Artists from Cuba and Mexico to take part in the II Festín Teatral Cárdenas Internacional

Artists from Cuba will participate in the II Festín Teatral Cárdenas Internacional, which will be held in Mexico from 19 to 28 January 2024.

Hermanados por el Arte is the central idea that will bring together in Cárdenas, a municipality in the state of Tabasco, representatives from the Mexican regions of Puebla, Campeche, and Querétaro, as well as other nations such as Colombia and Argentina.

The director and general coordinator of the event, Samuel Saldaña Rivera, explained exclusively to Radio Enciclopedia that «the Festín Teatral is an initiative that seeks to promote the arts and give them added value as an activity that contributes to the comprehensive education of human beings, taking into account our Constitution, which states that culture is a right.»

«This is the first time in the history of the municipality of Cárdenas that a festival is being held independently without public funds. Forty-three years ago, an Ibero-American festival was held here in Cárdenas, but with public resources and directly from Mexico City; after 40 years, nothing similar has been done again. It is also the first independent festival in this state, in terms of culture,» added the interviewee via the Internet.

The Focus Theatre Production Company is responsible for organizing a project that Samuel Saldaña Rivera has been working on for five years. He is convinced that the participation of artists from Cuba, Colombia, and Argentina is crucial because cultural exchange helps to stimulate and strengthen art and culture based on events. The event will mainly promote theatre in various public and private spaces in the city, but there will also be activities related to film, music, visual arts, and dance.

Under the auspices of the National Authority of the Asociación Hermanos Saíz (AHS), the Centro de Teatro de La Habana, and the Dirección Provincial de Cultura in the capital, members of several theatre companies from Cuba will participate. These include the Hilos Mágicos Puppet Company, the Proyecto Cultural Arte 92, the Sociedad Artística Juvenil de Interacción Escénica, and the Multimedia Naufragio Project, as well as the Teatro Pálpito and Teatro del Caballero companies.

The II Festín Teatral Cárdenas Internacional and the Productora Teatral Focus will present Lux, a reading theatre show based on the original play by Greth Giraud, which won First Honorable Mention in the Premio Nacional de Dramaturgia para Niños y de Títeres Dora Alonso (2021). Samuel Saldaña is the executive producer and general director, while Rey Tejadilla, director of the Naufragio project, is in charge of staging and artistic direction.

Tejadilla has confirmed that he will teach the workshop Introduction to the Sanford Meisner Technique on the art of being on stage, which is created for audiovisuals, cinema, and realistic theatre. It is ideal for those who want to improve or start acting in front of the camera. Carlos González Sardiñas, the director of the Hilos Mágicos puppet company, will also be sharing his knowledge on making a puppet with a cross-hair control and elementary strings, which is versatile for different scenic and educational activities. José Antonio Alonso, director of the Teatro del Caballero, will provide theoretical and practical knowledge on the use of different acting techniques for the elaboration of characters.

Guillermo Fragoso Jr, a multi-instrumentalist of the Lyceum Orquesta de La Habana, will lead a workshop focused on the rhythmic structures of Cuban music. Furthermore, Osvaldo Calderón Ávila, an art teacher specializing in dance, will be in charge of the spaces for exchange on teaching-learning processes for dancers and contemporary Cuban dance.

These workshops are part of the II Festín Teatral Cárdenas Internacional and will take place from 19 to 28 January. The event’s organizers are interested in restarting a cycle of similar exchanges in February.

Translated by Luis E. Amador Dominguez