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Miami Herald
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Spanish language theater company presents powerful ‘The Passage'
There's a reason Catalan author Josep María Miró's 'The Passage' (in Spanish, 'La Travesía') has been translated into more than five languages. The play, with its universal message, deals with the origins of human actions and why we do what we do. Arca Images is presenting the Miami premiere of 'The Passage' directed by Carlos Celdrán and, for the fourth time, the return of a work by the multi-award-winning Miró to the Miami stage. In collaboration with Ajedrez Eventos de México, Roxy Theater Group, and the Miami-Dade County Auditorium, performances are at the Westchester Cultural Arts Center from Friday, July 11 to Sunday, July 20. The play will be presented in Spanish with simultaneous English translation. 'I was interested in talking about a conflict that takes place in 'no man's land', where the protagonists go to help and realize there are also flaws in their work,' says Miró, about the work written in 2015. In the plot, Sister Cecilia, the main character played by Elba Escobar, undertakes an ethical journey after a girl dies in her arms as a result of being brutally assaulted. The event forces her to reflect her work with a humanitarian project located in a war zone. For Celdrán, resident director of Arca Images, Miró's work 'delves into a complex and unprecedented landscape.' He was seduced by the story, Celdrán emphasizes, because it is 'material that allows us to think about the present, the current situation, the dilemmas of contemporary beings from a very personal perspective.' Miró observes the strength of the piece in its discourse and its characters, who likes his writing to be a challenge for the actors on stage as well as the audience. 'It's a work,' he says, 'above all, of actors, which is very attractive because of what it presents in terms of acting and theatricality.' Escobar is joined by Arca Images' actors Juan David Ferrer (Rai), Caleb Casas (Oscar), Guillermo Cabré (Isaac), and Rachel Pastor (Sister Isabel). Celdrán emphasizes that 'unraveling the keys to the text is a fundamental exercise. He is an essential author who meticulously focuses on every word, every detail, and every pause. His text is a living, breathing, and complementary organism. It is a form of writing of the utmost rigor that forces you to pay attention, to listen to the silences, the smallest hints.' Connoisseurs and admirers of their respective works, the creative exchange has been a 'different journey' for both artists, in which Miró's theatrical language and Celdrán's theatrical vision intersect. 'It's a dialogue born of admiration, respect, and friendship. I find Celdrán to be a highly stimulating person. If we shared the same geography, I would surely have sneaked into a rehearsal to see the process, to see how the actors make the journey, but always from a place of respect,' says Miró. Miró will attend performances of 'The Passage' in Miami after the Barcelona premiere of his most recent work, 'The Monster' ('El Monstruo'), in early July. 'What do I expect from the Miami audience? I like to see how they breathe, what questions they have, and how they read it. It's exciting to come back and see how the audience receives it,' says the playwright. Alexa Kuve's company, Arca Images, receives a nod from Celdrán regarding the types of work selected to bring to Miami audiences. In response to Miró's play, Celdrán comments, 'It's always worth investing in the theater that speaks to the present.' Following the Miami performances, 'The Passage' will travel to the El Círculo Teatral in Mexico City for a show at 6 p.m. on Sunday, July 27. If you go: WHAT: Premiere of 'La travesía' by Josep María Miró (in Spanish with simultaneous translation into English). WHEN: 8 p.m., Friday, July 11 and 18, and Saturday, July 12 and 19; 5 p.m., Sundays July 13 and 20. WHERE: Westchester Cultural Arts Center, 7930 SW 40th St., Miami COST: $30 general admission, $25 for seniors and students with valid ID. INFORMATION: is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music, and more. Don't miss a story at
Miami Herald
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Playwright Nilo Cruz explores life in Afghanistan through monologues at Arca Images
Andrea Ferro, who barely stands over five feet tall, says that there are perks to being short when you're in the theater. The most obvious, of course, are acquiring roles that call for smaller stature. This includes her latest part, where Ferro grabs the lead in 'Farhad, or the Secret of Being.' She uses her petite frame to house the powerful voice of a 15-year-old girl who, because of the local Bacha Posh tradition, is forced to masquerade as a boy. The benefits, in a culture that favor males, are plenty, but with the onset of puberty her access to freedom is nevertheless cut short. Ferro says that preparing for the role has been an eye-opening experience. 'This role, in particular, is one of the most beautiful pieces that I've been lucky enough to work on in my career thus far,' she says. 'And the role itself is very powerful, especially because it's a story that not many people know.' The piece, written and directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz, is one of three monologues focused on life in Afghanistan. Presented by Arca Images, 'Tres Veces Cruz' (Three Times Cruz), the bilingual production, opens March 6 and continues through March 16 at the Westchester Cultural Arts Center. Cruz says that he initially discovered the concept for 'Farhad, or the Secret of Being' after stumbling on a piece in the New York TImes. 'When I read the story, I was so intrigued that I started to do a little bit of research,' explains Cruz. 'I wanted to write a monologue about a young girl in Afghanistan that has 24 hours to enjoy the freedom that boys have, and men have in that part of the world, before she starts dressing as a girl, and therefore is oppressed by the country that she lives in. And I just thought it was fascinating, and thought it was important to document this, and so I came up with this piece.' The others include 'Melisma, or the Song of a Syllable,' where Carlos Acosta Milián stars as a wounded American soldier who confronts his own humanity by 'discovering beauty in the most unexpected moments.' And in 'The Journey of the Shadow,' Marcelo Miguel is an eight-year-old boy who desperately tries to communicate with his father who is a soldier in Afghanistan. Andy Barbosa, who plays Marcelo, immediately felt a bond with the boy. 'It's about falling in love with the character;' says Barbosa. 'There has to be something that connects with me as an actor.' He says he explores what it is about the character that also connects with the society that character is living in. 'All that fantasy that the little boy was able to create, in order to have this final conversation with his father. is what is the most interesting thing for me, and what caught my attention was how this character is able to deal with something so hard, being aware that he could lose his father fighting in a war in Afghanistan.' With the three monologues weaving such a rich tapestry of messages, Alexa Kuve, executive producer and artistic director of Arca Images says it is important to present the production in a way for all audiences to participate. To do so, 'The Journey of the Shadow' and 'Melisma or the Song of a Syllable,' will be presented in Spanish, while 'Farhad or the Secret of Being' will remain in English. 'We're trying to involve the community more in our presentations,' says Kuve, whose company offers either simultaneous translations in English or subtitles for all of its shows. 'It's important to us for the Anglo community, to get to know our work, and get exposed to different playwrights from Latin America.' As for Cruz, who is Cuban American, the use of language and culture is a crucial component to his success. He has leveraged both to provide audiences a front row seat into Latino culture. This is evidenced by numerous collaborations, translations and overall body of work including his Pulitzer Prize winning 'Anna in the Tropics,' a play centered on Cuban immigrants laboring in a cigar factory. He won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the the first Latin American ever to win the Pulitzer for playwrighting. With this monumental recognition in his pocket, Cruz continues to be grateful for other accolades he receives, including South Florida's Carbonell Awards, which presented him with the 2024 George Abbott Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts. 'I was elated because I just write and I don't worry about receiving external satisfaction, so it's really great when someone taps you on the shoulder and then you're reminded of all the work you've done throughout the year, and you're awarded for it. It's a really good feeling.' Kuve believes that there is one main reason why Cruz' work resonates with so many. 'He can write about so many subjects from so many different places. He's very diverse in that sense. Because in the end, in my opinion, what he seeks is the human existence and that is universal. If there a subject that touches him, he can write about the most horrific event, war for example, and he does it but with beauty and imagination, and it's just enchanting.' While writing is a conduit for thoughts and expression, sentiments can get lost in translation too, and sometimes words just get in the way. Cruz explains his process. 'How language operates on stage is a curious thing,' says Cruz. 'What is said but not said, what is spoken or unspoken. That's something that I'm very interested in when I write. Do I need this word? Do I need this sentence? Can we just do this with a gesture?' It's what he says he loves about theater, that it 'doesn't just live on the page.' 'Theater lives on the stage with gestures, with silence and with images too. Sometimes you might be writing a scene in which there's a lot of dialogue, and sometimes you might want to take away the dialogue and just do it with physicality, with just a moment or a look . . . Theater offers me this other dimension in which language operates, but in a visual way, or through silence or through gestures. And it's something that I'm constantly discovering when I'm directing or writing a play.' But Cruz hopes that 'Tres Veces Cruz' (Three Times Cruz) brings a message home to the audience that ultimately transcends any language. 'I think the three pieces are existential in many ways, because these three characters live in hopeless situations but there's also an element of resilience in the three of them. How these three people basically escape through the power of imagination, the power of dreaming, of creating a better self even if it's only in their minds.' If you go: WHAT: 'Tres Veces Cruz' (Three Times Cruz) WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday through March 16. WHERE: Westchester Cultural Arts Center, 7930 SW 40th St., Miami COST: $25 general admission, $20 for seniors, students with valid ID, and groups of 10 or more. INFORMATION: is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more. Don't miss a story at
