"Los amores de don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín", dirigida por Carlos Giménez, en el Segundo Festival Latinoamericano de Teatro Universitario de Manizales, Colombia, 1969 / Bonnie Isman, Latin American Theatre Review, Kansas University, Spring 1970





MANIZALES, COLOMBIA-OCTOBER 1969-SEGUNDO FESTIVAL LATINOAMERICANO DE TEATRO UNIVERSITARIO



4 Oct / Cómala (adaptación de Pedro Páramo) / Autor: Juan Rulfo / Director: Mario Ricardo Piacentinni / Grupo: Pontificia Universidad  Católica, São Paulo, Brazil

5 Oct / Esperando a Godot   / Autor:  Samuel Beckett / Director: Ignacio Frías y Godoy / Grupo:  Cómicos de la Legua de la Universidad Autónoma,  Querétaro, Mexico

6 Oct  /  El rey se muere / Autor: Eugene Ionesco/ Director:   Ornar Arriechi  / Grupo:     
"Triángulo"—Instituto Pedagógico Experimental, Barquisimeto, Venezuela

7 Oct  / Los amores de don Perlimplín con Belisa en su jardín / Autor: Federico García Lorca / Director: Carlos Giménez / Grupo: Teatro "El Juglar", Córdoba, Argentina

7 Oct / Pedro Pedreiro / Autor: Renata Pallottini/ Director:  Silnei Siqueira / Grupo: Escuela de Arte Dramático-Universidad de São Paulo, Brazil

8 Oct / Pirámide 179 / Autor:  Máximo Aviles Blonda/ Director:  Máximo Aviles Blonda / Grupo: Universidad Autónoma, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

9 Oct / Topografía de un desnudo / Autor: Jorge Díaz / Director: Raúl Osório (temp. Eugenio Dittborn) / Grupo: Universidad Católica, Santiago, Chile

10 Oct / La Celestina (Adaptación de Margarita Villaseñor y Miguel Sabido) / Autor: Fernando de Rojas / Director: Miguel Sabido / Grupo: Universidad de Guanajuato,  Guanajuato, Mexico

11 Oct /  Esperando a Godot / Autor:  Samuel Beckett/ Director: Juan Aznar Campos / Grupo:  Escuela de Artes- Universidad Nacional,  Córdoba, Argentina

12 Oct / Canto del fantoche lusitano / Autor:Peter Weiss  / Director:  Ricardo Camacho / Grupo: Teatro Experimental- Universidad de los Andes, Colombia

1969






Segundo Festival Latinoamericano de Teatro  Universitario

The success of the First Latin American University Theatre Festival (1968) was repeated once more in Manizales, Colombia, in October, 1969. Under the capable direction of its president, Enrique Mejía Ruiz, and Director General, Emilio Echeverrí Mejía, the Second Festival sponsored performances by eight groups from seven different Latin American countries, with two additional performances outside the official contest. (See corresponding table.) 

The jury, composed of Alfonso Sastre, Sergio Vodanovic, and Rubén Monasterios, awarded the first prize to the Theatre Study Group of the Universidad de los Andes (Colombia) for its performance of Peter Weiss' Canto del fantoche lusitano, and honorable mention to the group from the Pontificia Universidad Católica of São Paulo for Cómala, the adaptation of the Mexican Juan Rulfo's novel, Pedro Páramo. The jury made its decision considering the following criteria: 1) the aesthetic currents operating in theatrical culture, among which documentary theatre is especially important; 2) the necessity that the productions of Latin American theatre be carried out within the austere framework which corresponds to the socio-economic conditions of the continent; and 3) the indispensable condition that a university theatre be oriented toward research, which is one of the most basic and definitive characteristics of the concept of a university.

In addition to the theatre performances indicated on the accompanying table, the schedule of events was supplemented by a series of roundtables relating to the performances themselves, and by a lecture series which included the following:

Alfonso Sastre, "Antecedentes y perspectivas del teatro español actual";
Rubén Monasterios, "El teatro venezolano de los últimos tiempos"; 
Sergio Vodanovic, "Visión del nuevo teatro"; 
Javier Arango Ferrer, "Elementos de la mitología colombiana";
Máximo Aviles Blonda, "Trayectoria del teatro dominicano";
a dialogue on Brazilian theatre conducted by the members of the group
from the Pontificia Universidad Católica of São Paulo; 
and three lectures on Mexican theatre and literature by Salvador Vasquez Araújo, David Pinera Ramírez, and Margarita Villaseñor. 
Ernesto Sábato, the honorary president of the festival, spoke on "Problemas de la literatura contemporánea."

The Third Festival of Latin American University Theatre is being planned for September 12-20, 1970, in Manizales, with a colloquium on Latin American theatre as an integral part of the proceedings. The winning groups in the respective national theatre festivals will be invited, as well as others expressly invited by the Festival Corporation. The Organizing Committee, composed of the Director General Dr. Emilio Echeverrí Mejía, Subdirector Carlos Ariel Betancur, and Secretary Esneda Morales Grajales, can be addressed: Apartado
Aéreo 117, Nacional 4, Manizales, Colombia. (G.W.W.)

Bonnie Isman
Kansas University
Spring 1970


Source: Latin American Theatre Review