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World

by Alessandra Agosti
translation
by Silvia Bagnara Milan

Foto Isabel Quintanar
Isabel Quintanar, president of Mexican Theatre A.C. Centre

Another trip across the ocean for this new layover discovering amateur theatre around the world. Our curiousity brought us to Mexico, to meet the Mexican Theatre A.C. Centre, representative of AITA/IATA, ASSITEJ, ITI UNESCO, UNIMA, AICT and other associations. Really active and dynamic, the centre is the reference point for large and small companies, from the single-actor monologues to the great and massive productions; lively and deep into the territory, this reality every year gets subscriptions by 45 companies, with an average of 250 members.
We talked about this with the President, Isabel Quintanar

How is the relation between the amateur and the professional theatre in Mexico?
They live together in their “doing theatre”, because each of the two realities cares for the necessities of its own public.

In the idea that we “foreigners” have of Mexico, music, dance and lore have a very important role. Do these disciplines find their own space in your amateur theatre? If yes, how?
As in the entire world, theatre feeds on dance, on puppets for children’s theatre, and on any other thing. In such a multicultural nation, with such a cultural diversity as in ours, lore is always there: from to what is well known abroad, to the pre-Spanish traditions.

Talking about your activity as institutional representative, which are the strong points of your theatre, and which are the weak ones?
Mexican theatre has two main strong points: love for creativity and dedication to non-profit-making performing arts. The weakest point is the difficulty we find, on a national level, to get spaces where to make people know the works of our companies.

Are young people interested in amateur theatre? And if you maintain relations with school, how do you do it?
Young people, both as public and as theatre makers, are the most interested and deeply into amateur theatre; we can say they are the most active, and in various occasions they try to reach the professional level. We have a strong link with theatre schools, that are often involved in the Centre’s activities; also, among our members we have many primary and secondary school teachers, thanks to whom young students can connect indirectly with theatre.

Let us talk now about drama choices… Which kind of theatre is most played by your members, talking about genre, origin, style of staging…
During the last years, we noticed that it’s mostly the companies who write their own drama scripts. During the annual Meeting, we meet every year a great variety of authors, both Mexican and foreigners, just as a great diversity of genres. For what concerns the style, Mexican theatre goes from the traditional to the contemporary, passing through absolutely innovative proposals.

To us in Europe, the word “classic” has a specific meaning: Molière, Shakespeare, Pirandello.. To you, who are the classics?
I am sure that in the whole world, classics will be classics; from the Greek theatre to the comedy of art and Spanish Siglo de Oro, and all those labelled as “classics” by you Italians.
Here in Mexico, where theatre has always had a strong tradition and a great variety of companies, every actor puts a “classic” on stage, sooner or later.

interno04 CatsDuring the year, which are the main events you organize? We heard about a National Theatre Lovers Meeting…
The main event we organize is exactly the Encuentro Nacional de los Amantes de Teatro, in which, thanks to a development that has grown during the years, amateur and independent professional theatre entwine. Moreover, it continues its action during the year bringing many theatre shows into the various festivals of the country created for the different social groups, in order to introduce the best works that were on stage during the Encuentro.

From an economical point of view, how do you finance your activity? Thanks to the membership fees only, or can you benefit from public or private help…?
All these forms of funding are excellent, and we have received all the kinds to carry on our numerous activities, whether it was economically or through services or in any other form.

To us, Mexico is a very distant reality. What is the place of Mexican theatre into Central America? Is there a strong cultural identity, or is there a certain degree of sharing?
Mexican Theatre Centre has been very active during the 80’s and the 90’s, a period when the interchanges between the countries of Central America were really strong. The only connection still existing nowadays is the abovementioned Encuentro, even though many others are being reconstructed. It is important to clarify that in the Spanish-speaking countries of Central America, theatre had an important tradition long before the arrival of the Spanish people, and it grew stronger after the colonisation.

Do you believe that a closer cooperation at international level could be useful for your amateur theatre?
I think confrontation is always an enrichment. A proof of it are all the companies that represented our Centre abroad that, in various occasions, have been able to get to professional theatre.

So you already had experiences of this kind. On which issues do you think it would be useful to focus: learning exchanges for young people, international festivals, distribution of translated scripts, video recordings….?
All the mentioned above: the work still to be done is endless; we of the Mexican Centre believe that education, culture and art are essential to grow a healthy social fabric, and theatre is actually formative for human beings, because it give us the tools to handle ourselves and be more confident in every affair we decide to take action.