21st November, 2008
From the Artistic Director, Daniel Goldman:
CASA (Central And South American) Theatre Festival began life as a desire on my part to connect my experiences of Latin American theatre in Argentina and my life as a theatre director in the UK. During 2001/2 I spent a year in Buenos Aires training as an actor. Time and time again I found myself in makeshift theatres, courtyards, even homes, experiencing some of the most creative, direct and engaged/engaging theatre I've ever been to. A love affair with Latin American theatre and culture began. A few years ago, I started thinking how little Latin American theatre we actually get to see in the UK. Cinema, art, dance and music have all found success and popularity in the UK yet theatre has not quite broken through yet. However it's not far off; the Royal Court has established strong links with its Mexican equivalent, the Centro Helenico, resulting in last year's World Premiere of Edgar Chias's "On Insomnia and Midnight"; the Donmar Warehouse staged an excellent production of Manuel Puig's "Kiss of the Spiderwoman" and Brazilian theatre companies (Stonecrabs, the Dende Collective, Zecura Ura amongst others) are creating innovative new work.
But it still was not enough. My response was therefore to build a bridge between these two theatre cultures, to foment a relationship between the two and encourage audiences in both countries to explore the other's work. Thanks to an immense efforts of a great number of theatre professionals and volunteers, the inaugural CASA Latin American Theatre Festival was born last year and proved artistically thrilling, important and necessary.
The original plan was to create a biannual event but the response last year was so strong and positive that we decided that the Festival should happen every year. After last year's event that presented work from Argentina, Mexico, El Salvador, Peru, Puerto Rico and Chile, this year we are presenting brilliant new work from Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Venezuela and Brazil. International competitions have been set up with theatres in Venezuela and Puerto Rico, over 50 writers have sent in plays for us to read and over 40 people will be involved over the next three months to ensure that YOU have a great experience here at the festival. All we're missing now is you.