The gaze of a creator, playwright and actor

This year has come with a lot of theater activity. I premiered many works: Fútbol Mundo Estrella and Son gente, where I worked as a playwright and actor; I just want to act, where I was in the role of playwright and director; and Rudo, in which I did almost all the work, since I did the playwriting (I tell my story), directing and acting myself, because it is a one man show. I also made a cycle of Impro Shows with my group Improvisa2, with which I have been performing for 20 years. And I’ve also re-released The Unhappy Actors, where I work as a playwright and director with the Unhappy group.

The truth is that the pandemic we are going through has greatly affected the culture area. In the scenic field, especially in independent theatre, there was already a complicated situation: many years of exploitation and self-exploitation of independent artists; and the pandemic has come to strip him in a violent and very cruel way. What I tried during that time was to keep going. I have done many online performances of plays that could be adapted to the screen and taught lessons virtually. Teaching online classes was initially necessary for economic, emotional and mental subsistence. But it was also a discovery that I saved a lot and that I continue to make today by choice. The relationship between me and the students is very fruitful. And virtuality also has other possibilities: people who live in a place other than the capital can still access the courses. This is a good thing.

I do independent theater because I enjoy and advocate for self-management, but I also feel that it’s getting harder and harder for me and there are times when it exhausts me. Sometimes I would like to be a civil servant, or attend a copier and my main concern is whether or not to call a job. The world demands blockbuster results, but money is never enough to produce an indie show. Any State aid is always welcome, but it is scarce, it is not enough. It’s tiring to fill out forms and benefit forms to receive so little. I also believe that there is a lack of creativity in culture-related organizations. There is no research to produce something new. It always goes to the same thing, the “safe” thing. It would be important to start creating crossover possibilities of projects involving other artists and generating different content. It would also be good to create a cultural network, a theatrical network. It is important to be united, beyond state aid. To be able to generate a network of artists who can begin to reflect on current production models and collectively think about other possibilities. We hope it is possible.

On the other hand, I have the feeling that the people who go to the theater are always the same, they need to generate a new audience. I’m obsessed with acquiring new audiences, but with social networks and serial platforms it’s hard. The shows multiply and the audience is not enough. The vast majority of us find it difficult to fill the halls, we check Alternativa Teatral daily to see how many bookings we have. It’s difficult.

The culture is saved and you have to say it again and again. The theater has come back to life, even if many halls have not been able to reopen their doors after the pandemic. We must continue to support theater and now more than ever. We must learn from the difficult moments of confinement and unite, help each other. Nobody saves themselves, that’s what the pandemic has come to teach us. There is a phrase that I really like and I think it defines me a bit that says “Whoever resists, persists”. I believe theater is exactly that, a space of struggle that offers the spectator a place of hope. I like what is built in communion between the public and the artists.

*Author of Rudo, one-person biodramatic. Actor in Son gente, Fútbol mundo Star, director and playwright in Yo solo quiero actir and part of the Improvisa2 group.