Abelardo José Estorino López (29 January 1925 â€" 22 November 2013)
was a Cuban dramatist, director, and theater critic.Abelardo Estorino
was born in Unión de Reyes on 29 January 1925.[1] After Bachillerato
studies in Matanzas, he trained as a dental surgeon and practiced as
such for three years (1954â€"1957), dividing time between the job and
his literary vocation.[1] He wrote his first play, Hay un muerto en la
calle, in 1954.[2] It remains unpublished. The success of his second
dramatic work, El peine y el espejo, written in 1956 but released in
1960, placed him firmly in the world of literature and drama.After
studying stage direction at the Teatro Estudio de Cuba and working
with Julio Matas and Herberto Dumé,[2] it was the 1960s that marked
the growth and direction of his work. El robo del cochino (1961) and
La casa vieja (1964) were his most notable plays from this period. He
also adapted works for the theater, such as El mago de Oz (The Wizard
of Oz), El fantasmita, La dama de las camelias (La Dame aux Camélias)
(1968), and Las impuras by Miguel de Carrión [es]. In that decade
Estorino traveled to the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia,[2] joined
the National Council of Culture, and participated in the First
National Congress of Writers and Artists of Cuba. During this time he
received the first recognitions of his long career, such as mentions
for the Casa de las Américas Prize for El robo del cochino and La
casa vieja,[3] the latter for the production directed by Berta
MartÃnez.[4] He continued the decade with Los mangos de CaÃn (1965)
and El tiempo de la plaga, in addition to the comedy Las vacas
gordas.Estorino was the life partner of artist Raúl MartÃnez.[5][6]
In the 1970s, in spite of the marginalization that he suffered, like
other intellectuals, due to his homosexuality,[7] he did not stop
writing.[4] After directing an adaptation of Lope de Vega's La
discreta enamorada, he wrote La dolorosa historia del amor secreto de
Don José Jacinto Milanés, a literary work that required him to do
complex research into Spanish colonial Cuba. At this point his output
constituted an intimate journey through the intricacies of the human
being as part, for good and for bad, of that social structure that is
the family, the core on which Estorino focuses to look at the reality
of society as a whole. This explains why many of his plays were
successfully performed in theaters in Europe (Norway, Sweden, Spain)
and the Americas (United States, Chile, Venezuela). In the 1980s, his
works included Ni un sà ni un no, Pachencho vivo o muerto, Que el
diablo te acompañe (1987), Las penas saben nadar (1989), and Morir
del cuento, whose production was awarded in Spain, at the Theater
Festival of Havana,[4] and by the National Union of Writers and
Artists of Cuba.[1]
was a Cuban dramatist, director, and theater critic.Abelardo Estorino
was born in Unión de Reyes on 29 January 1925.[1] After Bachillerato
studies in Matanzas, he trained as a dental surgeon and practiced as
such for three years (1954â€"1957), dividing time between the job and
his literary vocation.[1] He wrote his first play, Hay un muerto en la
calle, in 1954.[2] It remains unpublished. The success of his second
dramatic work, El peine y el espejo, written in 1956 but released in
1960, placed him firmly in the world of literature and drama.After
studying stage direction at the Teatro Estudio de Cuba and working
with Julio Matas and Herberto Dumé,[2] it was the 1960s that marked
the growth and direction of his work. El robo del cochino (1961) and
La casa vieja (1964) were his most notable plays from this period. He
also adapted works for the theater, such as El mago de Oz (The Wizard
of Oz), El fantasmita, La dama de las camelias (La Dame aux Camélias)
(1968), and Las impuras by Miguel de Carrión [es]. In that decade
Estorino traveled to the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia,[2] joined
the National Council of Culture, and participated in the First
National Congress of Writers and Artists of Cuba. During this time he
received the first recognitions of his long career, such as mentions
for the Casa de las Américas Prize for El robo del cochino and La
casa vieja,[3] the latter for the production directed by Berta
MartÃnez.[4] He continued the decade with Los mangos de CaÃn (1965)
and El tiempo de la plaga, in addition to the comedy Las vacas
gordas.Estorino was the life partner of artist Raúl MartÃnez.[5][6]
In the 1970s, in spite of the marginalization that he suffered, like
other intellectuals, due to his homosexuality,[7] he did not stop
writing.[4] After directing an adaptation of Lope de Vega's La
discreta enamorada, he wrote La dolorosa historia del amor secreto de
Don José Jacinto Milanés, a literary work that required him to do
complex research into Spanish colonial Cuba. At this point his output
constituted an intimate journey through the intricacies of the human
being as part, for good and for bad, of that social structure that is
the family, the core on which Estorino focuses to look at the reality
of society as a whole. This explains why many of his plays were
successfully performed in theaters in Europe (Norway, Sweden, Spain)
and the Americas (United States, Chile, Venezuela). In the 1980s, his
works included Ni un sà ni un no, Pachencho vivo o muerto, Que el
diablo te acompañe (1987), Las penas saben nadar (1989), and Morir
del cuento, whose production was awarded in Spain, at the Theater
Festival of Havana,[4] and by the National Union of Writers and
Artists of Cuba.[1]
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