The young Juan Miguel Cruz Rondón recently performed his graduation project as an actor in the play "Talco", by Cuban playwright Abel González Melo, which was staged at the Blanca Becerra Theater in our city.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- In the play, the actor portrays the character of Machenca, winning the audience’s applause. This is how performing arts specialist Alberto Carlos Estrada Segura summed it up: “A graduation performance is always demanding. I have seen several theater students perform their final exams with groups from our province, and I can assure you that Juan’s performance was one of the most extraordinary due to the character’s complexity.
Fortunately, he was able to portray a woman who, though immersed in the lively nightlife, does not enjoy what she does because she carries the pain of having been born a man.”
Also accompanying Juan during the graduation project were Luis Miguel Solano, who—in addition to playing the character of Álvaro—was in charge of artistic and general direction; Elizabeth Borrero as assistant director; Yordan Tamayo, who played El Javi; and Lesyanis Rosales, who brought Suleidy to life.
In a conversation with 26, the recent graduate said, “Talco is a very powerful play, with a heavy psychological load and based on real events. I enjoyed the entire process. I took the character to the point where it felt like no one could overshadow her, that she was a queen, and even though the opposite was happening, she reflected it differently.”
Regarding his experience with Total Teatro, the young man said: “The group’s work was fantastic; they welcomed me as if I were part of their family. They are good actors and understand people. The production was very fast-paced; we only had a month to put together the five scenes we did (because there wasn’t time for the full play), but everything went well. You always work for the audience. I was very happy with the applause, the looks, the smiles…; those are the fruits of the effort.”
Overall, with Talco, Juan Miguel demonstrated his talent and acting skills, while also bringing to light scourges that still plague our society, such as drug addiction and prostitution. Thus concluded a period of studies divided, in Estrada Segura’s words, between the Manuel Muñoz Cedeño School in Bayamo and the José María Heredia School in Santiago de Cuba, paving the way for the professional world. However, as Alberto Carlos also said, “we were able to convince ourselves that theater has truly given Juan a voice.”
On another note, as part of the performance and public intervention festival La Pupila Archivada 2026, taking place from March 8 to 10, the presentation of Talco has been announced —another opportunity for the audience in Las Tunas to enjoy this powerful play.
