Rubén Darío Salazar Taquechel

Founder and general director of Teatro de las Estaciones, a puppet theater group from Matanzas with an intense creative trajectory. Bachelor's degree in Performing Arts from the Faculty of Performing Arts at the Superior Institute of Art in La Habana, specializing in Acting, in 1987.

His neighbors did not need a crystal ball to know that Rubén Darío Salazar would become a renowned artist. Moreover, they ventured to predict that his name would stand out among those who in Cuba would place puppet theater in a place of honor. It could be no other way when the young boy did not waste an opportunity to dream immersed in the magical and delightful darkness of the Guiñol of Santiago de Cuba, perfect for dialoging with fantastic puppets that, he thought, spoke to him alone.

As a child, he made puppet theaters and dolls with his little friends from the neighborhood, whom he dressed up and directed. "And he was quite bossy!"

He enrolled in the Journalism program at the University of Oriente. But soon he understood that it was a brief "intermission." He immediately joined the group that Roberto Sánchez, director of puppet theater, led at that institution; the impulse he lacked to end up at the Superior Institute of Art (ISA) and become a diligent student of Ana Viñas, increasingly devoted to puppet theater.

He found his final endorsement in the magnificent oral narrator and children's theater professor, Mayra Navarro. "She told me: 'What you like has its history, what you like has its value, what you like has traveled a path that is worth taking. Do you want to travel it? Well come on, I offer you my hand.' And, among many other institutions, the teacher introduced me to Teatro Papalote," comments Darío Salazar, who these days is celebrating the first 15 years of having founded, along with many friends, the emblematic Teatro de Las Estaciones.

He began his professional career in 1987 in the City of Matanzas, as a member of Teatro Papalote. As an amateur, he was linked to Radio, Television, and Theater in Santiago de Cuba from age 9. For 12 years (1987-1999) I did everything I had to do at Papalote. And although I already had concerns, I felt I was not ready to direct puppet theater. So I took those years with René as a postgraduate course in artistic direction of puppet theater; a responsibility I assumed when I was conscious that I could launch myself into that enterprise.

He was an actor with the Papalote group from 1987 to 1996. Assistant Professor of Dramaturgy Analysis for children and young people at the ISA. Member of the national evaluation commission and the national council of experts in theater for children and young people and member of the Advisory Board of Teatro Sauto.

He completed his Diploma Work in 1988 with the Papalote group through the Study Workshop with the work Okin, a Bird That Does Not Live in a Cage which represented Cuba in the event of puppet schools in Yugoslavia and obtained numerous recognitions and assessments from specialized critics in the most prestigious publications in Cuba and the world. From this moment on he participated in several works of Papalote in that period almost always in leading roles, with which he represented the collective at prestigious events in the specialty in Cuba and the world such as Charlevr Meziere, in France. He obtained various awards as an actor and was recognized as one of the most outstanding figures of children's theater in Cuba.

In 1994 he began his first performances of the collective that he would later found along with designer Zenén Calero, Teatro Las Estaciones with headquarters at the Sauto, with varied representations closely linked to the seasons of the year. In July 1995 again at Teatro Sauto he premiered his first work as director with the one-person show performed by actress Marién Padrón What Happened to Liborio, which years later he would direct again for Fara Madrigal.

During these years with the young collective, he has achieved numerous recognitions from critics and the public at the most important national events, his work as director standing out by staging classic puppet texts by Javier Villafañe, Federico García Lorca, Dora Alonso, Modesto Centeno, with versions of his own authorship or in collaboration with critic and playwright Norge Espinosa.

He has also directed musical shows, galas, event opening activities, gatherings, tributes, and readings. He has traveled to Russia, Yugoslavia, Mexico, France, Sweden, Colombia, Italy, and Spain, a country in which he has performed numerous times on tours through various areas of the territory, and the United States.

He has promoted from his collective and the gallery El Retablo numerous events, conferences, and tributes of great significance in the cultural life of the city and the Cuban theater scene, among which stands out the Classics on Stage of Children's Theater in Cuba, the unforgettable tribute to Carucha Camejo at Teatro Sauto, among others.

Scholar of the life and work of the Camejo brothers, of Cuban dramaturgy for children, of the figure of Dora Alonso, which he has been responsible for studying and promoting with activities, tributes, staging her works, and making historical documentaries. Editor of the bulletin La Mojiganga, until 1995; director and editor of the yearbook Manitas en el suelo, founded by him and Zenén Calero in 1999. Compiler of Pelusín del Monte, a collection of three works by Dora Alonso about the national puppet and the anthology of Matanzas playwrights for children Tin Tin Pirulero, for which he also wrote the prologue and program notes.

He has been screenwriter and promoter of the documentaries Retablo para un niño solo, dedicated to the twenty years of artistic life of Zenén Calero, The Magic of Tenderness, about Dora Alonso and the national puppet, and Monseñor Guiñol in Matanzas, about the history of puppet theater in the city. Frequent contributor to specialized publications such as Tablas and Conjunto. He has also published in La Mojiganga, Manitas en el Suelo, La Revista del Vigía, Matanzas, La Gaceta de Cuba, and in provincial press.

He has been a speaker at various theoretical events on the specialty such as Yorik, a theoretical event of the Puppet Workshop of Matanzas. He has taught numerous workshops and lectures on various topics related to the art of animated figures ranging from animation to the national and international puppet events. At the most important events, he has served as moderator at roundtables on the puppet specialty. As an author, he has made versions of various classical works of puppet dramaturgy, the work The Guiñol of the Matamoros and the scripts of numerous shows. He was president of the Performing Arts section of the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS). Honorary Member of the AHS. Member of UNEAC. He possesses the Distinction for National Culture.

Among his most relevant performances are:

Show: Okín, a Bird That Does Not Live in a Cage (One-person show)
Author: René Fernández Santana
Company: Teatro Papalote

Show: Long Live Summer!, Variety show with children, puppets and actors
Script: Freddy Maragotto
Director: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 1994

Show: Autumn Song, Variety show with children, puppets and actors
Script: Freddy Maragoto
Director: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 1994

Winter Tale, Variety show with children and actors
Script: Freddy Maragoto
Director and text: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 1995

Good Morning Spring!, Variety show with children, puppets and actors
Script: Freddy Maragoto
Director and text: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 1995

What Happened to Liborio (1st version), One-person show for actress and puppets
Adaptation and direction: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 1995

A Cat with Boots, Show with puppets and actors
Version and direction: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 1995

The Girl Who Watered the Basil and the Inquisitive Prince, One-person show for actor and puppets
Author: Federico García Lorca
Director: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 1996

What Happened to Liborio (2nd version), One-person show for actress and puppets
Director and adaptation: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 1996

The Guiñol of the Matamoros (Postcards from Long Ago). Show for adults. Musical scenes for puppets and actors
Author: Rubén Darío Salazar
Director: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 1998

Pelusín del Monte (Pelusín's Dream). Show for puppets and actors
Author: Dora Alonso
Director: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 1999

The Sky-Colored Hat. Show for actors and puppets based on the works The Street of Ghosts and The Wedding of Doña Rana, by Javier Villafañe
Director: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 2000

Little Red Riding Hood. Puppet Show
Author: Modesto Centeno
Director: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 2001

Pelusín and the Birds. Show with puppets and actors
Author: Dora Alonso
Director: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 2001

In an Old Puppet Theater. Memory show with actors and puppets
Author: Norge Espinosa based on an idea by Rubén Darío Salazar
Director: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 2001

Peter and the Wolf. Symphonic tale for children Opus 67. Conceived for orchestra and narrator. Show for actors and puppets
Author: Sergei Prokofiev
Director: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 2002

Christmas Tale. Christmas Allegory with figures
Author and Director: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 2002

The Toy Box. Ballet for actors and dolls with music by Claude Debussy and libretto by André Hellé
Director: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 2003

The Little Bronze Virgin. Puppet Show for adults
Author: Norge Espinosa Mendoza
Director: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 2006

The Ugly Duckling. Show for puppets and actors
Director: Rubén Darío Salazar
Company: Teatro de las Estaciones
Premiere: 2006

By Monte Carulé dedicated to the centennial of Bola de Nieve presented at Global Cuba Fest organized by the University of Miami in 2011