Myriam Acevedo

She was a Cuban actress prominent in radio, theater, and national television. This actress had great significance for Cuban theater, constituting part of its history, and also created mixtures of theater-cabarets, combining song with the stage. In 1966, she was part of the mythical cast of 'La noche de los asesinos', a drama by José Triana, directed by Vicente Revuelta at Teatro Estudio.

She learned from classical theater masters such as Stanislavski, Brecht, Meyerhold, and Luca Ronconi. She was considered by contemporary critics an actress similar to French singer Juliette Gréco. She wore elegant clothing at any time of day, bringing to Cuba the first fashions existing in Europe.

She was born in Güines, currently belonging to the province of Mayabeque, but before completing a year of age the family moved to the capital. She always considered it an important point of reference in her life. At least four times a year the family went to Güines. For her each trip was a party because along the way they bought torticas de morón, mantecadas, and arriving in Güines was quite an event. They stayed two or three days at the father's family home, because many still lived in Güines. She was an idol in the town, and sometimes functions were organized in the theaters for her to sing.

She began singing when she was two years old, and at three and a half years old she performed at the National Theater singing the song "Enamorada". She later moved to different children's companies, always as a singer. She was what was called a child prodigy. She performed at La Corte Suprema del Arte as a singer and won all the prizes. Anoland Díaz was also an exceptional child. From an early age she played piano as a hobby like a true professional, and was everyone's astonishment. She sang with a soprano voice, and Myriam with a children's contralto. And the owner of CMQ thought that these two voices could make a perfect duet. It was called "Myriam and Anoland, the perfect duet". Anoland was Cuban and was very young when she left for Panama with her family. Anoland Díaz would later be the mother of Rubén Blades.

Myriam began her artistic career in Rivera Baz's children's company at three years of age. She worked in the radio stations Mil Diez, RHC Cadena Azul and in the CMQ Circuit, as well as in the main theaters of the capital and the interior with different theater companies.

When she entered adolescence she no longer wanted to sing. She began to study high school and that same year enrolled in the Academy of Dramatic Art to study theater. She continued singing among friends, and music was always a passion. But she decided to dedicate herself completely to theater. In the 1960s, when she returned to Cuba after five years in New York, where she studied and performed in English at Stella Adler's theatrical academy, who had been a disciple of Stanislavski, and performed theater in Broadway, Rogelio París proposed she return to singing. And so she began to sing again, accompanied by guitar. Froilán was one of her guitarists. She never chose between theater and song.

She studied at the Municipal Academy of Dramatic Arts of Havana, where she debuted in a secondary role in Henrik Ibsen's The Little Eyolf on August 25, 1947. She was part of the Prometeo group, was the winner in 1952 of the Talía Prize for her performance in the comedy A New Goodbye, and in 1954 she starred in The Maids by Jean Genet, directed by Francisco Morín.

As an actress and singer she built a legion of followers in the theater-cabaret sessions that she created together with her husband, graphic designer Jorge Carruana, at El Gato Tuerto. Dressed in black and on a bench in the manner of Juliette Greco, she there performed songs by Marta Valdés and Pablo Milanés, and for two weeks she held a one-on-one with Virgilio Piñera.

She was a member of the National Dramatic Group, performing in works such as The Respectful Prostitute, The Mother and others. She made tours through the United States, where she conducted performances and studies of the most current American theater of that era.

She was present at the inauguration of the National Theater, staging important theatrical productions for this medium and for television. She later made a tour through China and several European countries. Since 1968 she has resided in Italy.

Career
She began her artistic career at the age of three in Rivera Baz's children's company, performing at the National Theater, performing the song Enamorada. From that moment she was considered a child prodigy and fame led her to win many of the prizes at La corte suprema del arte.

On this program she caused sensation together with Anoland Díaz - a child who impressed on piano - due to the initiative of the CMQ owner, what came to be called Anoland and Myriam, the perfect duet, was born. Anoland later residing in Panama, is the mother of Rubén Blades.

In 1948 she abandoned singing and ventured into theater that year she began her high school studies and enrolled in the Academy of Dramatic Art. She performed her first important role in Ibsen's The Little Eyolf and then began to work in Prometeo, ADAD and the Theater Council.

In that first stage she participated in the work No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre, which marks the course of her performance, also there is the character of the Woman in The Stronger by Strindberg.

She worked in the National Dramatic Group together with Violeta Casals and Alejandro Lugo among others. At one of the artistic events held at the Habana Libre Hotel she is invited to sing a duet with Elena Burke.

She also dedicated herself to singing, offering different programs at El Gato Tuerto, - together with Virgilio Piñera and her husband Jorge Carruana - as a form of theater-cabaret, a very advanced resource for the time, she usually recited or accompanied the songs with some texts by the most experimental Cuban poets of that time.

In 1953 she obtains the female Talía prize awarded by the Theater Council for the character of Anna Rogers in A New Day. This prize filled the actress with joy for being a comedy the awarded work when almost unanimously all theater directors pigeonholed her as a dramatic actress.

In this regard Manuel Casal, an important critic of the time, wrote in the magazine Prometeo;

"Myriam Acevedo is one of the best and most sincere actresses of our theater. She has so much personality that it is impossible to get bored, or look away while she is on stage. She has a captivating voice and a grace all her own".

In 1954, she shares the stage with Ernestina Linares to debut in Genet's The Maids, under the direction of Francisco Morín. This latter production was considered by the premiere as one of the best moments of Cuban theater, which is why she was nominated for the Critics' Prize as best actress.

In 1955 she travels to New York, - where she remains for five years - and works in Off Broadway. There she works in Genet's The Maids at the Community Players of New York. She also performs in Richard Nash's work The Handful of Fire under the direction of Robert Lewis, with which she tours Washington and Philadelphia.

In the United States she receives a theater course for professional actors with teacher Stella Adler in New York, who is considered one of the best students of the Stanislavski method.

The Respectful Prostitute

The fruitful encounter between her and Adler led to the optimal training of the Cuban actress, who was later called to Havana for the inauguration of the National Theater of Cuba. She joyfully accepts the invitation from Fermín Borges.

Regarding this event she expresses

"(...) the National Theater is a formidable idea of the Revolution, that is, to carry out true cultural work, which the people expect and need. It is necessary that it begins to function as soon as possible (...) In Cuba, today, we have a National Theater, as in all great cities: Paris, Moscow, others".

On March 16, 1960 at the opening of the theater, she premieres The Respectful Prostitute under the direction of Francisco Morín in the Covarrubias room. This work is considered in Cuba as the first world-renowned piece that debuts in the presence of the author. The box office success of this work reached the record figure, for that time, of 16 thousand seats in fifteen performances.

The work participated in the Hispanic-American Theater Festival held in Montevideo, Uruguay, being the first concrete fact of the opening towards Latin America that the revolutionary triumph brought about.

Being one of the most updated actresses of Cuban theater at that moment, she was the most suitable to play the lead role in The Respectful Prostitute. The important playwright, - Francisco Morín - after the staging expressed regarding the performance of Acevedo:

"She is a great actress, she could perform anywhere in the world and compete with the best actresses. What especially surprised me was her total conception of the character. I believe that her interpretation of Lizzie is one of the best done abroad".

Other works

On May 21, 1960 she premiered Saint Joan of America, written by Andrés Lizárraga, directed by Eduardo Manet, a work that won the theater prize in the first Casa de las Américas Literary Contest.

In 1962 she debuts at the Capri Night Club with the show Myriam from 11 to 12, directed by Alfonso Arau. The acceptance of the presentations led to an invitation to China and to different European countries.

She promoted songs by Pablo Milanés, as well as performances by Teresita Fernández that were never as widely publicized as they were during that time by Acevedo.

On tour

More than a singer she was considered an actress who interpreted. And indeed, ethics did not allow her to cease searching even away from the stage. For her the song was an inexhaustible sea of meanings in which she needed to immerse herself to find the common principles that bound us all as inhabitants of this world.

For this reason the trip was also a pretext to study the theatrical and cultural activities of those countries. The countries visited were: Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Romania, Poland, the Soviet Union, and China.

Two years later, she performed at the Edinburgh Festival, and upon returning to Cuba, she presents a show of songs and texts directed by Rogelio París at the Amadeo Roldán Theater.

Main works performed

Among the main works she has performed are: The Maids, by Jean Genet; The Night of the Assassins, by José Triana, and Calderón, by Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Awards

In 1952 she received the Talía Theater Prize for her performance in the American comedy A New Goodbye. Another recognition achieved was the Ubu Prize, awarded in 1978 in Italy for her performance as a co-starring actress in Pasolini's Calderón, directed by Luca Ronconi.

Opinions

On the occasion of the 2005 National Theater Prize, Amado del Pino interviewed the winner, actress Flora Lauten, who expressed:

"The Night of the Assassins was one of the most important moments of my life as an actress. The youngest team, Ingrid González, Adolfo Llauradó and I, had to measure ourselves against the other cast that were already monsters in terms of artistic level: Miriam Acevedo, Ada Noceti and Vicente Revuelta. It was an intense and very creative relationship, without malicious competition or silly rivalries. For example, Myriam told me: 'I liked what you did with the feather duster to self-flagellate yourself. I'm going to incorporate it'".

On the occasion of the Sartre production in Cuba, Mercedes Santos Moray writes in the Weekly Trabajadores in 2005; "Sartre returns to the stage in Cuba";

"A young actress, Yailene Sierra, will assume the leading role that in the largest of the Antilles, had been performed by actresses of the caliber of Chela Castro and Miriam Acevedo, in the decades of the 1950s and 1960s".

In the introduction to the book I Give You a Song, - Ediciones Temas de Hoy, Havana, November 2006 – Silvio Rodríguez recalls:

"From the diverse nocturnal Havana of that time, I was able to enjoy the incomparable Bola de Nieve, Teresita Fernández - teacher turned folk singer - and the fleeting appearances of a charismatic actress who sang texts by poets like Virgilio Piñera, called Miriam Acevedo".

In the section Art has no country, but the artist does, - Alma Mater, November 2008 - in a part of the interview that Hilario Rosado Silva conducted with Miguel Cabrera, historian of the National Ballet of Cuba, the latter confesses:

"Being the son of peasants, I had sensitivity for the arts and I felt moved (...) when I heard Negro Spirituals in the living voice of Marian Anderson; I saw the work of Jean-Paul Sartre, who came to Havana and with the actress Miriam Acevedo staged The Respectful Prostitute".