culture@dailylobo.com
@Jyllian_R
Usually when one imagines a poetry reading, the image involves a single speaker under a spotlight reading from a note card or reciting verse from memory.
Santa Fe group Teatro Paraguas is changing that image one reading at a time.
The group will present “Dos Patrias: La poesía de Cuba,” part of its ¡Poesía, Viva! series, next weekend, from Oct. 25-27, at the National Hispanic Cultural Center.
In its tenth year, members of ¡Poesía, Viva!, do not just read poetry — they perform it, said Crawford MacCallum, performance director and former UNM physics and astronomy professor.
This year’s event will include poetry from Cuba and the theme dos patrias, or two countries, centers on the dualistic nature of Cuba.
“We chose Cuban poetry without knowing what it was going to get us into. The more we researched the poems, the more interesting it became to us,” he said. “There’s just such a division in Cuba: beautiful scenery and blood-drenched soil, black versus white, and the whole revolution — on the one hand it’s done wonders in terms of literacy and public health but also it’s oppressive and economically a disaster.”
This theme of two Cubas is one that is represented in many of the poems selected for the event. The show’s opening piece, from which the event gets its name, summed up the dilemma in two lines, as author José Martí wonders how many countries he has.
“I have two homelands: Cuba and the night. Or are they one?”
Seven actors will sing, dance and act out works of poets Emilio Ballagas, Nicolás Guillén, Roberto Fernández, Eliseo Diego, Heberto Padilla, Luis Nogueras and Nancy Morejón, he said. Songs from Cuban musician Luis Aquilé will also be played.
“There are 30-odd poems that range from sanitaria, ritual to love and death and all the usual stuff.”
Teatro Paraguas began ¡Poesía, Viva! 10 years ago, when group members realized that every one of them loved acting, MacCallum said. Since then, the group has performed poetry annually under a different theme each year.
“The first one, we said ‘Let’s do a poetry reading,’ but then it turned out we were all actors and we didn’t want to just stand up and read, we wanted to do something on stage,” he said. “It turned out well and we’ve done that ever since.”
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
All of the poems are kept in their original Spanish, but English translations are projected on a wall so even those unfamiliar with the language can enjoy the show, he said.
“Dos Patrias: La poesía de Cuba”
poetry performance
Friday, Oct. 25 and Saturday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 27 at 2 p.m.
National Hispanic Cultural Center
in the Wells Fargo Theater
The show is free, but donations are accepted
