By Anett Rios and Alien Fernandez
HAVANA, Oct 8 (Reuters) – When blackouts in an upscale neighborhood of Havana began approaching 24 hours a day, morale plummeted at one of the Cuban capital’s many niche but celebrated theater groups.
“It became impossible for the actors to arrive on time; they were exhausted and struggling to cope,” said Linda Soriano, director of theater group Impulso Teatro. “I told them they were free to leave.”
But the group’s members decided the show must go on — and they kept turning up.
Cuban theater, alongside music and ballet, has long been hailed as a cultural hallmark of an island with a tradition of promoting the arts that spans centuries.
However, many of the island’s youth — actors, artists and musicians — have left the country in a record-breaking exodus since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since January, when the US imposed a fuel blockade on Cuba in a bid to upend the communist-run government, those who remain have had to contend with blackouts spanning days, food, fuel and water shortages, and a lack of public transportation.
On a recent Friday evening, actors dripping with sweat pranced about the stage, voices echoing across a large room in a converted mansion in Havana’s Vedado business district. Candles flickered outside the theater hall, while the inside was lit by an array of rechargeable lights in all shapes and sizes — similar to those found in many Cuban homes.
There was no electricity, no air conditioning, and no sound system. All the drama was dependent on the acting.
“What keeps us making theater is the determination to ensure … that it does not die out,” said 88-year-old Carlos Perez, a winner of Cuba’s national theater prize and by far the oldest of this small company of 14 actors. “But it comes at a cost.”
Many actors and stagehands work multiple jobs to make ends meet in a country where prices have soared alongside the plummeting local peso currency, Perez said.
“I don’t know if I could have managed if I had been in their shoes at 25,” he said.
Amanda Feijo, attending a recent performance at the makeshift theater, said the show had provided its own snippet of light amid all the darkness.
“To see that there is an audience seeking to nourish their souls, despite the truly lamentable situation unfolding right now,” she said. “It is heartening.”
(Reporting by Anett Rios and Alien Fernandez; Editing by Dave Sherwood and Rosalba O’Brien)
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