Ministry of Culture Declares Country’s Founding Father Juan Pablo Duarte Diez as the “Father of Dominican Theater”

The Ministry’s Declaration coincides with the celebration of the 207th anniversary of the birth of Juan Pablo Duarte
Santo Domingo, January 29, 2020 – The Ministry of Culture proclaimed Juan Pablo Duarte, the Founding Father of the Dominican Republic, as the Father of Dominican Theater because of his initiative to found The Philanthropic Society in 1840. The Society became, according to the Ministry “the first theatrical expression in our territory, which four years later would become the Dominican Republic.”

The Ministry’s Manifesto highlights the efforts carried out by Juan Pablo Duarte to introduce Dominicans to theater.

The declaration, signed by the Ministry of Culture, Architect Eduardo Selman, declares in a six-point statement that the contributions made by Juan Pablo Duarte for the development of theater in the country helped Dominicans promote the ideal of independence from the Haitian authorities.

The document also highlights that Juan Pablo Duarte converted the building that once housed the city’s old penitentiary, today known as the Museum of the Cathedra in a theater hall where thousands of Dominicans attended the plays produced by the Society.

One of the statements also mentions that Juan Pablo Duarte was aware of the importance of theater in getting important ideas across to the audience, especially the sentiments of freedom and liberty.

The Ministry’s declaration celebrates the creation of The Philanthropic, under the theme “Peace, Union and Friendship,” indicating that it was a daring initiative on the part of the Founding Father “with the sole interest of eluding the repression of the invaders against the members of the dissolved Secret Society ‘The Trinity’, which had been founded on July 16, 1838.”

It also proclaims that “Juan Pablo Duarte perfectly understood that theater was an ideal instrument to maintain alive in the population the idea of an independent State from Haitian oppression, which invaded our territory in 1822. The members of “The Trinity Society” put an end to the foreign occupation on February 27, 1844.”

The Declaration is signed by the Minister of Culture Selman, and was issued on Sunday, January 26, 2020, on the 207th anniversary of the birth date of the Founding Father.