Performing Arts

Spanish language theater, TEMFest, begins third season

 

A party and awards ceremony will kick off the third edition of the made-in-Miami theater en español.

If you go

What: TEMFest 2012

Where: Teatro en Miami Studio (TEM), 2500 SW Eighth St., Miami; Hoy Como Ayer (HCA), 2212 SW Eighth St., Miami; Havanafama Theatre (HT), 701 SW 10th St., Miami; Centro Cultural Español (CCE), 1490 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; Miami-Dade County OnStage Black Box Theater (OBBT), 2901 W. Flagler St., Miami

When: Opening ceremony and Baco Awards, 7 p.m. Wednesday, OBBT (free); ‘Drume negrita’ by Ernesto García, 8:30 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Oct. 14, TEM; ‘Una Noche de Cuentos del Miami Cuenta,’ 7 p.m. conversation with Germán Jaramillo (free), 8:30 p.m. program with storytellers from Costa Rica, Mexico and Brazil, Saturday; ‘Leyenda’ by Raquel Carrió, 8:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 5 p.m. Oct. 14, HCA; ‘Tres Dramaturgos, Tres Generaciones’ (book presentation), 7 p.m. Oct. 18 (free), TEM; ‘No vayas a llorar’ by Boris Villar, 8:30 p.m. Oct. 19-20, 5 p.m. Oct. 21, TEM; ‘Dinosaurios’ by Santiago Serrano, 8:30 p.m. Oct. 19-20, 5 p.m. Oct. 21, HFT; ‘La orgía’ by Enrique Buenaventura, 8:30 p.m. Oct. 26-27, 5 p.m. Oct. 28, HT; ‘Retrato de Aura’ by Rolando Moreno, 8:30 p.m. Oct. 26-27, 5 p.m. Oct. 28, TEM; Children’s Theatre Day, 10 a.m. Oct. 28 (free), CCE.

Cost: $20 per show

Info: 305-551-7473, www.teatroenmiami.org


cdolen@MiamiHerald.com

Ernesto and Sandra García are dreamers who have learned, of necessity, how to transform creative ideas into reality with very little money. Since winning a visa lottery that brought them to Miami from Cuba in 1995, the Garcías have started a clearinghouse website for Spanish-language theater worldwide, created their Teatro en Miami Studio above a Little Havana tire shop and, in 2010, launched a festival to celebrate made-in-Miami theater en español.

Not that any of this has been easy. Playwright and director Ernesto García, whose Drume negrita will have its world premiere on Friday, is usually as determined as his optimistic wife. But he does admit that sometimes, on his darkest days, “I feel that I am plowing in the ocean.”

Nonetheless, this week brings TEMFest 2012, the third edition of the Garcías’ Miami-centric festival. It launches Wednesday evening with a big free party and awards ceremony in the OnStage Black Box Theater at Miami-Dade County Auditorium. Director Eduardo Corbé, actress Marta Velasco and playwright José Abreu Felippe will be honored with the festival’s Baco Award for their years of contributions to theater, artist Yovani Bauta’s festival poster will be unveiled, and the theater artists whose work will be showcased over the festival’s three weekends will be introduced, mingle and dance to the Luyano Band — no stodgy kickoff speeches for TEMFest.

This year’s festival features six premieres — two from Teatro Viento de Agua and Gala, companies new to Miami — and the others from the Garcías’ Teatro en Miami, El Ingenio Teatro, Havanafama Teatro Estudio and the Maroma Players. A storytelling evening, a free book presentation and a free children’s festival day augment the theater offerings, which have tickets priced at a value-conscious $20 per show.

The aim, says Sandra García, isn’t to rival the long-established International Hispanic Theatre Festival. That monthlong gathering happens each July and focuses mainly on bringing companies from all over the world to Miami, in addition to showcasing the work of festival artistic director Mario Ernesto Sánchez’s Teatro Avante and Miami Dade College’s Teatro Prometeo. García calls Sánchez “an inspiration for us” and adds, “We don’t want to compete with anyone. We just want to bring in more people [to see this work].”

Ingenio Teatro director Lilliam Vega, who is staging Raquel Carrió’s new play Leyenda at Hoy Como Ayer on the opening weekend, calls the Garcías “great leaders, excellent producers, tireless teachers and hardworking directors of a festival that seeks to bring all types of artists together, offering them equal support in their endeavors.” She credits TEMFest with encouraging more stylistic diversity in local Spanish-language theater.

Vega, who has worked in Miami for 15 years and staged a number of plays by Carrió, says Leyenda is inspired by Carlos Felipe’s Requiem por Yarini. The play features Daisy Granados as an aging actress who endures hard times while hanging onto her passion for life and love. The playwright, Vega says, crafts “incredibly imaginative stories, filled with such depth and modernity that they capture my interest from the very first moment. She provides to the entire production a continual challenge that … encourages artistic growth all the way to the day of the premiere.”

Read more Performing Arts stories from the Miami Herald

  •  

Duo Yamamoto: Ayaka and Yuka Yamamoto of Japan have performed together for four years.

    Japanese sisters take gold in Dranoff 2-piano finals

    Japanese sisters Ayaka and Yuka Yamamoto, who have been performing together for four years as Duo Yamamoto, won the gold medal and $25,000 top prize Thursday night at the 12th Dranoff International 2 Piano Competition in Coral Gables. The pair triumphed with their interpretation of Poulenc’s Concerto for two pianos and orchestra in D minor.

  •  

Russian pianist Nikolay Khozyainov

    Classical music review

    Young Russian opens piano fest with tasteful, searching performance

    Twenty-year old Russian pianist Nikolay Khozyainov demonstrated substance over style in the opening concert of the Miami International Piano Festival’s Discovery series, delivering a compelling evening of masterworks that revealed a young artist more concerned with music than notes.

  •  

Alexey Lavrov

    Classical Music Review

    Young Russian baritone displays world-class artistry

    Russian baritone Alexey Lavrov offered a generous sampling of Russian and Italian opera arias and songs by German, French, Russian and Italian composers in a terrific recital that closed the Friends of Chamber Music season Wednesday night.

Miami Herald

Join the
Discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere on the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

The Miami Herald uses Facebook's commenting system. You need to log in with a Facebook account in order to comment. If you have questions about commenting with your Facebook account, click here.

Have a news tip? You can send it anonymously. Click here to send us your tip - or - consider joining the Public Insight Network and become a source for The Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald.

Hide Comments

This affects comments on all stories.

Cancel OK

  • Videos

  • Quick Job Search

Enter Keyword(s) Enter City Select a State Select a Category