Havana, June 16.– Together with the ICAIC and Casa de las Américas, institutions founded in that mythical year of 1959, the National Theater of Cuba stands as a symbol of a founding era for Cuban culture. The culture of the Revolution, the culture in Revolution or even, the Revolution of Culture.
It was not a question, as other revolutionary processes in the world experienced, of sweeping away a tradition and starting from scratch, in often traumatic experiences. The aim was to enhance the most authentic values of creation, promote its best expressions, and create a platform to sustain this artistic and literary production, to make it available to citizens, without class prejudices.
Culture as shared heritage. That was the bet of the National Theater of Cuba, directed in its beginnings by Isabel Monal, a woman of extraordinary sensitivity, integrative capacity, with clear notions of the nature of art.
Thanks to this impulse of the triumphant Revolution, the National Theater was the epicenter of a solid cultural movement, which encompassed literature, music, folklore, modern dance, and theatrical renewal.
Under that umbrella, fundamental institutions of the institutional system of the arts in Cuba emerged.
Therefore, it is easy to appreciate the contributions of the National Theater of Cuba to the consolidation of a solid cultural project that would meet the demands of the moment. Keep in mind, for example, that the phenomenon that art instructors became had its genesis precisely in that theater.
It is easy to value the contributions of theater in the past, but the present poses many challenges.
The National Theater must be the privileged space for the highest expressions of the performing arts, music and visual arts, from Cuba and beyond these borders.
It has to establish itself as a reference for the rest of the institutions of its type. In fact, he is now a reference, the most important companies in Cuba, the best artists, perform there. But he cannot, or should not, leave room for mediocrity. Top-level shows, only top-level shows would always have to be presented in that theater.
Which does not mean, of course, that the community work carried out in the neighborhoods surrounding the institution is abandoned.
These are difficult times, many of the city’s venues are closed, undergoing complex restoration processes. The National Theater has had to assume a good part of the programming of the Havana scene. But it must be done without concessions. And that, ultimately, is the biggest challenge. (Text and photo: Cubasí)
