Rubén Darío Salazar and World Puppet Day

March 21, 2020

World Puppet Day or also called World Puppetry Day is celebrated on March 21st of each year and was proposed by the International Union of Puppeteers (UNIMA). Its main objective is to publicize the emblematic figure of the puppet as part of the cultural development of peoples.

Since its first celebration and going forward, UNIMA launches a call to celebrate World Puppetry Day every March 21st, and this year the date will be celebrated under the title "Together for Peace."

For the occasion, the poster for the universal celebration has been created by Brazilian actor, designer and artistic director Osvaldo Gabrieli, who for years has directed the XPTO collective. Three renowned exponents of puppet theater worldwide, in the Americas region, have been selected to compose the message in tribute to this significant date: Manuel Morán (Puerto Rico-United States), actor, playwright and director of Teatro SEA; Zoa Mesa (Nicaragua), actress, oral narrator and playwright of the Guachipiliny puppet group; and Rubén Darío Salazar (Cuba), actor, playwright and director of the National Guiñol Theater and Teatro de Las Estaciones.

It is a great honor and an immense privilege for Cuba that the distinguished and enterprising puppet master Rubén Darío Salazar, a valuable exponent of puppet theater and a figure both within and outside the island's borders, is part, along with other valuable figures of the universal puppet movement, of the message for the celebration of World Puppetry Day.

Upon learning that this restless and tireless creator, who for years has been the general secretary of UNIMA Cuba, would be the one, several questions came to mind that he kindly answered for me:

What has it meant to you to be one of the selected ones, among other talented theater artists worldwide, to write the message for world puppetry day?

After more than 35 years of professional work in puppet theater for children, having traveled the entire length and breadth of the Island with my work, in addition to exchanging knowledge and learning a great deal from others. Having the privilege and responsibility of representing Cuba at festivals and scenic events in the Americas (Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Martinique, Mexico and the United States), Asia (China) and Europe (Russia, former Yugoslavia, Sweden, Denmark, France, Italy, and Spain), comes this recognition not only for me, as it is shared with puppeteers whom I greatly admire and appreciate. My brother Manuel Antonio Morán, from Puerto Rico-United States, whom I have known for 20 years. Leader of Teatro Sea in New York, where we have been welcomed with Teatro de Las Estaciones and whose group visit, not Manuel's personal one, was reciprocated in 2018, with beautiful performances in Havana and Matanzas. Zoa Mesa, from the Guachipilín group from Nicaragua; I saw her perform for the first time alongside her colleague Gonzalo Cuellar, in 1988, in Cienfuegos, we were both very young and already in the struggle, until today and tomorrow. Carmen Cárdenas, from Títeres Elwaky from Bolivia, a group invited to the International Puppet Workshop in Matanzas (Titim) in 2014, a true defender of our art form in South American lands.

It is not the first time that an artist from this part of the world has been invited to write the worldwide message for March 21st, but it is the first message written by 8 hands, as a symbol of the different cultures of our region, united in a single call in favor of peace. The poster, full of color, was commissioned to the great Argentine director, designer and actor Osvaldo Gabrieli, leader of the XPTO group from Brazil, whom we Cubans have also applauded with fervor.

How much does it make you proud that Matanzas (the city where you have developed your career) has been selected to celebrate this date?

I believe this is the return of everything that Matanzas has given me, which is quite a lot. This is a city that has had a professional guiñol since the early 1960s of the last century, founded by the Camejo brothers and Pepe Carril, pioneers of the art form throughout the entire national territory. It has personalities and groups that sustain wonderful work, worthy of attention from within and without, as it has been until today. With a historic company, Teatro Papalote, where I trained for 12 years under the tutelage of master René Fernández, National Theater Prize winner. The contributions of my own group Teatro de Las Estaciones, since 1994, restless, with a world-class designer like Zenén Calero. Puppet playwrights of yesterday and today, among whom stand out Dora Alonso, Rolando Arencibia, René himself, José Milián, Jesús del Castillo, Ulises Rodríguez Febles, María Laura Germán, among others, all indispensable in the account of Cuban and Matanzas dramaturgy for children and puppets. There are many more reasons that I do not mention now and would be enough for that pride to be not superficial, but authentic, legitimate, deserved.

How much has UNIMA Cuba enabled the strengthening of friendly ties between theater artists and puppet theater collectives?

I always affirm that belonging to UNIMA does not mean doing something different from everything that we puppeteers who have chosen this profession out of pure vocation, enjoyment and commitment to this ancient craft do. That said, to everything one does with passion on a daily basis, we must add a deeper look at what is done in our lands and beyond borders. To facilitate the entry of personalities who contribute from their experience new perspectives on techniques, aesthetics and trends that we know here. To strengthen through workshops, conferences, videos, books, exhibitions and every possible action of promotion, theory and practice that helps develop our art. Exchanges, dialogues, that enriching give and take is an obligatory task of UNIMA centers in every country on the planet. Sometimes more actions can be carried out and sometimes it becomes complicated for many subjective reasons and beyond our control, but we must always try. Since 2010, when I began to be part of the executive committee of UNIMA Cuba, that has been our motto and we are not satisfied, but pleased with what has happened and with everything we still have to do.

To what extent has UNIMA been a platform for union and dialogue between scenic creators and especially between puppeteers of the world?

An international organization like UNIMA, which already surpasses 90 years, accumulates experiences from five continents. Therefore, every action or project generated from there, in coordination with more than 100 centers and contacts scattered throughout the world, is a forge of teachings, experiences, cultures, ideas, visions… whose reach becomes immeasurable, as long as there is the intelligence, humility and willingness to collaborate and build bridges at all costs, which include countries at war, poor countries, territories of difficult access, with geographies devastated by the action of man himself or nature.

Cuba, and specifically Matanzas, the beach of Varadero and Havana, were witnesses in April 2014, during the UNIMA World Council, of what can happen at a meeting and festival that attempts to include the greatest number of styles and ways of making puppet theater. Artists from Germany, Finland, Canada, Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Spain, United States, Nicaragua, Mexico, Czech Republic, Venezuela and Uruguay wandered through our theater halls, streets, schools, parks, plazas, cultural centers and rural areas, sharing their craft. Professionals received a flood of knowledge and creative paths, amateurs served as privileged students of world masters, the curious, the specialists and the general public, with a wide range of ages, had a high-quality puppet banquet fostered by UNIMA, in coordination with our cultural and governmental institutions. In those days I was touching utopias. I was able to verify that the impossible can be made possible.

This is an action that reaffirms the values of the Cuban puppet movement and the value of our exponents. Dedicating at least one day to our theater artists and especially to those who dedicate themselves to puppet theater and puppetry in the world is an action that recognizes and enhances their dedication to the art of the puppet show.