Interviews
By hola | Published | No Comments
Hugo Medrano has directed over 100 productions and produced numerous shows, from classical to experimental to original musicals, since founding GALA in 1976. A native of Argentina, Medrano studied theatre at the Theatre School of La Plata and with master artists Carlos Augusto Fernández, in Buenos Aires. In Madrid, Spain, he studied with William Layton, and renowned directors José Monleón and Miguel Narros, and formed his own children theatre company. In Washington DC, Medrano has achieved recognition for his innovative direction of the Spanish classics at GALA. In 2000, he received a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Director for GALA’s production of La dama boba.Medrano’s contributions toward the preservation and promotion of Hispanic culture and Latino performing art forms have also been recognized over the years by the following awards: Order of Queen Isabella II, conferred by the King of Spain Juan Carlos I, for his outstanding promotion of Spanish culture in the United States.
—————————————————————————————–
Quique Avilés is a poet, actor and community activist whose work is dedicated to addressing social issues through performance and poetry. A native of El Salvador, Quique has been writing and performing about issues of race, identity, and the plight of poor people in the US for almost 30 years. Quique’s solo performances merge poetry, monologues, music, and visual images. His style is known for being humorous, thought provoking, touching, confrontational, and poetic. His seven one-man shows include: The Children of Latinia, Rehab, Caminata: A Walk through Immigrant America, Chaos Standing/El Caos de Pie, Latinhood/Latinez, Los Otros Dos/The Other Two, and Salvatrucans. Quique has performed at a variety of venues around the D.C., from public parks and libraries to the Kennedy Center
—————————————————————————————–
Mario Marcel is Argentine. With more than 50 years dedicated to acting, theater education, and directing, in Europe, South America and the United States, Marcel has participated in well over 200 productions, and has held various official positions within the cultural world as well. In 1984 Marcel arrived in Washington DC, where he has worked with the Centro de Arte, Centro de la Juventud Latinoamericana, and the OAS Grupo Panamericano de Teatro. After joining the ranks of GALA as actor, he represented the United States at international festivals both within and outside the United States. In 1991 Marcel co-founded Teatro de la Luna, serving as director of its Workshops for Actors and Technicians, bringing to the stage, and adapting universal and contemporary repertory works. He has appeared many times on the Latino Affairs Office’s Línea Directa TV show. Presently Marcel is developing Teatro de la Luna’s Experience Theater Program in schools throughout the area. In 1999, along with Nucky Walder, he won the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington’s Tony Taylor Award and in May 2005 he received the Elizabeth Campbell Award from the American Association of University Women (AAUW).
—————————————————————————————–
Lucrecia Basualdo. Her stage experience ranges from Argentine Folk Dance to classical theater and commedia dell’ arte. She has performed at the Centro de Bellas Artes in Puerto Rico and Studio Buhne Bayreuth in Germany, she toured with National Theater of Togo and she also appeared in the CBS movie of the week, Second Honeymoon. As a GALA company member, she has appeared in La edad de la ciruela, Bodas de sangre, Valor, agravia y mujer; Te quiero muñeca, Yerma, La dama duende, Los entremeses de Cervantes, La dama boba, and Barranca abajo. Other credits include various productions of the Brothers Grimms and her own La Lula y La Pepa.
——————————————————————————————
Osbel Susman-Peña is from Havana, Cuba, where he earned degrees in visual arts and design. He was Professor and Chair of the Design department of the Institute of Design in Havana. An award winning theater designer, he has designed costumes, sets, puppets, and properties for theaters and dance companies in Havana, New York, and Washington, DC. He also designs for In Series and D2 Puppet Theater. Susmán-Peña has designed costumes for GALita’s El mundo es un pañuelo, Séneca and Ratón de biblioteca,among others. For GALA, he designed sets and costumes for El Canuto del Rock.