The Hispanic Theatre Festival continued its week of offerings with two plays totally distinct from each other in concept as in country of origin. The first, which played last Wednesday and Thursday, was the showing by Chile's Teloprometo Teatro of Prometeo, a nontraditional play with youth at its core. And the second was Slovenia's Presernovo Gledalisce company in its performance of Venecia, which ran Friday through Sunday, and which follows a more traditional format.

Theater companies in Slovenia must like Spanish-based plays, for it is the second year in a row that a troupe from that country brings a play to the festival. This year's offering, Venecia, is by Argentine Jorge Accame. Despite being performed in Slovenian with supertitles in Spanish (more accurately in Argentine slang), the lyrical play came through crystal clear. Directed by Omar Viale, Venecia takes place in a bordello in Jujuy, Argentina. Three young prostitutes listen to the romantic tales of their blind and aging madam, who once fell in love with an Italian. The three women, with the help of a regular customer, promise the madam to take her to Venice. Except there isn't enough money.

Venecia is all about dreams and how little it takes to make them real. While the play ended on a highly sentimental note, Venecia also was hilarious. From the middle of the play on, you forgot the wonderful cast was speaking in a language foreign to most of us. That's quite an achievement.

In contrast to the traditional, funny and soothing Venecia, Chile's Prometeo was all about youth anger. Two women and one man, all in their 20s, share their feelings about parents, corruption, social issues and death, often in the same context. Each cast member takes turns telling his serious tales and comments. One talks about a child's memory of the thin and abused horse brought weekly to the town's square to have his picture taken with overdressed children. Or the disintegrating body of a dead cat on the road. Or the ''disappeared'' in the military dictatorships of Chile and Argentina. Written by Rodrigo García, directed by Francisco Albornoz and with a talented cast, Prometeo provides a voice for the young to express their contempt at society.

The Miami Herald
Junio 2003