Sergio Corrieri Hernández

Cuban actor and theatrical director. Founder of the groups Teatro Estudio and Teatro Escambray, of which he was General Director for a period of fifteen years. One of the principal figures of Cuban theater.

At barely 16 years of age he entered the courses of Teatro Universitario, one of the most prestigious institutions for training actors during the republican period. There he began his career on stage with El nieto de Dios, by Brazilian Joracy Camargo. He also performed in Las de Caín, by Álvarez Quintero; Prometeo Encadenado, by Aeschylus; La zorra y las uvas, by Guillaume Figuereido; Herida de muerte, by the Quintero Brothers, and La luna sobre el mar, by Eugene O´Neill.

Between the years 1956 and 1958 he was part of the casts of various groups existing in La Habana, which were directed by the most relevant stage directors. He performed in Medea la encantadora, by José Bergamín; Espíritu Maligno, by Francoise Mauriac; La dama de las camelias and Muertos sin sepultura, by Jean-Paul Sartre, Un cuarto lleno de rosas, by E. Summers and El inmoralista, by André Gide, where he played his first significant role.

In 1958 he participated in the learning experience that led to Teatro Estudio. He was part of its founding core, along with the siblings Raquel and Vicente Revuelta and five other artists, and performed in Viaje de un largo día hacia la noche the role of Edmund, for which he won an acting award. That work consolidated the group.

During his time at Teatro Estudio he performed the character of Tupac Amaru in the work of the same name by Osvaldo Dragún; Larry in Recuerdo de dos lunes, by Arthur Miller; Lachie in Corazón ardiente, by John Patrick; the Cook in Madre Coraje y sus hijos, by Bertold Brecht; the Comendador de Calatrava in Fuenteovejuna and Teodoro in El perro del hortelano, both by Lope de Vega; the Theater Director in El baño, by Maiakovski; the Count in La ronda, by Arthur Schnitzler, and also performed in El aniversario, by Antón Chejov; La muerte de Bessie Smith, by Edward Albee; El farsante más grande del mundo, by John M. Synge; El alma buena de Se Chuan and El círculo de tiza caucasiano, by Bertold Brecht.

He began his directing career in 1961 with Recuerdo de dos lunes, by Arthur Miller, presented in the Ñico López hall, and was responsible in 1964 for the world premiere of Contigo pan y cebolla, by Héctor Quintero. He also staged Risotadas ante el patíbulo, by Jack Richardson, in 1965. At that time, his conceptions regarding the social function of theater and his dissatisfaction with Havana's theatrical life at the moment led him to seek new directions.

In 1968 he founded the Grupo Teatro Escambray with his mother, the theater artist Gilda Hernández, and several artists from Teatro Estudio and other groups.

He participated as an actor in the group's first works, Escambray Mambí and Los Cuentos, where he played the mythical Juan Candela. He directed the stagings of Unos hombres y otros, by Jesús Díaz, in 1969; El Juicio, by Gilda Hernández, in 1973; Ramona (1977), La emboscada (1978) and Los novios (1980), by Roberto Orihuela.

At the helm of Teatro Escambray he carried out a tour in 1976 to the People's Republic of Angola and another to Nicaragua from December 1979 to January 1980. He participated in the IV Festival of Theater of Nations (Caracas, 1978); in the Cervantino Festival (Mexico, 1981); in the May Fest of Scotland (1984) and in the I Festival of Theater of Managua (Nicaragua, 1986). In 1982 he developed an extensive tour through the United States and Canada and in 1984 he performed in various European countries.

He also worked in television, where he performed in the television version of Yerma (1964) for the Teatro ICR program, and in the late 1970s he starred in the series En silencio ha tenido que ser, one of the most successful in the history of Cuban television. In 1994 he directed his own adaptation of the theatrical piece La Emboscada.

Founder of Revolution cinema, he starred in 1968 in one of the anthology films of national cinematography, Memorias del subdesarrollo, by director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Titón. He participated in a total of fourteen Cuban films.

For his merits he was elected Deputy from the first legislature of the National Assembly of People's Power and, subsequently, member of the Council of State, a position he held until 2003.

In 1985 he held the Vice Presidency of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT) and in 1987 he headed the Department of Culture of the Central Committee of the Party.

In 1990 he was appointed President of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), where he served until the time of his death. His activity at that institution connected him with organizations and social movements of all five continents.

Among the recognitions he received for his intense and outstanding artistic work stand out the Award for Best Male Performance at the Moscow International Film Festival, for the film El hombre de Maisinicú, and the orders Alejo Carpentier (1982) and Félix Varela of First Degree (1984) awarded by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba.

In 2006 he received the National Prize for Theater, the highest award of the Cuban stage.