First francophone Theater Festival in Managua

Arquimedes Hernández | Sep 4, 2013

Managua celebrates its first Francophone Theatre Festival from September 3rd to September 28th. Event activities started from yesterday with the opening ceremony at 7:00 pm at the French Alliance. Different works will be presented at the Bernard-Marie Koltes Theatre, of the Alliance. During the festival companies like Grand Theatre from France, Teatro Memorias from Honduras, Escenarte from Guatemala, and from Nicaragua the Company DramAzul and the group Quiebraplata y Oscurana will participate.

Mélanie Bouchard, director of the Aliance Francaise, said in a press conference that the Festival has to meet the Nicaraguan public for theatre, since the offer in the country is not very large. For this reason, they will take advantage of the French literary heritage. In addition, Bouchard mentioned that during the festival, theater groups will present their works in some schools and taught creative and performing workshops for students and teachers from various schools in the capital to promote art in the new generations.

For anyone interested in attending the presentations of the First Francophone Theatre Festival, each presentation has a cost of C$50, but you can also buy a pass for C$200 to attend all presentations at the Theatre Bernard-Marie Koltes. The schedule of events is the following:

• September 6th: presentation of the play “Los cuentos del dilema”, by the company Grand Theatre from France, at 5:00 pm at the Theatre Bernard-Marie Koltes.
• September 7th: presentation of the play “Cándido”, by the company Grand Théâtre from Francia, at 7:00 pm at the Theatre Bernard-Marie Koltes.
• September 19th: presentation of the play “Arte” from Yasmina Reza, by the company Escenarte from Guatemala, at 7:00 pm at the Theatre Bernard-Marie Koltes.
• September 20th and 26th: presentation of the play “El médico a palos”, by the group DramAzul, at 7:30pm at the restaurant Ola Verde; the cost for these presentations is U$26.
• September 21st: presentation of the play “A esa hora y en esos lugares”, in honor to Bernard-Marie Koltes, by the nicaraguan group Quiebraplata y Oscurana Teatro, directed by Mónica Ocampo, at 7:00 pm at the Theatre Bernard-Marie Koltes.
• September 27th and 28th: presentation of the play “La puta respetuosa”, by Teatro Memorias from Honduras at 7:00 pm, at the Theatre Bernard-Marie Koltes.

Etienne Luneau is member of the french company Grand Théâtre and will have the opportunity to perform 4 times for the nicaraguan audience. His main goal is to perform just as he does in France, since he believes that theatre is universal, and because of that Luneau hopes that his performances will be well received in Nicaragua.

For Antoine Joly, French ambassador, the completion of this Francophone Festival involves an exchange that will share cultural diversity, since the theater is part of the identity that characterizes each country. He explained that theaters are part of the need to socialize, since life is a comedy.

With this first Francophone Theatre Festival is expected to excite the Nicaraguan theater professionals, since in the past Nicaragua had more company and individuals involved in the development of theater, but now there is only room for television, said Mélanie Bouchard Director from the French Alliance. She also shared that the Alliance Française is consenting to support artists and they can count on the support of this institution to present their works.

Translated by Cynthia Cordero