CAMAGÜEY.—From January 22 to 27, Camagüey will host a new edition of the Villanueva Days, commemorating the events of January 22nd, 1869, at the Villanueva Theatre—when Cuban theatre became a platform for national affirmation in the face of colonial rule.
The program, announced by Osvaldo Betancourt, president of the Provincial Council of the Performing Arts, brings together spaces for memory, reflection, and theatrical practice, with a particular emphasis on artistic training processes.
Activities will begin on January 22nd at Café Lucem with the talk An Afternoon with Ana, dedicated to the recently deceased actress Anaysis Rodríguez Bermúdez. They will continue on the 23rd with Our Stage, a dialogue on theatre in Camagüey, its challenges, and future directions.
The artistic centerpiece of the Villanueva Days will be the premiere of The Weight of an Island on January 23 at 9:00 p.m. at the Avellaneda Theatre. The production is presented by third-year Acting students from the Vicentina de la Torre Academy of the Arts, under the direction of their professor, Leonardo Leyva Fernández.
The play will run on January 23rd, 24th, 25th, 29th, 30th, and 31st, and stands as the central stage event of the program. For the second consecutive year, the Villanueva Days place their main premiere in an academic setting, shifting the usual spotlight away from professional companies.
The performance is built around a gallery of symbolic characters—Filemón Uztariz; Tato the Merry; Ñico the Irreverent; Mercedes the Nonconformist; and Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, alongside The Queen, Cassandra the Blind, and Juana the Naïve—who together shape a poetic and plural vision of the island experience.
Lighting and costume design, as well as artistic guidance throughout the process, are in the hands of Freddys Núñez Estenoz, who also authored the notes for the playbill.
The Villanueva Days extend beyond performances. On January 26th, at the Academy’s headquarters (Tabloncillo 4), Freddys Núñez will lead the practical session Immediate Cuban Theatre. The following day, January 27th, will feature a post-performance discussion of The Weight of an Island, offering a space for analysis and reflection on the creative process.
More than a century and a half after the events at the Villanueva Theatre, the program once again underscores theatre as a public act and a space for thinking about the nation. That students now carry forward this gesture reinforces a contemporary reading: the memory of Cuban theatre is reactivated not only through history, but through the new generation that embodies it.
Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez