To be or not to be? That is the Shakespearean question, the one Hamlet, the prince in William Shakespeare's play, has been asking for more than 400 years. This fall, a Peruvian theater company of actors with Down syndrome answers it in Puerto Rico.
Joining them is a French company from Réunion Island, in the Indian Ocean, along with theater companies from Spain, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. The 56 Festival de Teatro Internacional del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (ICP), running from Sept. 30 to Dec. 19, presents eighty days of theater across five stages. "The festival is really rich," Ismanuel Rodríguez, director of the ICP's Performing Arts Program, told Platea.
Why it matters. Under Rodríguez, now in his eighth festival as director, the festival moved beyond foreign texts staged by local companies and now includes international companies and industry workshops.
It should be a meeting place for audiences and artists, a space not only to see theater but also to address topics and develop activities of interest to both theatergoers and artists
This year, the Festival includes a retirement financial planning workshop for artists, with adviser Jessica Delgado, and the documentary Mala yerba, by Miguel Villafañe, about one of Latin America's most emblematic theater companies, based in Ecuador.
Inclusion, front and center. Productions such as Hamlet, by Shakespeare, and Los mayores cuentan que cuentan, a play performed by women ages 64 to 87, reflect one of the festival's priorities. "(The program) will make clear our intention to create a more inclusive festival, where new voices are heard," Rodríguez said.
The tribute. The thirteen women who perform Los mayores cuentan que cuentan have been training for three years with mime and director Rafael Fuentes, to whom this edition of the festival is dedicated.
Fuentes is a retired associate professor at the Universidad de Puerto Rico and trained at the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, in Paris, on a scholarship from the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña itself. In more than four decades of work he has performed in productions such as El jardín de los cerezos and La tempestad, and has directed productions such as Sylvia Rexach en Jazz and Amor de medianoche. "It took me by surprise," Fuentes told Platea.
I never imagined an honor as great as the one the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña is bestowing on me
Los mayores cuentan que cuentan is Fuentes's most recent production, performed exclusively by retired older adults who use theater as a way to stay active. The piece grew out of a research project, and the group's own members wrote it from their personal stories.
His work, like the festival as a whole, he says with a laugh, "is for the whole family, for children from 5 to 95."
🎭 Schedule
Teatro Victoria Espinosa (Santurce)
Oct. 5, 7:30 p.m. — Tres manzanas podridas (staged reading), by Gustavo Ott. Guest production.
Oct. 9–11 (Fri.–Sat. 8:00 p.m., Sun. 4:00 p.m.) — Los mayores cuentan que cuentan, by Colectivo Teatro para Mayores, directed by Rafael Fuentes. Guest production.
Oct. 14–18 — Clown Cosmos, by Fundación Corazón Elástico. Guest production.
Oct. 22–25 (Thu. 10:00 a.m. school performance; Fri.–Sat. 8:00 p.m.; Sun. 3:00 p.m.) — Bernarda y Poncia (silencio, nadie diga nada), by María Pilar Ávila Mora, produced by Teatro Aragua. Official Selection.
Nov. 13–15 (Fri.–Sat. 8:00 p.m., Sun. 4:00 p.m.) — Des-conocido, by Yuyachkani, produced by Arte y Maña. Guest production.
Nov. 20–22 — El montaplatos, by Harold Pinter, produced by Somos Cangrejos, Inc. Official Selection.
Teatro Francisco Arriví (Santurce)
September 30 and October 1 (school groups 10:00 a.m., general 7:00 p.m.) — Flamboyants, Alianza Francesa de Puerto Rico. Guest production.
October 17 and 18 (Sat. 8:00 p.m., Sun. 4:00 p.m.) — Hamlet, by Teatro La Plaza (Peru). Guest production.
October 22, 7:30 p.m. — Documentary Mala yerba. Complementary event.
November 18, 7:30 p.m. — Finance workshop for artists, with Jessica Delgado. Complementary event.
November 19 and 20, 7:30 p.m. — Títeres en el Caribe hispano: Cuba, República Dominicana y Puerto Rico. Guest production.
Casa Taller Agua, Sol y Sereno (Santurce)
November 21 and 22 (Sat. 8:00 p.m., Sun. 4:00 p.m.) — Él canta y yo cuento, with Freddy Ginebra, presented by De la Legua, Inc. Guest production.
Café Teatro Abracadabra (Santurce)
December 16 — Preview of Los músicos ambulantes, by Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani, directed by Miguel Rubio and Rosa Luisa Márquez. Guest production.
Cine Teatro Fénix (Vega Baja)
December 19, 7:30 p.m. — Títeres en el Caribe hispano (additional performance).
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
