Latin American Theater Day

October 8: Latin American Theater Day
This October 8, on Latin American Theater Day, we celebrate all the people who make theater their way of life. Their work is essential to strengthening our culture and building a shared regional identity. On this date, we commemorate the beginning of the Manizales Latin American Festival in Colombia, which began on October 8, 1968. In Argentina, CELCIT (Latin American Center for Theatrical Creation and Research) has been key to consolidating this celebration throughout the region. Happy Latin American Theater Day!

We invite you to read the annual message for 2024, written by Peruvian actor, director and teacher, Alberto Isola:

On December 31, 1821, just five months after the Declaration of Independence of Peru, a decree signed by General José de San Martín, with the title of Protector of Peru, was published in the Lima Gazette. What is relevant for us and for the date we celebrate today is the subject of the decree: theatrical art. In it, reference is made to “a permanent theatre, like that of this capital”, defining it as “a moral and political establishment of the greatest utility”, to conclude, categorically, that, therefore, “Theatrical art does not bring infamy to those who profess it.”

It is evident that, rather than alluding to the colonial past, the decree points towards the republican future. It is a project, a wish; in some way, a utopia. A theatre that, like the Shakespearean mirror, reflects, criticises, illuminates a path to follow. The path of identity, of growth, of history. A recognition of the enormous power of theatrical fact. And those who make it possible have, therefore, a duty and a responsibility that keeps them from all infamy. What is more, in another article of the decree, it is said that “those who practice this art in Peru may opt for public employment”. A resounding setback to the contempt and distrust that society had, and has, for those who dedicate themselves to theatre. Or any artistic form.

In the two centuries since then, Latin American theatre, in different forms and measures, has fulfilled the wish expressed in the decree. And that has meant, in addition to notable achievements and an inextinguishable presence, confrontations, censorship, silencing by governments and institutions that, unlike San Martin's view, saw in theatre not only infamy but threat and danger. Today we face new outbursts of intolerance, brutal attempts to silence and erase, not only theatre, but any manifestation of culture or thought, considering them more than dangerous, dispensable, unnecessary, unworthy of being included in the national budget.

In addition to the stories it brings to the stage and that, thanks to the double nature of live performance, always speak to us of the here and now, theatre continues to offer us a model of collective coexistence and strength. Every play brings together a group of people and, even if only for a short time, creates a small society where, without disregarding conflicts and differences, they work towards a common goal, always greater than the sum of its participants. A kind of dress rehearsal for a better world. And the fact that this vision is sometimes presented to us as old-fashioned or romantic is nothing more than a recognition and at the same time a fear of its enormous power.

History, dreams, defeats, new beginnings, are embodied on stage, made visible in the bodies, voices and minds of human beings who, like the living books in Bradbury's "Farenheit 451", keep our essence alive and, by sharing it with other human beings, in the same space and at the same time, in that communion of which Grotowski speaks, make it indestructible. Despite the fact that they often want us to believe the opposite. We see and hear each other in a world where this is becoming less and less frequent. And more urgent.

In “La de cuatro mil”, a masterful farce from the beginning of the 20th century by one of the greatest Peruvian playwrights, Leonidas Yerovi, a character, upon witnessing a reprimand, originally intended for him, but received by another, due to a mistaken identity, exclaims, in a kind of revelation, with relief, but also with lucidity: “The mirror in which I have to see myself!” May that mirror, even if it sometimes fogs up or cracks, never break.

Happy Latin American Theater Day.
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