Eleven Countries and Many Groups to Attend VII International Theater Festival

Eleven Countries and Many Groups to Attend VII International Theater Festival
Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo, 06/10/2011

A total of 45 theater groups from 11 countries will take part this year in the VII International Theater Festival of Santo Domingo which will begin on Thursday June 16 until Sunday June 26. The Festival is being organized by the Ministry of Culture.

All together, there will be 91 performances to be given by 21 international and 24 national theater groups.

This year’s 10-day event, with Spain as the Guest of Honor, will be held in 14 theater halls and 7 other outdoor spaces in Santo Domingo, Santiago de los Caballeros, Moca, Bonao and Monte Plata

All together, there will be 91 performances to be given by 21 international and 24 national theater groups. In addition to the Dominican Republic, participating countries include Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Cuba, Spain, Ecuador, Israel, Peru and Venezuela.

The inaugural event will take place on Thursday June 16 at 7 pm in the Máximo Avilés Blonda Hall of the Palace of Fine Arts with the Flamenco Group ¨Al sur del Sur¨ (To the South from the South) from Cadiz, Spain.

Prior to that, there will be a parade from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo to the Palace of Fine Arts featuring musical groups, carnival performers and dancers, stilt walkers and giant floats along with participants of the festival.

This year’s event is dedicated to well-known Venezuelan dramatist Rodolfo Santana and Dominican actor, director and dramatist Iván García.

Festival director and actress, Karina Noble, said goal of the Festival, now in its 7th year, is “to exchange the latest currents in Latin American and Caribbean theater, promote Dominican theater, establish a space for reflection on what is happening in theater and to take the best plays being produced in the region to a wider public.”

She said the Theater Festival of Santo Domingo “in considered among the most important in the Caribbean because of the quality of groups that participate, its duration and for the organizational staging which combine to put it on the same level as any other festival in the world.”

“The Ministry of Culture has made a special effort this year to consolidate this event in order to benefit, without a doubt, the theater industry of this country and make it available to everyone.”

There will also be performances in the Restoration Hall of the Grand Theater of Cibao; the Héctor Incháustegui Cabral Hall of the Ercilia Pepín Cultural Center of Santiago; the Don Bosco Theater of Moca and in other outdoor spaces, with street theater in Bonao and Monte Plata.

Theater performances will be held in the following venues: the Máximo Avilés Blonda Hall of the Palace of Fine Arts, Carlos Piantini Hall and Ravelo Hall of the Eduardo Brito National Theater, the Monina Solá Theater of the Narciso González Cultural Center, the Mauricio Báez Cultural Center auditorium, the Theater House, the Guloya Theater, the Haffe Serulle Experimental Hall of the School of Dramatic Arts and the Auditorium of the Children’s Library of the Dominican Republic.

There will also be performances in the Restoration Hall of the Grand Theater of Cibao; the Héctor Incháustegui Cabral Hall of the Ercilia Pepín Cultural Center of Santiago; the Don Bosco Theater of Moca and in other outdoor spaces, with street theater in Bonao and Monte Plata.

The Festival also includes theatrical presentations and other activities including the Critical Forum, the ¨Huellas de un Maestro¨ (Footprints of a Master) Exhibition dedicated to Iván García; the presentation of the book, “8 obras cortas” (8 short pieces) by Rodolfo Santana; the Ventana Escénica project; the Dominican Night; the Café-Theater; the sale of theater books published by the Ministry of Culture and various workshops, conversations and roundtables.

Poster for the VII International Theater Festival (FITE).


Spanish Play “Noah’s Ark”


Dominican play “El alma buena de Se Chuan”