Camagüey, March 12, 1941

Licensed (B.A.) in Hispanic Language and Literature, University of Havana, 1977

Licensed in the Scenic Arts, National Arts University, Havana, 1981.

Gacio has been an investigator in the Center since 1984.  His fundamental research topics have been:

• The art of the actor: theory and practice in the 20^th Century.

• Gay theater in Cuba.

• Cuban theater repertory of the 20^th Century.

Acting experience:

Gacio is also a “First Level” professional actor with more than 40 years of experience.  He has worked in the most important theater collectives and with the most well known directors in the country. 

He has also worked with important foreign theater personalities.  He is currently working with the Cuban theater group Teatro de la Luna (“Theater of the Moon”), with which he has participated in international tours to Colombia, Chile and Venezuela.  In France he acted in the play El burguíes gentilhombre (“The Bourgeois Gentleman”), produced by Jerome Savary.  The play was presented in the Chaillot Theater of Paris, in 1998.

 He has given the following acting classes (among others):

1.     History of Cuban Theater

2.     Universal Theater

3.     History of Theater Costuming

4.     Children’s Theater

5.     Body Expression

 Experience as Writer and Critic:

As a critic, Gacio boasts articles in many of Cuba’s most important cultural publications, as well as those specializing in theater. He has collaborated with the Spanish journal Ade, Mexico’s Escena Latinoamericana, and the Theater Encyclopedia in Canada, and presented a conference paper at the Latin American event at the University of Perpignan in France (1996).  He has also given conference papers and participated in various events in Nicaragua, 1988, Russia, 1990, and Mexico, 1994, France, 1996, 1988, and Colombia, 2000.  While in Mexico he worked for almost one year in the Department of Soap Operas of Televisa S.A.. de C.V.

Gacio is a member of the Cuban Section of the International Association of Theater Critics (AICT).   He is currently the President of the Section for Theater and Critique in the Association of the Scenic Arts, which is part of the National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC). 

In the years 2000, 2001 and 2002 have acted in the company Theater of the moon that Raúl Martín directs.

At the moment (2002) he encourages a popular weekly program of Radio Ciudad of Havana, ("Good Night City" -Wednesday of 10 to 11 p.m. -) dedicated to the Cuban scenic arts, and their present time.

 -home-

Havana, April 1, 1955.

Licensed (B.A.) in Sociology, University of Havana, 1978

Masters in Cultural Promotion, University of Havana, 1992

Dramaturg, writer, theater critic, essayist, and T.V. and radio script writer.

Esther has been an investigator in the Center since 1988.  She is also a professor in the Department of Philosophy, Sociology and History at the University of Havana.                     

In her investigations, she has studied the relations between the Cuban theater production and its sociological methods and procedures; the social conditions surrounding the creation and diffusion of national dramaturgy (between 1970 and 1990); the formation of the theater spectator; theater for children and adolescents in the 1990s; an the presence of the bufo (teatro bufo: a Cuban vernacular, blackface theater) genre in contemporary Cuban theater. 

She has presented conference papers in numerous national and international theoretical events, and has given courses and workshops in Cuba, Spain and Venezuela.

Her published books include:  De la investigación sociológica al hecho teatal (essay: “The Sociological Investigation of Theater”), Un colectivo tras el telón (testimony: “A collective behind the curtain”), Mi amigo Mozart (youth theater: “My Friend Mozart), El libro del orégano (children’s novel:  “The Oregano Book”), Para subir al cielo se necesita… (puppet theater:  “In Order to Rise to the Sky You Must…”), Mensaje a E.T. (children’s story:  Message to E.T.), and  Baños Públicos S.A. (theater).  Esther has also published numerous critical articles and essays in national and foreign journals.

National Awards and Recognition as Dramaturg, Narrator, Essayist, and Scripter:

·        UNEAC, Children’s Literature, 1985, 1995

·        UNEAC, Theater, 1998

·        Competition ‘Caracol’ (Radio and T.V.), Best         Script, 1999

·         National Radio Festival, Best Script, 1999

·        Competition ‘Mario Rodríguez Alemán’, Critique         and Essay, 1995, 1999

She is a member of the Writer’s Association, the Association for the Scenic Arts, and the Cinema, Radio and Television Association, under UNEAC, as well as a member of the International Federation of Theater Critics.

In the 2002 she has had several presentations and sale their book  Vicente Revuelta in scene; the game of my life, with great critic success.

-home-

Pinar del Rio, April 18, 1936.

Licensed (B.A.) in Sociology, University of Havana, 1977.

Ph.D. in Art Sciences, Institute of the Scientific Investigation of Art, Moscow,  U.S.S.R.

As a researcher at our Center, she has developed the following lines of investigation:

 1. Economic-organizational aspects of Cuban theater.

2.  Audience studies.

3.  Measurement indicators in the analysis of theater activity on a national level

Haydée has published the results of her investigations in numerous national and international publications, and she has received national recognition and awards for her scientific research.  

At the present time (year 2002) she is in the application phase in the whole country of a designed project and developed by her, that is the National Automated System of Statistical Information about Scenic Arts. This application is carried out with the support of the National Council of the Scenic Arts of Cuba.

 -home-

Manzanillo, May 2, 1947.

Licensed (B.A.) in History and Sociology, University of Havana, 1969, 1977.

1966-1971.   Professor of History of Philosophy, National Art School of Cubanacán;  Research Advisor, Teatro Escambray (Escambray Theater Company); Researcher of Cultural Maps, Center for Investigation of Culture,  Investigator, Historical Museum of Guanabacoa.

1972-1977.Researcher, Sociology Department, Cuban Ministry of Work.

1977-1979. Sociologist, Department of Psycho-Sociology, National Institute for the Scientific Investigation of Work.

1979-1988. Specialist, Studies for Theater

Development, Theater and Dance Section under the

Cuban Ministry of Culture.

Since 1989, Miquel has been an investigator for our Center, where he has undertaken investigations concerning structural problems and the economic and organizational mechanisms of theater groups:

             ·        Production cycle of the play

·        Application of evaluation methods for theater experts

·        Investigation of the labor time of theatrical artists as an organizing diagnostic medium (won first prize in the Economy of Culture competition, 1987)

·        Socio-demographic studies of theater and dance in Cuba

·        Employment procedures in theatrical and dance specialties

·        System organization of the salary system in Cuban theater and dance

·        Behavior of new forms of salary payment in the theater

·        Specific methods for the artistic evaluation of theater and dance

·        Diagnostic studies of the professional children’s theater movement in Cuba

·        Cultivation of the dramatic repertory in Havana between 1979-1988

·        Investigation of the National Theater of Cuba (1959-1961).  Won award from the journal Tablas for investigation, 1997.

·        Organization aspects of new theater projects

Miquel has taken graduate courses in teaching and education in Cuba as well as in the Soviet Union, Hungary and France.  He has published articles about the above themes in national and international journals.

Their book has just been published -an investigation of several years of work- titled: That forgotten print: The National Theater of Cuba, that is already for sale in Cuba.

-home-

Havana, July 6, 1961.

Licensed (B.A.) in History of Art, University of Havana, 1984.

Nancy has completed numerous graduate courses, including:

•  Fundamental problems in contemporary theater directing

• Research methodology

• Cuban dramaturgy

• Cuban Teatro Bufo

• The plays of Cuban playwright, Virgilio Piñera              

As an investigator in our Center, she has developed the following topics:

 1.      The vernacular theater in Cuba:  a chronology of the most important figures in this genre.

2.      Historical repertory of Cuban theater collectives.

From January of the year 2002 Nancy Benítez Trueba is General Director of our Center.

-top-

-home-