Renowned Cuban theater and television actress Corina Mestre passes away

June 4, 2024

The renowned Cuban pedagogue and theater, radio and television actress Corina Mestre passed away on June 1st in Havana at the age of 69 years.

Temperamental in each of her performances, National Prize for Artistic Education and National Prize for Theater, she left a legacy to many generations of actors through her histrionics and dramatic force in each of her characters, expressed the National Council of the Performing Arts (CNAE).

In said statement, the CNAE added that Mestre was a "brilliant actress and reciter with an exceptional voice, with excellent gifts for comedy and drama, deserving of multiple accolades for her performances in theater, film, radio and television," concluded the note from the Performing Arts center.

Another statement, this time from Cuba's Minister of Culture, Alpidio Alonso, reflects that "Cuban culture loses one of its greatest figures and the Revolution loses a steadfast militant. Our eternal gratitude for your work and example, dear sister."

In addition to being a recognized actress in Cuban TV, film and theater, Corina Mestre was a teacher to generations of Cuban artists at the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) and other art schools. One of her most recognized students was Ana de Armas, the famous Cuban artist who is currently thriving in Hollywood and who always visited her when she was in Havana.

Corina Mestre was born in Havana on October 12, 1954, according to the website of Cuban Television, a medium where she is remembered for her masterful work in soap operas such as Passion and Prejudice, The Echo of the Stones or The House of Bernarda Alba.

In 1981 she began working with Grupo Teatro Estudio, directed by Raquel Revuelta. With this company she has participated in more than 70 works, among which stand out Don Gil of the Green Stockings, The Bear, The Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Blood Wedding, The Prodigious Shoemaker, The Steps, The Medals of Mrs. Ana, The Round, Public Opinion, The Festival of the Dove, Dying from the Tale, A Can of Paint, We Live in the City, Where Love Grows, The Golden Calf and I Keep Waiting for You.

An actress with extensive experience in children's theater, she worked in versions of literary classics such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Momo, the latter by Michel Ende, with her adaptation and that of Augusto Blanca and music by Augusto Blanca. For Cuban television she 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.

Prize for Female Acting at the Cervantes Festival (Mexico), Sitges Festival (Spain), at the Moscow Theater Festival and in 2000 she won the Hola Prize from the Association of Hispanic Artists and Critics of New York, is read on the page of the International Film and Television School of San Antonio de Los Baños, where she taught classes.

She was also a Full Professor and Head of the Acting Department at Instituto Superior de Arte.

Mestre also contributed her immense talent to children's theater and is also remembered for her work in concerts of song and poetry alongside troubadour Augusto Blanca, with whom she participated as a singer in the CDs This Tree We Plant, Luna Trovera and In the Name of This Time; also in the recording production Definitely Thursday, by poet Waldo Leyva with arrangements by Augusto Blanca and Ariadna Amador.

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