Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (UC) Theater students embark on an international co-production of Fuenteovejuna
In the coming days, eight acting students from the UC Theater School will travel to Spain to be part of an unprecedented international co-production that will stage the play “Fuenteovejuna” by Lope de Vega.
The project is an initiative of the Community of Madrid and the Alcalá de Henares City Council in Spain, who called on the UC Theater School to participate in the 2023 version of the traditional Ibero-American Festival of the Golden Age . The invitation is a recognition of the constant and prolific work carried out by the Catholic University of Chile in disseminating, researching and teaching the tradition of classical theater from the Spanish Golden Age to the new generations of national stage artists.
In this way, the co-participation experience will be carried out through the staging of the play Fuenteovejuna written in verse by the playwright Lope de Vega, one of the greatest exponents of the Spanish Baroque of the 16th and 17th centuries.
The assembly contemplates the work and creative exchange between European artists and young students in the last year of their studies at the UC Theater School. Thus, in the coming days, the students Paulette Fabres, Valentina Duque, Valentina Godoy, Francisca Olave, Melchor Pino, Jacinta Rodríguez, Sebastián Veloso and Roberto Villena, will join the cast of European artists who will be directed by the renowned Spanish director Juan Polanco.
Training, Exchange and exhibition
The first stage of the project, carried out through remote rehearsal sessions, has focused on the formative experience through instruction in Spanish verse for acting students. In this regard, they reflect on the difficulties they have encountered in this first instance in learning new words, new ways of saying, integrating actions and acting. However, despite the above, and the geographical distance, the eight students agree on the progress they have noticed throughout the process. An advance that according to themselves warn, “has been jointly.”
The second stage considers the artistic residency of the students in Spain. At this stage, the practical rehearsals of the work will be carried out for the staging of Fuenteovejuna . Added to the above, it is expected that this will be an instance of cultural exchange in which they can get to know the Madrid theater circuit and be ambassadors of our theatrical tradition.
On the verge of the start of the trip, the eight students are eager for the experience, acknowledging, however, the fears that can appear when embarking on a project of this magnitude.
“It’s getting out of the comfort zone. It is being part of a professional play, with professional actors and a renowned director. He treats us like actors and invites us to take our student chip off. That makes you panic, but at the same time you feel a lot of enthusiasm,” says Valentina Duque.
At the same time, they recognize the opportunity that this trip represents in their lives. This, especially, given the possibility of going out of the country doing theater, meeting people and establishing links with people from other countries.
The universality of the text
Despite the time gap that separates these young students from Lope de Vega’s classic text, all eight agree on the relevance and timeliness of the issues addressed here.
“These are issues that have repercussions to this day, despite the antiquity of the text. Every time I read the work I love it more, because it has a very powerful charge: it touches on themes that, to this day, whether in Spain or Chile, happen”, says Paulette Fabres.
That is why, the work of the first stage that the students have been able to carry out under the direction of Juan Polanco, has surprised them both for its complexity, as well as for the findings and achievements made. In this line, Jacinta Rodríguez highlights the work of discovering “the layers and layers that the text has”, a process in which Juan’s guide, regarding
Production
The gestation of this macro project has been the result of collaborative work between the Spanish and Chilean production teams. Process in which the Community of Madrid, the Alcalá de Henares Golden Age Festival, the UC Vice-Rector for International Affairs (VRAI), the UC Faculty of Arts , the La Celderona Theater Company and the Theater School have participated. UC.
From the latter, Juan Francisco Olea, Head of Continuing Education; and Carlos Martínez, Director Coordinator of the UC Theater School, have been key players. They, together with Mario Costa, director of the School, have worked to encourage and promote the development of each of the production stages of the initiative.
“The management of a theatrical production of this magnitude presents many challenges: the collection of resources, the logistical coordination of the aspects inherent to the assembly of a play and the complexity of doing it remotely. Regarding the unprecedented nature of this project, several been discovering ways to cope with production, considering the different legal regulations and making different contexts coexist” , says Juan Francisco Olea.