Corina Mestre is the 2022 National Theater Prize Winner

January 23, 2022

Renowned actress Corina Mestre has been recognized with the 2022 National Theater Prize, reported the National Council of Performing Arts (CNAE).

The jury of the 2022 National Theater Prize met on January 22 at the CNAE headquarters, presided over by Dagoberto Gaínza, and decided to award this important honor to Corina Mestre Vilaboy, the institution reported on its Twitter account.

The jury was also made up of Marilyn Garbey, Eduardo Arrocha, Fátima Pattersson and Eugenio Hernández Espinosa.

A familiar presence for several generations of Cubans due to her long and recognized career in theater, television, radio and film in the country, the popular actress (Havana, 1954) graduated with a degree in Performing Arts (1981) from the Instituto Superior de Arte, and was a student of Vladimir Pieshkin, a pedagogue from the Taganka under the direction of Liubimov.

In 1968 she joined the New Trova Movement, performing poems and songs, and in 1970 the student theater movement, where she won awards at several of its festivals.

In 1981 she began working with the Teatro Estudio Group, directed by Raquel Revuelta. With that company she has participated in more than 70 works, among which stand out Don Gil de las calzas verdes, The Bear, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Blood Wedding, The Shoemaker's Prodigious Wife, The Steps, The Medals of Mrs. Ana, The Round, The Public Opinion, La verbena de la paloma, Morir del cuento, A Can of Paint, We Live in the City, Where Love Grows, The Golden Calf and I'm Still Waiting for You.

An actress with long experience in children's theater, she has worked on adaptations of literary classics such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Momo, the latter by Michel Ende, with her own adaptation and that of Augusto Blanca and music by Augusto Blanca.

For Cuban television she has recorded novels and dramatized serials among which stand out Passion and Prejudice, The Echo of the Stones, The House of Bernarda Alba, Going Out at Night and Double Game, as well as several teleplays.

In radio her work has extended to the stations Radio Habana Cuba and Habana Radio, voice of the Office of the Historian of the City. Waltz of Old Havana (1988) was her first foray into cinema.

Between 1984 and 1989 she was an assistant professor at the Instituto Superior de Arte and from 1998 until 2005, she was a full professor and head of the Acting Chair at ISA. She teaches workshops on acting direction and stage direction at the International Film School of San Antonio de los Baños.

She has taught acting master classes in Mexico and Santiago de Compostela, Spain. She has also participated in important international events such as the Cervantino Festival, Sitges Festival and Moscow Theater Festival, among others, and has performed in Venezuela, Mexico, Portugal, Nicaragua, Angola, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and the United States.