Vicente Revuelta Planas

Cuban theatrical director and actor. Founder and leader of the Teatro Estudio group, the most significant in Cuban theater of the 20th century. One of the main figures of contemporary Cuban theater.

He was born in Ciudad de La Habana. His childhood was spent in a very humble social environment, alongside his Spanish father, Cuban mother, and his only sister, Raquel, also an actress.

He began his artistic career as a singer at the age of 7, in an amateur competition at the Teatro Principal de la Comedia and later in radio programs.

He started his acting career in 1946, at age seventeen, with the ADAD group in the play Prohibido suicidarse en primavera, by Alejandro Casona. He studied for four years at the Academia San Alejandro and later at the Academia Municipal de Arte Dramático where he performed in works by Shaw, Wilder, and Saroyan. He participated in the casts of the Teatro Universitario, the Patronato del Teatro, and Las Máscaras. In the early 1950s he made his first foray into theatrical direction with La voz humana, by Jean Cocteau. He later directed Recuerdos de Berta, by Tennessee Williams, with the Grupo Escénico Libre (GEL).

He worked in radio and in the newly founded national television. In 1952 he traveled to Europe and learned about the work of the Teatro Nacional Popular (TNP) in París. He spent a brief period at the School Attached to the Jean Louis Barrault company and at the Drama Workshop of Tania Balachova. He deepened his knowledge of the Stanislavsky system and came into contact with Brecht's theater. In 1954 he returned to Cuba. He directed the Theater Section of the Sociedad Cultural Nuestro Tiempo alongside Nora Badía. He developed seminars and lectures and published the Cuadernos de Cultura Teatral, where the first theoretical materials related to Brechtian theater were presented.

With the then young filmmaker Julio García Espinosa he prepared a unique version of the play Juana de Lorena, based on the original by Maxwell Anderson, with marked social projection, and in 1956 he staged it. This experience revealed to him the value of theater as a tool for knowledge and social transformation.

In 1958 he founded, along with his sister, actress Raquel Revuelta, the Teatro Estudio group, leader of Cuban theatrical avant-garde. The institution's project included an academy that decisively contributed to the formation of several of the most important figures in contemporary Cuban theater. He produced memorable performances and stagings. Among the latter stands out La noche de los asesinos, by José Triana, invited to participate in the Festival de Teatro de las Naciones, subsequently taken on a successful tour to the European cities Roma, Nápoles, Florencia, Ginebra, and the festivals of Avignon, Lieja, and Venecia.

In 1970 he led the experience of the group Los Doce which explored the ideas of Jerzy Grotowski's theater and the theatrical avant-gardes of the time. Later he developed some other experimental workshops.

He toured Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Poland, Spain, Portugal, Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and México.

Among his most notable creations as an actor are: La muerte de un viajante (1960), El cuento del zoológico (1964), La noche de los asesinos (1966), Galileo Galilei (1974), El precio (1979), La duodécima noche (1982), Medida por medida (1993). As a director: Viaje de un largo día hacia la noche (1958), Madre Coraje (1961), Fuenteovejuna (1963), El perro del hortelano (1964), La noche de los asesinos (1966), Peer Gynt (1970), Las tres hermanas (1972), Galileo Galilei (1974), En el parque (1986).

In Cuban cinema he appeared in the films De la guerra americana, directed by Pastor Vega, in 1969; Una pelea cubana contra los demonios, in 1970 and Los sobrevivientes, in 1978, both under the direction of Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, and in El siglo de la luces, directed by Humberto Solás in 1992.

For the high merits of his work he received various artistic recognitions. Among them stand out the prize El Gallo de La Habana for La noche de los asesinos, from the VI Festival de Teatro Latinoamericano sponsored by the Casa de las Américas, in La Habana, 1966; the Espada de Oro award, Bulgaria, 1979; the Alejo Carpentier and Félix Varela orders of the First Degree, granted by the Consejo de Estado of the República de Cuba, in 1982 and 1989, respectively.

In 1999 he received the Premio Nacional de Teatro, the highest award in Cuban theater.

In 2000 the Instituto Superior de Arte conferred upon him the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa in Arts.

Some works directed by Vicente
Juana de Lorena.
Largo viaje de un día hacia la noche.
El alma buena de Se Chuan.
Los fusiles de la madre Carrar.
Fuenteovejuna.
Madre Coraje y sus hijos.
La noche de los asesinos.
Santa Juana de América.
El precio.
Las tres hermanas.
El travieso Jimmy.
La duodécima noche.
Antes del desayuno.
Cuento del zoológico.
Galileo Galilei.
Historia de un caballo.
En el parque.
La vieja dama muestra sus medallas.

Theater Performances
1946– "Prohibido suicidarse en primavera", "Nuestro pueblito", "Juana de Lorena", "Jorge y Margarita", "Cándida", "La hermosa gente".
1948- "El travieso Jimmy", "El hombre, la bestia y la virtud".
1950– "Medea", "La marquesa Rosalinda", "El tesoro y la liebre", "Propiedad clausurada", "El recuerdo de Berta".
1951- "La voz humana", "Yerma", "La zapatera prodigiosa", "La Dama de las Camelias", "Don Juan Tenorio", "El círculo de tiza caucasiano".
1960– "Los fusiles de la madre Carrar", "Madre Coraje y sus hijos".
1962- "Basa Yelieznova".
1963- "Fuenteovejuna"
1968- "El becerro de oro", "Las vacas gordas"
1974- "Galileo Galilei"
1975- "El Inspector", "Los diez días que estremecieron al mundo",
1978- "El Precio"
1981- "La duodécima noche".
1982- "La vieja dama muestra sus medallas" (Revival)
1983- "El cuento del zoológico". (Revival)
1985- "Galileo Galilei"
1992- "Medida por medida".

World Tours
He toured Italy, the Festival de Avignon, France, Théâtre Jeune de Lieja, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Festival de Sitges Spain, FITEI Portugal, Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, México, and Poland.

His pedagogical work, an essential presence in shaping the current face of Cuban theater, was materialized through acting classes and training at Teatro Estudio and other groups and cultural institutions, as well as at the Instituto Superior de Arte, the prestigious teaching institution that granted him the distinction of Doctor Honoris Causa in Arts.

He gave lectures in more than 15 countries in Latin America and Europe. His theatrical work was appreciated on numerous stages throughout the world.

Awards and Distinctions
Premio Nacional de Teatro, together with his sister Raquel Revuelta, granted by the Ministerio de Cultura and the Consejo Nacional de las Artes Escénicas. 1999.
Orden Félix Varela 1988.
Premio Tinajón Camagüeyano for the direction of "En el parque" 1986.
Medalla Alejo Carpentier 1982.
Prize of the Festival de Teatro de La Habana for his performance and artistic direction of La duodécima noche 1982.
Prize for Male Performance at the I Festival de Teatro de La Habana, shared with José A. Rodríguez for his leading role in El precio 1980.
Espada de Oro Prize, from Bulgaria, for the direction of Santa Juana de América 1979.
Gallo de La Habana Prize for the direction of "La noche de los asesinos" 1966.

He is considered by theater critics as one of the most relevant actors and artistic directors of Latin America.