On one occasion Omar Valiño expressed: "The true success of Teatro Tuyo lies in having planted and made grow, in a desert land, a leafy nose tree." I look at the watering can that hangs from the top of the poster that talks about the 4th Clownclave Academic Meeting and the plant that stands below, and I think about how much wisdom those words contain. Like it to whoever likes it or regret it to whoever likes it, the facts speak and, these days, from the Balcón de Oriente, in the face of any adversity (including a blackout), that seedling drank at ease from the experience and feedback.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- I could not be in all places, but it is enough to walk through social media to read various criteria. And, if the spelling isn't correct at any time, as soon as we notice it, the feeling has a voice and is expressed. “I feel very proud to enjoy an excellent presentation by Teatro Tuyo... against the inopportune blackout that decided to visit the place, art, love, and respect were stronger... the show ended with loud applause,” a spectator named Madelín Rodríguez Rivero narrates.
“How can clowns squeeze your heart, while you laugh like a child? More than half of the audience was teenagers and none of them left when the power went out halfway through the performance; instead, they lit up with their phones... the light from the audience on the actors made the performance magical,” César Caballero expressed. A moving experience at the hands of Clowncierto, the most recent premiere of Teatro Tuyo.
But there were other moments that the audience will surely treasure, especially, students and professors from the Manuel Muñoz Cedeño (Granma) and Vicentina de la Torre (Camagüey) acting academies, present at the event, which took place between June 21 to 25.
The new batch of red noses formed in the “land of Vicente García” also had a prominent role in the program since the youngest actors and actresses from Teatro Tuyo were who opened the event with an emotional interpretation of Parque de Sueños, which took place in the Cultural Center with the same name of the troupe.
Meanwhile, the first-year students of the National Clown School closed the agenda with Juegos Olimpiclowns, a work with which they defended their completion of studies corresponding to the first school calendar and, in unison, became their stage debut.
Workshops, conferences, projection of audiovisual materials, and other initiatives complemented the programming during these days of light in scenic matters, where practice and theory merged to cultivate knowledge around the art of the stage.
A special chapter was the presentation of the book Cómo encontré a mi Payaso Tuyo (How I found my clown of Yours), by Ernesto Parra, by the first-year students of the clown academy. A text that addresses particularities of this art, seen from the optimum experience and research.
The El Cucalambé professional art school also hosted several theoretical spaces, which allowed us to get closer to the pieces Parque de Sueños and Clowncierto, with the participation of figures such as the theatre expert Nelson Acevedo, the specialist in Performing Arts Alberto Carlos Estrada Segura, and the historian of Arts Ana Margarita Arada Clavería.
Besides, a master's thesis was also shared at that institution that approached, from an academic and socio-cultural point of view, the life and work of Ernesto Parra, the leader of Teatro Tuyo. As a result, “Papote” expressed on Facebook: "I have not made the greatest contribution but the audience, who support and encourage my work."
In January 2024, Teatro Tuyo will reach its 25th birthday, an allegorical book is cooked with opinions emanating from the public. For now, I am left with the flavor of soulful and intellectual growth, and with those phrases that I heard in the voice of the leader of "Tuyos" about the exciting world of clowns: "Here we have talked about essence…;” “…it is not the work, it is the process…;” “…everything on the scene has a reason…;” “…the real prize is to live the theater…;” "…the theater is here and now.”
