Nelda Castillo is an actor and director whose work represents an important milestone on the contemporary Cuban stage. Since 1984, she has done rigorous research on the actor’s means and method of expression and the stage, exploring the ways in which the domain of acting, training, and techniques and the assembly process interact. In the process, she has created a poetic language, an idiom of expression capable of integrating and renovating the best contributions of Cuban tradition.

Her directorial venture at the ITFoK, Visiones De la Cubanosofia (Visions of Cubanosofia), depicts characters from the past and the present of Cuba, and creates a symbolic structure conformed by two scaffolds (one of construction and the other of support). The two iconic representatives Castillo has chosen are Jose Marti, the Cuba’s national hero and the Virgin of Charity of Copper (patroness deity of Cuba).

There is another woman figure in her play, who represents the ordinary people. All of them integrate to make a questioning and reflexive mosaic of the Cuban reality. The play attempts to reconnect with the essence and meaning of being a Cuban. Power, slavery, prostitution, frustration, arrogance, dementia, hallucination, shame, creation, endurance, loneliness, abandonment, absence…all form a part of the visions of a man who is the Cuban Being.

Asked about the primary archetypes around which the narrative of the play has been structured, Castillo talks about the importance of “necessity” in Cuban aesthetics. She goes on to explain that actors are not puppets, but human beings who are incited by ideas and concepts to express themselves.

Her first objective, she admits, in directing this play has been to tell the truth about Cuban history. Cubans are noted for their excellence in dance and song. Many think that Cubans are the best dancers and singers in the world. But, what are they really? The play is a search for that quintessential characteristics that makes a Cuban, typically a Cuban. In short, what is Cubanity, she wants to know.

In this search for Cubanity, the body or rather the memory of the body plays an important part in Castillo’s scheme of the theatre. Through a search for the body and special training for the body, she hopes to find the expressions of memory and perform.

She then goes on to talk about her method of training. Seventy per cent of the training is what an actor has to undergo as common training. The remaining 30 per cent will always be special to the specific production that is undertaken.

Regarding the structure of the play, she claims she has in principle avoided history. Narration of history is usually done by the winner/victor. Seldom do the peoples’ voice get a chance of being heard. Again, the general idea of a colonized nation like Cuba comes from the archetypal creations of foreigners. So, her aim through this play is to demystify Cuban history and tell the truth about Cuba’s past. It all starts with pain, all the contrasting types of pain – “the shout for all times, the scream from ancient times to now”. It is a mark for all times to come. Cuban identity is sought through the history and memory of the body.

In this attempt Jose Marti alone has a name, the rest are nameless characters. Marti represents the soul of the nation. He is the observer in silence, who sees what happens at present.

The question as to who Marti is and what he represents forms the essence of the play. He is a national hero – poet, writer, wise man, beloved of the people, yet manipulated by them also. He organized the war of Independence in 1875 and 1898 and was in jail for 17 years. The actor who represents Marti starts from the floor and reaches all levels of consciousness through spiral and suspended movements. He represents the ‘Cuban’, he lives all their sufferings, pains and he returns to liberate Cuba.

Asked about her specific training process, Castillo explains that the training starts with the identification of the actors’ bodies. She believes that the identity of the nation is written within the bodies of the actors.

Special training consists of recognizing the energy of an actor’s body. Trance is used often in this process. The first exercise is a walk through the streets by the actors. After reading or talking about different subjects, the actors go walking in the streets. They begin their training with observations of the reality, as reflected in the streets. They often use tape recorders to tape conversations with people in the streets. After that, they read books and other sources to investigate the code that gives reality a symbolic way of expression.

Music also plays an important part in Castillo’s productions. The music in the actor’s body complements other music and the movements of the actors. She does not work with musicians for specific music scores. Musicians do not have the patience to create original music. So any kind of music, which is suited to the movements and the language of the body, is chosen for the play.

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