30 p.m., Sunday, July 21, at 5 p.m., Carnival Studio Theater, Adrienne Arsht Center.
With all of the news going on with immigration, and people divided over the issues on President Trump's immigration policies, you won't find any commentary on this at the 34th International Hispanic Theater Festival of Miami, opening Thursday, July 11 and spanning three weeks after different venues throughout Miami-Dade County.
“What I want to do is get people interested in theater, and controversy won’t achieve that,” says festival director Mario Ernesto Sánchez. "When the festival began in 1986, Sánchezsays it was a way for local companies that were producing Hispanic plays to “improve and enhance Hispanic theater in the city.” Sánchez is also the founder and producing artistic director of Teatro Avante in Little Havana.
Million of Seconds by El Principito Producciones, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Friday and Saturday, July 26 and 27 at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m., MDCA's On.Stage Black Box Theatre.
This year, the festival includes seven productions selected from Argentina, Chile, Spain and the United States — Sánchez’s theater company represents the U.S. —with performances at various venues: the Adrienne Arsht Center’s Carnival Studio Theatre, Miami-Dade County Auditorium’s On.Stage Black Box Theatre, and Key Biscayne Community Center.
One of the biggest events is International Children's Day on Sunday, July 21, hosted by Miami-Dade County Auditorium, where everything is free, including the food.
Bayamesa (World Premiere), Teatro Avante, United States. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, July 25, 26 and 27 at 8:30 p.m., Sunday, July 28 at 5 p.m., Carnival Studio Theater, Adrienne Arsht Center.
"The festival brings plays for adults, plays for young adults, and we bring plays for children. The second Sunday of the Festival has always been Children's Day. We have train rides, and fact painting, and theater workshops, and the evening ends with a professional children's theater company; a very well known company, Los Claveles from Murcia, Spain, who are presenting 'SieteCabritillos' ('Seven Little Goats')." Sánchez.explains that the play is about seven “kids” who don't listen to their mother when she tells them not to a wolf into their home. "Goats" will also be performed on Saturday, July 20 at 5 p.m. at the Key Biscayne Community Center, with free admission and free parking.
Paca García and Aniceto Roca wrote the play, presented in Spanish.
The regular productions also feature an educational component with "Beatriz J. Rizk, Ph.D.,
"Beatriz has been with us for a long time. We tell the audience after every play that they can stay, and while it is not compulsory, most of them do. They meet the company, they talk to the actors, directors or playwright, and usually 75 percent of the audiences stay for the talks," says Sánchez.
The Itinerant Actor: A Devilish Anthology, Compania de Teatro Fugaz, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Friday, July 18, 19 and 20 at 8:30 p.m., MDCA's On.Stage Black Box.
On Friday, July 19, the festival presents its Life Achievement in the Performing Arts Award to This year, it is being presented to Pepe Bablé., theater director, actor and author, and Director of Teatro La Tia Norica, Albanta, and the IberoAmerican Theatre Festival of Cádiz,.
"At one point, we were honoring countries like Chile, Spain and Argentina, so the person who received the award had to be from that country, but at the 30th festival we changed it up. Now we search and we have nominations, and this year we selected Pepe and he will be presented with the award on Friday, July 19, right after the show he's directed is performed."
Pepe Bablé.directed "Blessed Gloria,” Albanta, Cádiz, Spain, which has three showings at the Carnival Studio Thater at the Adrienne Arsht Center beginning Friday, July 19.
"We wanted to celebrate and to honor people theater people who have dedicated their life to theater," says Sanchez.
Extinct Poetics, Nueve De Nueve, Zaragoza, Spain. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, July 11, 12 and 13 at 8:30 p.m., Sunday, July 14, at 5 p.m. Carnival Studio Theater, Adrienne Arsht Center.
Festival lineup:
“Extinct Poetics,” Nueve de Nueve, Zaragoza,Spain.,
8:30 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, July 11-13; 5 p.m. Sunday, July 14.
Carnival Studio Theater, Adrienne Arsht Center.
“Letters from Jenny - The Insignificant Epic of Jenny Masterson,” Teatro Imagen, Santiago, Chile.
A domineering mother, an overprotected son, and a girl who comes to break up the circle of maternal certainties with her charm and cheekiness.
8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 12 and 13, 5 p.m., Sunday, July 13.
MDCA’s On.Stage Black Box Theatre
Letters From Jenny, The Insignificant Epic of Jenny Masterson, Teatro Imagen, Santiago Chile, Friday and Saturday, July 12 and 13 at 8:30 p.m., Sunday, July 15, at 5 p.m., MDCA's On. Stage Black Box Theater.
“The Itinerant Actor – A Devilish Anthology,” Compañia de Teatro Fugaz, Buenos Aires, Argentina,
The writings from Spain’s Golden Age become fused with the gold that the conquistadors took from Bolivia; cultural gold that moves across time and that only memory saves by honoring the troubadour’s art.
8:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, July 18 to 20.
MDCA’s On.Stage Black Box
“Blessed Gloria,” Albanta, Cádiz, Spain
Following her father’s death, Gloria shuts herself up in her home like a hermit inside a labyrinthine retreat. She becomes usurper, mistress and slave in a prison that houses other ghosts with no less tangled histories.
8:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday, July 19 and 20; 5 p.m., Sunday, July 21. Carnival Studio Theater, Adrienne Arsht Center.
“Seven Little Goats,” Los Claveles, Murcia, Spain
Disobeying their mother, seven kids (little goats) let a wolf into their house. But their mother, and the courage and ingenuity of the youngest, deal the fierce intruder his just desserts.
5 p.m., Saturday, July 20.
Key Biscayne Community Center, free admission and parking.
Seven Little Goats, Los Claveles, Murcia, Spain, Saturday, July 20 at 5 p.m. at Key Biscayne Community Center, and Sunday, July 21, at 5 p.m, International Children's Day, MDCA's On.Stage Black Box Theatre.
International Children’s Day
2 to 6 p.m., Sunday, July 21
2 to 3 p.m., Arts and crafts, rides and distribution of healthy meals
3 to 4 p.m., Acting, painting, puppetry workshops
4 to 5 p.m., Music/percussion workshop.
5 to 6 p.m., “Seven Little Goats” performance.
MDCA’s On.Stage Black Box Theatre, free admission and parking.
“Bayamesa,” Teatro Avante, Miami, United States.
In Spanish with English supertitles.
A theater company comes across unpublished manuscripts of the poet María Luisa Milanés (1893-1919), an ardent feminist and patriot born in Bayamo, Cuba, and undertakes presenting a play based on her complicated life.
8:30 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, July 25-27; 5 p.m., Sunday, July 28.
Carnival Studio Theater, Adrienne Arsht Center.
“Millions of Seconds,” El Principito Producciones, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In Spanish with English supertitles.
Since he was 5, a transsexual teen has been counting the seconds he has left to live in an alien body. He is 554 seconds old and still harbors the hope of beginning his transformation.
8:30 p.m., Fri and Sat, July 26 and 27; 5 p.m., Sunday, July 28.
MDCA’s On.Stage Black Box Theatre
Information:
Adrienne Arsht Center, Carnival Studio Theater, 1300 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami.
Tickets: $39.10; seniors, students and persons with disabilities, $33.35, prices include Arsht Center charges. (305) 949.6722 or www.arshtcenter.orgMiami-Dade County Auditorium, On.Stage Black Box Theatre, 2901 W. Flagler St., Miami. Tickets: $33, seniors, students and persons with disabilities, $28, prices include MDCA handling fee. Key Biscayne Community Center, 10 Village Green Way, Key Biscayne. (305) 361-8900.
