A Movable Feast

The local International Hispanic Theatre Festival is one of the biggest and best of its kind -- when will South Florida discover it?

Comments (0) By Mia Leonin Thursday, May 30 2002

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The poster for the huge Hispanic theater fest taking wing this week, by artist José Bedia

Details

May 31 to June 16 at various venues in Broward and Miami-Dade; most will be performed twice; call Teatro Avante, 305-445-8877

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•Viva España -- this year the festival will open and close with two of Spain's most renowned companies, Teatro del Temple and Compania Marta Carrasco. Temple's Buñuel, Lorca, y Dalí has won several awards for acting, set design, and direction since its debut in 2000. It explores the art and friendship of the three most influential Spanish artists of the Twentieth Century, with the Spanish Civil War as a backdrop. Together with the Florida Dance Association, Catalán choreographer Marta Carrasco will present the dance-theater piece Mira'm: Se Dicen Tantas Cosas at the Colony, which is part of Second Thursdays and free to the public.

•Santa Cecilia:Una Ceremonia Para Una Actriz Desesperada --speaking from the bottom of her tomb at the bottom of the sea, Cecilia looks for meaning in her life and her death. Audiences can witness a special performance by Vivian Acosta, one of Cuba's most highly respected actresses, for whom the role was originally written.

•Besides the Pia Fraus Company's Bichos Do Brasil(Critters From Brazil),two local companies will present works especially for children, but accessible for all ages. Miami's Teatro Avantewill debut an original work (with English supertitles), The Fair of Discoveries, co-written by Avante's Lilliam Vega and Cuba-based scholar/playwright Raquel Carrió. Four minstrels tell the story of Galileo Galilei, the famous mathematician, physicist, and astronomer whose discoveries clashed with the accepted beliefs of his day but eventually transformed the medieval view of the world in favor of new, modernist principles. As Carrió explains, "The Fair of Discoveries is a game of knowledge, a dialogue that is also a metaphorical journey into imagination and memory."

Prometeo of Miami-Dade Community College's Wolfson Campus has gathered some of Miami's most talented artists to produce a liberal adaptation of La Farsa Maravillosa Del Gato Con Botas. The play retains the most fundamental element of children's theater -- a love for the fantastic -- and combines it with poetry, farce, and puppetry. Celebrated Cuban artist Ramon Alejandro has created the wardrobe and set design and musical ingénue Alfredo Triff an original musical score.