Playback in Cuba By Susan Metz This material is made publicly available by the Centre for Playback Theatre and remains the intellectual property of its author. La Habana ñ Cubaís capital Havana is the capital of Cuba where reside about 1/5 of the islandís population of 11.2 million. La Habana Vieja has been identified as Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, and there, with international investment, the old city is experiencing a renaissance that is saving from collapse its gorgeous colonial homes and squares. Plaza Vieja is located two blocks closer to the bay along Calle Teniente Rey from Casa Gaia where we hold our workshops. Over the four years we have been working there we watched the plaza being rebuilt to its antique and present splendor. Most of the old city is shabby, though, and it is considered a ëmarginal neighborhoodí in need of attention. Centro Habanaís pitted streets appear in nearly all the documentaries about the capital that foreigners may have seen, including Buena Vista Social Club and Suite Havana. Outside of Cuba we will rarely see the wide tree-lined thoroughfares of El Vedado whose large houses have been broken up into modest apartments. The elegant mansions of Miramar now house embassies and the headquarters of the mixed enterprises that are finally attracting investment from Canada and Spain. We never see the suburban residential neighborhoods of La Vibora to the south or the boro of Marianao to the west. Still further west is Cubanacan with wide, curving boulevards and immense palaces now used to house international guests of the government. The national and international medical schools are out there, as are the research facilities, manufacturing centers and the complex of housing where live the tens of thousands employed in Cubaís profitable biotech industry. The two colonial forts guard the entrance to the harbor, El Morro and La Cabana, both now museums. On the point of the promontory is the lighthouse, and to the east and slightly south around the bay, on the far side of La Cabana is a giant statue of Jesus that was commission at the behest of the wife of Baptista, the cruel dictator overthrown by Fidel Castroís Revolution in 1959. Havana reaches around the deep water bay to the east to the working harbor and the traditionally working class boros of Regla and Guanabocoa. Farther east along the Atlantic coast are the post-revolution apartment complexes of Camilo Cienfugos and Antonio Guiteras and farther still the vast housing project of Alamar. Havana city has grown to the south to include the open spaces of Parque Lenin, the Botanical Garden and the Zoo, surrounded by developments of individual homes and garden apartments, many built by brigades of volunteers in national sweat equity programs during the 70s and 80s. The ramshackle dwellings of San Miguel de Padron and the neat cottages of Cottoro extend to the southern border of the capital where begin the farmlands of Havana Province. The northern border of the city is the Malecon, the curving road, walkway and sea wall that holds back the Atlantic Ocean. The capital, and indeed the entire country, is divided into administrative boros or counties called Municipios. Habana Vieja, Marianao, Regla and Alamar are municipios. Each Municipio is made up of a series of neighborhoods or barrios. El Vedado is a barrio in the municipio of Plaza de la Revolucion, commonly referred to as Plaza. Organization of Cuban Culture In Cubaís socialist society the State, the national government, plans the economy, decides how many of who do what, and pays salaries to about 80% of the working population. Culture too is socialized. Artists are government employees. The Ministry of Culture has two divisions ñ Community Culture and professional artists who are linked to one of the national councils responsible for each of the categories ñ visual arts, music and theater. Writers work for publications or are paid for each piece. Centre for Playback Theatre www.playbackcentre.org 1 Those employed by Ministry of Culture in the division of Community Culture work in a Casa de Cultura or community cultural center, one of which is located in each of the 148 municipios or administrative units into which the island nation is divided. Here classes are offered to homemakers, students and workers in every aspect of the visual, literary and performing arts. Amateur groups flourish. The members of the staff are called Instructors of Art for their specialty ñ instructor of art for theater, for example. Depending on the talent and diligence of the members of the staff, each Casa de Cultura develops its identity and specialty. One is known for its excellent gallery, another for its music program. Folks will move around the capital city to find the teachers they like and projects in which they wish to participate. All activities are free. Expense of materials and the poverty of the state do impose limits. The Instructor for Art in Theater will teach classes, direct the local amateur company and prepare folks to participate in competitions and festivals. Particularly popular is the yearly contest for the best original monologue. The president of the Consejo Nacional de Cultura Comunitaria (CNCC) is Fernando Roja. The government has lately been emphasizing engaging young people in community cultural activities. Fidel Castro says that culture forms revolutionary values to the same extent as education. The number of places in the school for Instructors of Art has been increased. Talented youth are being recruited into this career. Professional artists who receive their salaries through one of the national councils present their work in the theaters, concert halls and galleries, which the government owns and controls. National Council of Theater Arts (Consejo Nacional de Artes Escenicas or CNAE) supervises dance and theater companies and is responsible for paying the salaries of everyone connected to the companies. With the final approval of the Minister of Culture, the appointed leadership of each council decides which groups will be funded for which projects, on opportunities to travel abroad, and on invitations for foreigners to perform and for invited foriegners to come and work with Cuban artists. Applicants who want to be professional actors are evaluated by a commission whose members work in teams of three (including at least one experienced actor and at least one CNAE assessor) to decide on the status and pay scale of each successful applicant, from level 3 (inexperienced) to level 1 the highest rating. The evaluations are based on formal criteria and also, inevitably, on personal and also political considerations. Evaluation teams can do only a fraction of the assessments that hopefuls request. Julian Gonzalez has been president of CNAE for more than 10 years. The National Council of Theater Arts has a small central staff made up of two vice-presidents and a handful of part-time assessors. In addition to their administrative responsibilities, most teach at the fine arts university, Instituto Superior del Arte, El ISA. El ISA is the fine arts university. It is one of a series of institutions offering post-secondary professional preparation. The others are the U of Havana for humanities, liberal arts and sciences; CUJAI the technical university for engineering, architecture and infomatics; and Pedagogical Institute for teacher training. Specialties offered in the theater division of El ISA include playwriting, directing, theater tech and acting. Entrance auditions are extremely competitive as it is the only institution of its kind on the island. A branch in the central province of Camaguay is for the ballet. Graduates of the 5-year course are guaranteed jobs as professional artists. Abel Prieto has been the Minister of Culture since 1997. He is a novelist who was previously head of the Union Nacional de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC). The Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba is affiliated with UNESCO as a non-governmental organization, highly politicized, prestigious and influential. Only a small percentage of professional artists are invited to join, and it is pointless to apply unless you can count on wide support of those already enrolled. Membership ensures expedited procedures to travel off the island on intercultural exchange. Another NGO linked to the Ministry of Centre for Playback Theatre www.playbackcentre.org 2 Culture is the Sociedad Cultural Jose Marti (SCJM) headed by Armando Hart who was the first Minister of Culture before Abel Prieto and who before that served Cuba as the first Minister of Education after the 1959 Revolution. Because these have NGO status and are not branches of the Cuban government, both these agencies may receive grants from foundations and other international agencies, and the may administer international projects. Playback enters Cuba To formally enter the centrally administered and controlled Cuban culture, a new initiative must find institutional support. Folks do things outside of formal institutions, to be sure. There is a wide and thriving grey market of goods and services, and arts. Fortunately, Playback has been able to find its place and be accepted within the system. It was a long, winding and thorny trail we traveled to arrive, iat home with the Sociedad Cultural Jose Marti . In March 2005 They signing an agreement to collaborate with the International Playback Theatre Network to disseminated these new participatory improvisational theater techniques throughout the island. The trip began in Havana in December of 1999. Over a glass of wine in the back garden of her house in the Nuevo vedado section of the capital, Belkis Vega and I commiserated about the personal losses that we had suffered to the AIDS epidemic. We cried together. Each had long promised herself to do something to help.