Don Quixote is back on Broadway this season in the Tony Award-nominated revival of Man of La Mancha, but Spain's legendary literary knight and his sidekick Sancho will be everywhere when the 18th annual International Hispanic Theatre Festival begins Friday.

Coral Gables' Teatro Avante, the festival's host company, will perform El vuelo del Quijote (The Flight of Don Quixote) by Raquel Carrió and Lilliam Vega (in Spanish with English supertitles) at 3 and 8:30 p.m. June 8 in its space at 235 Alcazar Ave. Japan's Lasenkan Theatre offers an international Sancho Panza (in Spanish, Japanese and German, with Spanish supertitles) at 8:30 p.m. June 9-10 in Avante's theater. The Madrid-based Plural Multimedia y Ocio will perform Fernando Fernán Gómez's Defensa de Sancho Panza (Defense of Sancho Panza) at Avante at 8:30 p.m. June 17-18 (in Spanish only).

If that's not enough, a free panel discussion about Quixote's creator, Miguel de Cervantes, will be held from 7:30 to 9 p.m. June 16 at Avante.

The festival, which runs from Friday through June 22 in South Florida, with extensions in Los Angeles and Chicago, begins with Laila Ripoll's Atra bilis, cuando estemos más tranquilas (Atra Bilis, When We Feel More at Peace) by Madrid's Producciones Micomicón at 8:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday at Avante (in Spanish only).

After the Avante and Lasenkan performances, Teloprometeo Teatro of Santiago, Chile, will present Rodrigo García's Prometeo, relato del mar (Prometeo, a Tale of the Sea) at 8:30 p.m. June 11-12 at Avante (in Spanish only). Miami-Dade Community College's own Prometo company will perform Félix Lizárraga's Matías y el aviador (Matías and the Aviator) at 8:30 p.m. June 14-15 on MDCC's Wolfson Campus, 300 NE Second Ave., Miami.

The Slovenian company Presernovo Gledalisce is bringing its production of Jorge Accame's Venicia (Venice), a play about an aged, blind prostitute's final visit with the love of her life, at Avante at 8:30 p.m. June 13-14 (in Slovenian with Spanish supertitles).

The Buenos Aires company El Redondel will perform Marta Lantermo and Patricia Dorin's El redondel (The Circle) for the festival's International Children's Day at 5 p.m. June 14 at MDCC's Homestead campus, 500 College Terrace. The dialogue-free piece involves actors and inflatable objects, followed by a free movement workshop for kids. The show will be repeated at 5 p.m. June 15 at MDCC's InterAmerican campus, 627 SW 27th Ave., Miami.

After Plural Multimedia y Ocio presents Defensa de Sancho Panza, the Los Angeles-based About Productions will perform By the Hand of the Father by Theresa Cháves, Eric Gutiérrez and Rose Portillo at 8 p.m. June 18 in the Broward Center's Amaturo Theater, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale. In English with songs in Spanish, the piece is about Mexican-American fathers in the 20th century.

Madrid's Galiano 108-Celcit performs La virgen triste (The Sad Virgin) at 8:30 p.m. June 19-20 at Avante (in Spanish with English supertitles). Mexico's Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes closes the festival at 8:30 p.m. June 21-22 with El automóvil gris (The Gray Automobile), in which an Enrique Rosas silent gangster film gets some sound via two actors and a pianist (in Spanish with English supertitles).

Tickets to International Hispanic Theatre Festival performances are $25, with tickets for senior citizens, students, handicapped theatergoers and groups priced at $20.

The Miami Herald
Junio 2003