The mayor of Caracas, Erika Farías, announced the production of the Eighth International Theater Festival, with more than 400 activities on five axes, most of them taking place between April 12 and 21 at different venues in Caracas, including 14 theaters, two parks and 110 sites in communities of the city. 49 theatrical groups will be present. In addition, there will be activities in 4 cities. The maestro José León, precursor of the puppet theater and founder of the children’s group Los Monigotes, will be honored.
In the press conference, the Minister for Culture, Ernesto Villegas, was also present.
It will work in five axes:
- The axis of the theaters , which will open between April 12 and 21, for 9 days, sharing in 14 rooms with 49 groups of which 8 are international, in the hours from 11 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon. The theaters will be: Municipal, National, Principal, Bolívar, Teresa Carreño, Artist’s House, Rajatabla, Alberto de Paz and Mateo, Alameda and the Unearte rooms: Horacio Peterson, Concert Hall and Anna Julia Rojas.
- The children’s axis, which will be held in the Ali Primera Park in western Caracas for 5 days. There will be 20 children’s groups of puppets, dance, theater and circus, including the Argentinean clown Maku Arac.
- The street axis, where the inauguration will take place on Friday April 12th with the Carmina Burana production at the Museum Square at 7 o’clock at night.
- The city, theater and circus axis in Los Caobos Park (Sucre Park), where 3 days of theater plays will be held (from April 18 to 21).
- The community axis, which started on April 1 and is visiting 110 communities in Caracas, including urban planning, schools, neighborhoods, sports fields, plazas, boulevards and shelters. These will be shared with 30 national and international groups.
The programming and the grid will be available on the website www.festivaldeteatrodecaracas.org.ve and on the Twitter account @CaracasTeInvita.
The pre-sale begins on April 4 at the ticket offices of the National, Municipal and Teresa Carreño Theater. The tickets will have a price of Bs. 2,000.
Farías said that this year will be held not only in Caracas but in several points of the country: in Maracaibo (Zulia), La Guaira (Vargas), Chichiriviche (Falcon) and San Carlos (Cojedes). 14 new national productions will be released.
Culture and recreation are a right.
The mayor explained that the festival is part of the revolution’s commitment to guarantee culture and recreation as a right. He recalled that both are constitutional rights, and “the Venezuelan State is obliged to guarantee that right”, for which he thanked the efforts of all the groups in showing their work in spaces like this.
“We do not believe in terrorism and violence, but in dialogue, debate and understanding, for which we have decided very responsibly and despite all the obstacles, to carry out this eighth edition to honor the work. Because we want peace to work, to share, to produce. ”
José León, the honored artist, “is an extraordinary man who dedicated his life from adolescence, from 14 and 15 years old, to tenderness, to love, to theater for boys and girls,” said the mayor. “He has gathered great experience and trajectory in his life, for which we have decided to pay homage to him in life”.
Villegas: Let Filven bring theater to all states
The Minister of Popular Power for Culture, Ernesto Villegas, called for applause for Caracas for the organization of the Theater Festival and called on the rest of the country “to see this example of how steadfastness and courage, dedication and commitment to art and culture make what seems impossible happen. ”
He was happy that the Festival has left Caracas and reached 4 points of the country, and invited (the public) to take advantage of the regional route of the International Book Fair of Venezuela (Filven), which reaches all the states of the country, so that it “incorporates a theatrical component and that the book goes hand in hand with the theater “.
He proposes that “the International Theater Fair can be twinned with the International Book Fair, which is playing in all the states of the country,” so that “a regional chapter of the Filven has a theatrical component”, and that it also makes visible the artists, artisans and creators that exist in all the states.
He congratulated artists, artisans and creators “for coming here and for getting to where we will have to arrive, victorious.”
“Culture cannot be put out and a proof is this festival that is illuminating the Venezuelan people and the world. They have tried to plunge us into darkness, and from the depth of our history and from deep within the commitment of our men and women the light of the International Festival of Theater of Venezuela springs forth “.
Translated by JRE/EF
