Cuba’s 19th Theater Festival Delves into Artistic Values Amid Economic Challenges.

Camagey: Cuba's 19th Theater Festival opens today in this Central city, as an attempt to delve as deep as possible into rooted artistic values of the island. The festival will start in the evening with the play 'Escenas de Teatro Cubano' (brief scenes from the Cuban Theater), by the Students of the Faculty of Theatrical Arts Ensemble, from the University of the Arts. According to Lao News Agency, the event's organizer, Freddy Nuñez, explained in a press conference how hard it had been to host the festival when the country faces a challenging economic panorama, but whatever the odds, he said, 'out there there's a very demanding audience.' Núñez, director of Teatro del Viento, brought up a hot topic at the recently held Congress of the Union of Artists and Writers of Cuba, where they gave much prominence to 'cultural colonization' today. Núñez understood that the best way to confront it is to present Cubans with their own national tradition, where theater plays an essential role. On the 18th, the Camagey Pupp et Ensemble will present the show 'The Girl and the Elephant' specially for children, while Ensembles Papalote and Teatro de las Estaciones will be showing pieces for kids until the 24th. The theoretical chapter will be hosted by the Santa Cecilia Convention Hall, where playwrights and actors will lecture on how they have appropriated classical works, according to Núñez. The Avellaneda Theater in downtown Camagey, one of the festival's venues in the evening hours, will host the play 'Réquiem por Yarini', by Teatro El Público, while the Tasende room will be the stage for the Trotamundo Ensemble, featuring the play Frijoles Colorados.