Carlos Celdrán

Outstanding playwright, theater director and pedagogue. He is artistic and general director of Argos Teatro, a group he founded in 1997. Current President of the National Center of the ITI in Cuba (International Institute of Theatre). He studied Dramaturgy at the Instituto Superior de Arte and graduated in 1985 with the work "Catálogo de señales" with which he graduated with honors in the specialty of Theatrology and Dramaturgy of the Instituto Superior de Arte de Cuba.

Celdrán was the National Prize for Theater in 2016.

In 1986, he joined the Teatro Buendía group where he worked as a dramatic advisor, assistant director and artistic director.

In 1988, after working on different productions of that company, he directs his first work "El rey de los animales," based on an anonymous Colombian text, winning the Critics' Prize for best production of the year "for the research in the work of the actor and the strength of the visual images." This work toured several cities in Cuba, Brazil and Italy. Carlos Celdrán was invited to participate in the Leeds Theater Festival, England, as an observer.

In 1991 he directs "Safo," based on a short story by Marguerite Yourcenar, winning the Critics' Prize for best theatrical production of the year. This production toured Cuba, participated in the Festival de Teatro de Oriente y Países Bolivarianos, and had a season in Caracas, Venezuela; it went to the International Theater Festival of Córdoba, Argentina. In the United Kingdom it was presented at the Purcell Room of the South Bank Centre in London, Magdalena Project in Cardiff and the Barbican Theatre in Plymouth. It was invited to the Don Quijote Festival in Paris and the Iberoamerican Theater Festival of Cádiz, Spain.

About Safo, Moreno Uribe of El Mundo, Caracas, Venezuela, wrote: "A show from the new Cuban Theatre has left us impacted and reconciled, once more, with the extremely difficult work that an actor must perform alone."

In 1992 he co-directs "La Increíble y Triste Historia de la Cándida Eréndira y su Abuela Desalmada" by Gabriel García Márquez, produced by Carlos Jímenez and Fundateneo Festival to premiere at the International Theater Festival of Caracas, where it was selected as the most applauded production and received numerous press articles. It was also awarded the Critics' Prize for best theatrical production of the year in Cuba and was selected number one by the Critics' Choice of Time Out magazine of England in 1993 for its season at the Riverside Studios in London. In 1994 it ranked second (after the Royal Shakespeare Company) for its season at the Queen Elizabeth Hall of the South Bank Centre in London. It toured different cities and participated in festivals in the United Kingdom such as the Edinburgh Festival, where it was in the final selection of the festival's best productions; Mayfest in Glasgow, Cardiff and Coventry. It was also invited to the Don Quijote Festival in Paris and to a tour of twelve cities in the Netherlands. It was presented at the Perth Festival of the Arts, Australia; at the International Festival of the Arts of Singapore, at the International Theater Festival of Córdoba, Argentina; at the Festival of the Arts of Cali, Colombia, and had a season at Teatro La Candelaria in Bogotá, also in Colombia. It was invited to the Festival of the Arts of San José, Costa Rica.

About this production, the British newspaper The Independent said: "It is a memorable and frequently beautiful production that transfers the disturbing nature of Márquez to the stage." For its part, The Time newspaper catalogued it as a work that is "mysterious," "incredible," and containing "moving images."

In 1995, Carlos Celdrán directs "Roberto Zucco" by Bernard-Marie Koltès with great success in Havana. About this production, the newspaper Granma would say: "...this work, realistic and at the same time metaphorical, does not lose its intentions through the good craftsmanship of the production, both through good performances and the appropriateness of the environment created with the lights, sound, costumes and scenic resources."

Also in 1995, Celdrán is invited to Venezuela to direct Geranio by Xiomara Moreno for the Teatro Nacional Juvenil, of which a local newspaper said: "We have been captivated by the impeccable work of Carlos Celdrán." In 1996 he forms his own group, Argos Teatro, and directs "La tríada," based on The Flies by Sartre and The Oresteia by Aeschylus, premiered in December and included in the final selection of the 1997 Critics' Prize. This production toured several cities in Cuba, and was presented in Bogotá, Colombia, and in Aachen, Germany.

In 1998, Carlos Celdrán premieres "Baal" by Bertolt Brecht, of which the Spanish magazine Primer Acto said: "That is the reflection that emerges from the passionate, dazzling and effective theatrical play of the young actors of Argos Teatro. Carlos Celdrán directs them with mastery, and music, lights and costumes are beyond any expectation. A Brecht seen from the Caribbean that turns out to be a genuine Brecht." This production was part of the theatrical exhibition organized by the Casa de las Américas, and participated in the Camagüey Theater Festival. Also in 1998, Carlos Celdrán is invited to direct "La Noche de los Asesinos" by José Triana at the prestigious Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil in Rio de Janeiro, with Brazilian actors.

In 1999 he premieres "El Alma Buena de Se-Chuan" by Bertolt Brecht which won the Caricato Prize for best theatrical production of the year awarded by the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, and the Villanueva Prize awarded by specialized critics. About this work, the newspaper Juventud Rebelde commented: "During the summer season of the National Theater, an adaptation renewed hopes and gained its place among the most memorable Cuban productions of the decade." The newspaper Granma expressed: "Carlos Celdrán's production is the kind that makes you think that if there are several productions like this in a year, the root of applause is saved in Havana." El alma buena de Se-Chuan participated in the International Theater Festival of Havana.

In July 2000, Carlos Celdrán premieres "La vida es sueño" by Calderón de la Barca, on its 400th anniversary. About this work, the newspaper Granma has said: "Carlos Celdrán aims high, the repertoire of his group is becoming symptomatic of the level and richness that our scene should aspire to." And the newspaper Juventud Rebelde has said: "With the production of La Vida es Sueño, Argos Teatro and in particular its director Carlos Celdrán put us in contact with one of the great myths of our culture. But if that were not enough, they do it with refined success and simple precision. This visit of Calderón to Havana will mark our scene." La Vida es Sueño has toured several cities in Cuba and participated in the Camagüey Theater Festival. In October 2000, Carlos Celdrán receives the Distinction for National Culture awarded by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba.

In 2001, he directs "La señorita Julia," by Strindberg about which the newspaper Juventud Rebelde has said: "La Señorita Julia by Argos Teatro achieves its purpose of dialoguing with the present and does so with lucidity and acuteness, achieving a spectacle that is both Cuban and transparent." This production participated in the National Theater Festival of Camagüey, Cuba, where he was awarded the Male Acting Prize, a mention for one of the actresses' performances and a mention for Theatrical Production to Carlos Celdrán.

Also in 2001, Carlos Celdrán travels to New York to participate in the Lincoln Center Directors' Laboratory and receives a three-month scholarship at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute.

In 2003, Celdrán premieres a new version of "Roberto Zucco" by Bernard-Marie Koltès. About this work, the newspaper Granma has said: "Also pointing upward, toward complexity, toward richness is Carlos Celdrán's theatrical production, an indispensable name in our theatrical life of the last decade." For its part, the newspaper Juventud Rebelde has said: "Just as he did in productions such as Baal or El alma buena de Se-Chuan, Carlos Celdrán resorts to the parable and dialogues with our reality. Which he achieves with a production devoid of artifice, in which every image, every text, gives the impression of having been carefully studied; but even so—or perhaps precisely because of this—it captivates and moves. Roberto Zucco was distinguished with the Villanueva Prize, as one of the best theatrical productions premiered in Cuba during 2003."

In 2004 he premiered with Argos Teatro in Havana his well-received version by the public and critics of "Vida y muerte de Pier Paolo Pasolini," selected to compete in the National Theater Festival of Camagüey 2004. Celdrán has taught acting workshops in the United Kingdom at the London School of Drama, at the Barbican Theatre in Plymouth, in Australia at the Perth Institute of Drama, in Venezuela at the University of Trujillo, in Colombia at the Corporación Colombiana de Teatro, at the Gran Teatro de La Habana, Cuba. He has taught acting and directing courses at the Instituto Superior de Danza Alicia Alonso of the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, Spain, Instituto Universitario de Teatro de Venezuela, and at the Instituto Superior de Arte de Cuba. At present, he is a permanent member of the faculty of the Instituto Superior de Arte de Cuba.

He has been a member of various juries for the National Prize for Theater, the Monologue Festival and the Camagüey Festival. He has ventured into cinema with several screenplays produced by the Instituto Cubano de Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC). He has also worked on the dramaturgy of other screenplays for different directors.

In 2002, he was a member of the Jury for the 24th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema of Havana.

With the Argos Teatro group, he has mounted the following works: with an excellent repertoire that includes works such as La Tríada, El alma buena de Se-Chuán, La vida es un sueño, Chamaco, Fango, Final de Partida, Diez Millones.

He has published articles and theatrical essays in various specialized magazines in Cuba and other countries.

In an interview with OnCuba, Celdrán expressed: "My theater is always in constant dialogue with reality. But it is not a direct dialogue, because I believe that theater always passes through a filter, which is the subjective filter. At least I do not make documentary, direct theater. I make theater where the individual enters, the human being goes through a process of analysis and dissection of his interiority and that takes time and perhaps distance. Theater is always ahead, behind or above, it is not direct, as cinema and other more direct media can be. I am always in a reflection of the relationship of the individual, of the subjectivity of the individual with his environment and context, that is where I establish my field of investigation."

Over 20 years of work with his group Argos Teatro, Celdrán has traced an exemplary trajectory, marked by the selection of texts of high dramatic caliber, capable of representing the conflicts and dreams of human beings, and by rigorous work with the actor. Heir to the great traditions of Cuban theater, he has also dialogued with the most disturbing trends of contemporary theater.

Work as a theatrical director
El rey de los animales Group: Teatro Buendía
Safo Group: Teatro Buendía
Roberto Zucco Group: Teatro Buendía
La Tríada
El alma buena de Se-Chuán
La vida es sueño
La señorita Julia
Roberto Zucco
Vida y muerte de Pier Paolo Pasolini
Stockman, un enemigo del pueblo
Chamaco
Fango
Final de partida