Emiliani Somascos Institute

Teacher: Carlo Suazo

Theater

Latin American Playwrights

Hugo D'Alessandro
Medina Carpio
Key 33
Second basic
Section b
Year 2020
 Introduction

In this project we will see several famous and

recognized Latin American artists (Playwrights) from
all over Latin America, their biography, what year
they were born, and their entire history itself.
 Latin American and Latin American playwrights
Rafael Acevedo

Rafael Acevedo was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, in 1960. He directed the magazine Filo de Juego
(1983-1987), one of the most important publications of the Generation of Poets of the Eighties. He
has published the collections of poems: Contracanto de los superdecidores (1982), The Return of the
Prodigal Eye (1986), Libro de Islas (1989) and Instrumentario (1996). His poems have been
included in several anthologies, among which are prominently Anthology of Puerto Rican Poetry
(1993); Mal(h)ab(l)ar, (1996), The Overturned Limit (2000) and The New Cannibals, vol. 2: the
most recent poetry from the Hispanic Caribbean (2003). His novel Exquisito cadaver was awarded
at the “Casa de las Américas” contest in Cuba in 2001 and published that same year by the Callejón
publishing house, in a Latin American co-edition. For more than a decade he directed the cultural
supplement En Rojo of the Puerto Rican weekly Claridad. He has written plays such as Three Birds
on a Branch (1990), Crónica natural (1991) and Hello Who's Calling (1994), which have been
performed in Puerto Rico, Colombia, New York and Philadelphia. He is a member of the board of
directors of the Yerbabruja studio theater. He currently works as a language and literature teacher
at the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras.

Aravind Adyanthaya Aravind Enrique Adyanthaya is a playwright, short story writer and founding
director of the House of the Cross of the Moon. He has received playwriting awards from the Jerome
and McKnight Foundations, as well as first prize in the 2004 Institute of Puerto Rican Culture
contest. In the United States his works have been presented by: the Playwrights' Center, Intermedia
Arts, Red Eye Collaboration, Teatro del Pueblo, The Guthrie Theatre, Pregones and the Public
Theater (in its reading series). His first collection of short stories, Lajas, a kaleidoscopic portrait of
his hometown, recently won the PEN Club of Puerto Rico's narrative award.

Carlos Canales

Carlos Canales was born in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico in 1955. Graduated from the University of
Puerto Rico in Political Science, Drama and Education. He received a scholarship to study advanced
dramaturgy from the INTAR group in New York. He is a professor of acting and dramaturgy at the
Arecibo Specialized School of Fine Arts of the Puerto Rico Department of Education. He has been
president of the National Society of Dramatic Authors and has received several awards for his
dramaturgical and educational work. He has premiered more than twenty-five works. María del
Rosario, The House of the Immortals, Dangerous Game, Vortex, Let's Keep Dancing, Especially for
You, Margie, I like Charles Bronson's movies, Rumba was formed, Ecuajey, Bony and Kin, among
others. His works have been performed in the USA, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Argentina,
Mexico and Peru.

Updating the critical tradition of comedy initiated by Aristophanes in ancient Greece, Carlos
Canales demonstrates, in his satirical works, the characteristic contradictions of the modern era that
produce the chaotic confusion of values with anti-values.

Migdalia Cruz

Migdalia Cruz, born in New York, earned her master's degree in playwriting from Columbia
University. Cruz is the most prominent Latina playwright in the US and is the author of more than
30 plays, musicals and operas. His work has been produced by Playwrights Horizons; INTAR;
Brooklyn Academy of Music; En-Garde Arts; New York Shakespeare Festival's Festival Latino;
Theater for the New City; WOW Cafe (New York); Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Forum (Mexico City);
Old Red Lion (London) and Latino Chicago Theater Company. Some of her works are: Miriam's
Flower, Lucy Loves Me, Dreams of Home and Whistle. Among his musicals are: Rushing Water,
Welcome Back to Salamanca and When Galaxy Six and The Bronx Collide. In 1996 his play Another
Part of the House received support from the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Works. In
1991 she was named a Playwriting Fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1996 and 1998
he was a McKnight Fellow. In 1997 he participated as a visiting artist in residence at the University
of Connecticut School of Fine Arts.

Frank Disla Dominican playwright, actor, director and professor (Salcedo, 1959). He studied acting
at the National School of Performing Arts of Santo Domingo. He participated in the founding of
several groups, including Grupo Teatral Romanense, Los Teatreros and Teatro Cantera. Founder,
along with his brother Reynaldo Disla and Frank Richardson, of the first theater publication in his
country, Boletín Teatro. He has directed street shows, radio plays, and has made adaptations of
plays for radio and television. He has been a professor at the National School of Performing Arts.
His book Desarraigados, made up of four short plays, received the Cristóbal de Llerena Annual
Theater Award in the Dominican Republic. His pieces Ultimo Son, Chicken Cordon Blue, El Barbero
de Saint Ann Street and El Velorio de Juan Díaz have been awarded in the Casa de Teatro
Competition. Living for several years in the United States, several of his works have been translated
into English and performed on North American stages. He has been a member of the Arts Council of
Chelsea, Massachusetts, as well as coordinator of the United Nations Audiovisual Center in the
Dominican Republic and Jury for the Casa de las Américas awards. He is a Theater Professor at the
Perth Amboy Adult School, New Jersey, and recently taught the XX Ollantay Playwriting Workshop,
at Baruch College, New York.

Reynaldo Disla

He was born in Cotuí, Dominican Republic. He studied at the Autonomous University of Santo
Domingo. He is one of the pioneers of street theater and puppet theater in his country. Of his works
that have been awarded prizes, the following stand out: Bolo Francisco (1985), Casa de las Américas
Theater Prize, La muerte applaudada (1989), Casa de Teatro Competition and El afanoso scribe
(1999), Cristóbal National Theater Prize from Llerena. His work Function of Hastio was selected by
the Dominican Writer's House as the best theater book published in the country in 1993. He has
represented the country in various international theater events and festivals. He has directed
around 30 plays and has acted in more than 40 productions. He has also worked as a film, radio and
television scriptwriter. He teaches Dramaturgy and Theater Genres at the National School of
Dramatic Art.

Cristina Escofet

Cristina Escofet is from Argentina where she has taught philosophy and French. He has studies in
Dramatic Art and Dance. He participated in playwriting workshops with Osvaldo Dragún and
Eduardo Rovner. His theatrical work is very extensive. He began in 1982 with Notes on Form and
his latest work is I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, from 2002. In that period of time he also
published The Suitcases of Ulysses, Alone in the Burrow, You'll Never Wear Silk Stockings, Young
Ladies in Concert, Those Who Love Until They Die, and Fridas, among other works. He has
obtained three awards: in 1995, SADE Honor Belt (Argentine Society of Writers) in the Theater
genre for his Complete Theater Works; in the same year, Honorable Mention in the Municipal
Theater Award; and in 2000, he won first prize in the Argentores-NYU competition. In 1994 the
first volume of his complete plays was published and in 2000 Arquetipos, models to disarm, words
from the genre, thanks to the National Scholarship from the Fund for the Arts obtained two years
earlier. Regarding his narrative, Escofet has written short stories, two novels, a short novel and
children's poetry. He has given presentations inside and outside his country for ten years and has
also worked for television.

Mercedes Farriols

Mercedes Farriols is an author, actress and educator. He has written 17 plays, poetry, three novels,
short stories, essays, articles on theater and television scripts. In 2004 he premiered his work
Encarnación in cities around the world. He received the “Argentores Award for Best Comedy
Authorial Work” in 2000. She has been a disciple of Darío Fo and Vittorio Gassman. She starred in
one of the Vagina Monologues as part of a Global Campaign to eradicate violence against women
and girls. She is the holder of the Professional Screenwriting Chair at the ISER (Higher Institute of
Radio and Broadcasting in the Argentine Republic) and continually attends festivals in Latin
America, Europe and the USA. She has been awarded a scholarship for 6 years by the government of
France and by the Universitá degli Studi di Milano. He speaks Italian, French and English. His work
circulates throughout Argentina, America and Europe. He is currently writing his first film script.

Nora Glickman was born in Argentina and educated in Israel, England and the United States. He
received his doctorate in Comparative Literature from New York University. She currently works as
a professor of Literature at Queens College-CUNY. She has edited several books on Jewish-Latin
American themes and is the author of numerous literary research articles. His fictional work
includes Uno de sus Juanes (1983), Mujeres, memorias, malogros (1991) and Teatro, 4 works
(2000), among others. His plays have been performed in the United States, Ireland, Belgium, Israel,
Mexico and Canada.

Estela Leñero

Estela Leñero, born in Mexico City and educated there and in Spain, has published and performed
more than 15 works, including Casa Full (1987, awarded the “Punto de Partida” Prize awarded by
the Autonomous University of Mexico) , The Sewing Machines (1990, Honorable Mention in the
Rodolfo Usigli Award, awarded by the Autonomous University of Nuevo León) and Aurora and Pilar
in El Codex Romanoff (2004, Víctor Hugo Rascón Banda National Playwriting Award). Leñero
regularly collaborates in newspapers and magazines where he writes reviews, reports and interviews
about the Mexican theater scene.

Hector Levy-Daniel

He was born in Buenos Aires. He is the author of numerous plays, including: Rommer, the last
crimes (1994), Memories of Prague (1996), winner of the FAIGA award (award given at the XXIII
International Book Fair of Buenos Aires), Instructions for the management of the puppets (1998),
The Night of the Impostor (1999), Serena Danza del Olvido (2000), winner of an honorable mention
in the TRAMOYA2000 International Competition at the Universidad Veracruzana, Mexico, The
Archivist (2001) in the Theater for Identity cycle and Los insensatos (2001), winner of an honorable
mention in the Casa de Teatro International Competition of the Dominican Republic. Likewise, he
has been a director of both his own and others' works and is the founder of the “9 (Nueve)” cycle
that is held annually in Buenos Aires. Levy-Daniel teaches acting at the General San Martín Cultural
Center and in private institutions.

Eduardo Machado
Eduardo Machado was born in Cuba and emigrated to the US when he was 8 years old. She began
performing in Los Angeles at the Padua Hills Playwrights Festival, while studying playwriting with
María Irene Fornes. His first award, the National Endowment for the Arts, was achieved with a one-
act play. Machado has written more than 25 works, including Havana is Waiting, an
autobiographical story about the author's return to Cuba after 40 years of exile. In addition,
Machado works as a stage and film director. For the big screen he directed Exiles in New York in
1999. In 2001 When the Sea Drowns in Sand was performed at the Humana Festival, and in 1999
his play Broken Eggs was staged by the Spanish Repertory in Havana. This was the first time that
Cuban-Americans were invited to perform in Cuba since 1961. Machado currently works as an
associate professor of theater at Columbia University.

Teresa Marichal

Teresa Marichal was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and studied set design in Barcelona where she
worked with the National Puppet Company. His first work, The Hours of the Night Gods (1976),
received the René Marqués Theater Prize in 1985. Marichal is the most prolific playwright in the
history of her country, with more than 50 works performed both on the island and abroad. Among
his most successful works are Jam for All, Vald, Sunset Walk and Training. His work includes street
theater, children's theater, puppets, monologues and longer works. In addition, he has written short
stories, poetry and television scripts. She has also worked as an actress and puppeteer.

Cristina Merelli Cristina Merelli is a director, writer and actress. She is the author of numerous
dramas as well as books of stories and poetry. More than 20 of his dramas have been performed in
Argentina and at festivals in Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Spain. The Shoes, his most recent work,
participated in the annual cycle “Theater for Identity”; others are Telephone (2001), I come for the
notice (2002) and Green Wood Smoke (2002). Merelli has received many literary awards. The most
recent of them is the “National Comic Theater Contest” in 2001 (Neuquen, Argentina) for his work
La gota que perforada la piedra.

Enrique Mijares
Enrique Mijares graduated as a public accountant from the Universidad Juárez de Durango and
completed a master's degree in Education with a specialty in Humanities, at the Technological
Institute of Monterrey. Since 1982 he has been a theater professor at the University of Durango. In
1977 he founded and directs the Espacio Vacío workshop, with which he has made nearly a hundred
productions presented in different cities in the country and abroad. Among the books he has written
about the theatrical phenomenon are The Virtual Reality of Mexican Theatre, The Staring Game,
Zero Quantity, Loose Ends and Stone Guest. As a playwright he won the following awards: “Emilio
Carballido” (1995), for the play The Tree of Hope, an approach to the plastic work of the painter
Frida Kahlo; “Manuel Acuña Prize” (1996), for They Put a Price on His Head, where he analyzes the
brightness and darkness of the historical figure of Francisco Villa, and the “Tirso de Molina” Prize
(1997), for the work Sick of Hope, whose theme is the neo-Zapatista revolution in Chiapas.

Claudio Mir Actor, writer, director and musician. He graduated from the National School of
Performing Arts in Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic. He also holds a BFA in Visual Arts
from the Mason Gross School of Art at Rutgers University. In 1985 he was awarded El Dorado for
best Dominican actor. Mir has written and produced works for children, adolescents and for all
audiences. In addition, he is the director-adapter of the Josefina Baez production called
Dominicanish. Likewise, Mir has participated in many international theater workshops, including
the VII workshop of the International School of Latin American and Caribbean Theater (EITALC) in
Bologna, Italy, directed by Osvaldo Dragún (where he studied with Miguel Rubio and Teresa Rally
of Yuyachkani); the 10th EITALC Workshop in Machurrucutu, Cuba (where he studied with
Guillermo Angelelli); Odin Week in Denmark in March 2001; and, finally, the International School
of Theater Anthropology (ISTA), directed by Eugenio Barba in Seville 2004.

Luis Mario Moncada

Luis Mario Moncada has a degree with honors in Dramatic Literature and Theater from the
National Autonomous University of Mexico and works in the fields of playwriting, acting, criticism
and research. He has written and adapted more than twenty works, including: James Joyce, Letter
to the Adolescent Artist (award for best theatrical adaptation of 1994 by the APT), Alice Behind the
Screen (nominated by the AMCT for best work by an author national 1995), The stories that Siamese
brothers tell each other (1998), Multiple choice (1999) and Hans Quehans, the opinions of a clown
(2000). As an actor he has participated in numerous productions and has been part of the Teatro
Arena group since 1993. He has served as director of the Rodolfo Usigli National Theater Research
Center and is currently director of the Hellenic Cultural Center.

Matías Montes Huidobro was born in Cuba in 1931. His theatrical activity began in the 1950s, in
which he won the First National Prometheus Prize for his play Sobre lassames rocas (1951) and the
Second National Prometheus Prize for The Four Witches (1950). He came to the United States in
the 60s. His outstanding work as a playwright has allowed his works to be performed in Cuba,
Venezuela, Brazil, and the United States. Montes Huidobro's repertoire of works includes Gas en los
poros, Exilio, La navaja de Olofé, Las paraguayas, Ojos para no ver and Oscuro total, among others.
In addition to his important work as a playwright, Montes Huidobro has contributed enormously to
the studies of Cuban and Puerto Rican theater with the books Persona vida y mask in the Cuban
theater, Persona life and mask in the Puerto Rican theater and The Cuban theater during the
Republic: Cuba behind the curtain He is currently Professor Emeritus of the Department of
Languages at the University of Hawaii.

Ricardo Pérez Quitt

Ricardo Pérez Quitt was born in Atlixco, Puebla, in 1958. He is a playwright, critic and theater
researcher. He studied theater in Mexico and Europe. He entered the CNCA National System of Art
Creators in 2000. He has published historical research: Xelhua and History of the Theater in Puebla
from the 16th to the 20th centuries, among other titles. He currently directs the magazine Autores:
theatrical theory and practice, and is a teacher at the Colegio Libre de Estudios Teatrales de Puebla.

Roberto Ramos-Perea

Roberto Ramos-Pereanació in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. He studied Dramaturgy and Acting at the
National Institute of Fine Arts of Mexico, DF. and he continued those studies at the University of
Puerto Rico before embarking on his career as an author, director, actor, journalist and critic. He
has written more than 30 dramatic works, including: the Revolution in Hell trilogy, composed of
Revolution in Hell, Revolution in Purgatory or Module 104 (René Marqués del Ateneo Theater
Award in 1983) and Cave of Thieves or Revolution in Hell. paradise (René Marqués del Ateneo
Theater Award in 1983). Many of these works, including Miénteme más (which the Institute of
Ibero-American Cooperation of Madrid awarded with the Tirso de Molina Prize) are collected in his
book Teatro Secreto. His works have been performed throughout Latin America, Spain and the US,
as well as Japan in the case of Avatar (1998). Ramos-Perea has also written, as a theater historian,
History of the New Puerto Rican Dramaturgy (1968-1987) and Manuel Alonso Pizarro and the
Theater of the black Puerto Rican artisans (1871-1906). He was awarded the National Journalism
Prize (Bolívar Pagán Prize) on two occasions. For many years he worked as Executive Director of the
Ateneo Puertorriqueño, the oldest cultural institution in the country.

Eduardo Rovner

Eduardo Rovner was born in Argentina. Among the awards he has received, the Casa de las
Américas Award, First and Second National Playwriting Award, Argentores Award three times, ACE
Award, Teatro XXI, Florencio de Uruguay, Municipal de Buenos Aires and Estrella de Mar stand
out. He is the author of more than twenty-five works, performed in different countries, such as He
returned one night, Soul mates, Quartet, Company, Far away land of mine, Teodoro and the moon,
Castaway dreams, The white fly, And the world will come and Anniversary concert . They are
published in three volumes by Editorial De la Flor, in addition to having been printed by various
international publishers and magazines. Director of the Strategic Cultural Plan of the City of Buenos
Aires, member of the MATe (Movement to Support Theater), Founder and Vice President of the
"Ca! Foundation" rlos Somigliana" who directs the Teatro del Pueblo, was a member, representing
the Theatre, of the National Culture Council; Professor of the subjects Dramatic Writing Workshop
and Creativity at the National School of Dramatic Art and of the subject "Dramaturgy" in the
Master's Degree in Argentine and Latin American Theater from the Faculty of Philosophy and
Letters of the University of Buenos Aires. Vice President of the twelve International Congresses of
Ibero-American and Argentine Theater. He was General and Artistic Director of the General San
Martín Municipal Theater and carries out intense activity as a professor of Dramaturgy and theorist,
with publications in different magazines and interventions at national and international
conferences.

Guillermo Schmidhuber

Guillermo Schmidhuber de la Mora (Mexico, DF 1943) is an academic playwright. He has given

courses at North American and Mexican universities, and more than one hundred conferences on
four continents. He holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business, an MBA and a PhD from
the University of Cincinnati. He belongs to the National System of Researchers of Mexico. He is
currently a research professor at the University of Guadalajara.

His dramatic work covers nearly thirty titles, with Mexican and foreign premieres. He is the author
of forty books published in Germany, Holland, Spain, the United States, Chile, Venezuela, Colombia
and Mexico. Some of the distinctions he has received are: the “Nezahualcóyotl medal from the
Society of Writers of Mexico” (SOGEM, 1978), for The Human Cathedral; the “National Prize for
Fine Arts in Literature”, theater genre, and the “López Velarde Prize” from the government of
Zacatecas, for The heirs of Segismundo (1980); Furthermore, his piece Por las tierras de Colón
received the “Golden Letters Award” from the University of Miami, the highest award for Hispanic
writers awarded in the United States (1987). In 1995 he received the “José Vasconcelos Award” for
his contributions to Hispanic Heritage. In 1995 he was awarded the “Alfonso Reyes National Essay
Award” awarded by the government of the state of Nuevo León and CONACULTA. His works have
been translated into German, French and English.

Anabella Valencia is an actress and author of the works My name is... and Versolari, the latter
nominated for the 2001 Estrella de Mar contest for best comic performance. My name is… was one
of the 12 works selected to participate in the “Theater for identity” 2004-2005 cycle. Valencia has
performed in works staged throughout Argentina and in the “Fourth International Monologue
Festival of Puerto Rico” in 2001. She graduated in Dramatic Art and is currently a theater teacher
for children and adolescents at the Alfonsina Storni Cultural Center in Buenos Aires.

Antonio Zúñiga Antonio Zúñiga is a playwright and actor. He was born in Parral, Chihuahua,
(Mexico). He graduated in Sociology from the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez and
received a degree in Acting from La Casa del Teatro in Mexico City. He has been a member of
several theater groups, among others, Aborde Teatro (Ciudad Juárez) and Casa del Teatro (Mexico
City). Almost a dozen of his works have been published and performed in Mexico, the US and Cuba.
His work has received several literary awards such as, for example, an honorable mention in the
2001 edition of the Manuel Herrera National Playwriting Award for Estrellas enterradas, the 2002
National Playwriting Award from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León for El Tiradito:
Crónica de un holy sinner, and another honorable mention in the 2003 Chihuahua Literature Prize
for Reality Show. As an actor, he has participated in plays performed in Mexico City and throughout
the country. He has also appeared in films. Zúñiga is the author of several theater adaptations, as
well as a film script El Nuevo Oeste, awarded second prize in the 1998 IMCINE Competition. Zúñiga
is a member of the editorial board of Revista Grande, in Patzcuaro, Michoacán.
 Comments

I have learned the history and also some works of the Playwrights mentioned
in the project and also how they managed to do it.
I have seen playwrights from various countries in South America, Central
America, and North America (Mexico especially).
Images of Playwrights
 E-Graphic
www.escrituraespacal.blogspot.com/
2010/06/dramaturgos-latinoamericanos-y-
de.html