Por Redacción TV Yumurí 
The same receives trapezes and flying rings, as well as renowned musicians and dance companies of the lineage of the National Ballet of Cuba and Acosta Danza. On its stage, the art of the tables shines every month under a different seal. The proposals are diversified, the public varies, but the magic is the same. Founded in 1948, the Cárdenas cinema-theater is one of the most active spaces in terms of culture in the City of First Fruits.
Closures for repairs, reopenings, covid, confinements…; After 75 years of challenges, the Cardenense performing arts institution remains as vigorous as the first day.
STRENGTHS OF A COLOSSUS
Located in the central corner where Céspedes avenue (better known as Real street) and Velázquez converge, the Cárdenas cinema-theater is obvious to any passerby.
In 1948, and being owned by the Cárdenas S.A. theater circuit, the institution was inaugurated, with capacity at that time for 2,075 people, distributed in 1,400 stalls and 675 preferences. It had the most advanced technology for the time, as well as a stage with dimensions to accommodate any type of show.
On its tables Alicia Alonso danced the classics Giselle and Swan Lake, José Antonio Echeverría graduated, and vibrated, among many others, the talented voices of Rosita Fornés, Juana Bacallao, Rita Montaner, Elena Burke, Omara Portuondo, Bola de Snow, Pablo Milanés and Silvio Rodríguez.
Carilda Oliver received the first prize of the Floral Games there in the presence of Carlos Prío Socarrás, President of the Republic at that time. The same stage hosted Dámaso Pérez Prado, Gonzalo Roig, the Los Panchos trio, the poet and reciter Carmina Benguría, the Argentine singer and actress Berta Singerman, and the Cuban actress Lupe Suárez just in the days when she played the character of Mama Dolores in The Right to Be Born.
The vast majority of the Cárdenas cinema-theater maintains its construction from the original building: its double-width brick walls that favor impeccable acoustics
In 2019 the institution reopened its doors after a long wait due to repairs. “We overcame the pause for the delivery of the workers, who are the greatest treasure. A human resource that knew how to overcome difficulties and never gave up the dream that his theater would open its doors again, and in a more comfortable way”, confesses Darián Pérez Castillo, director of the center.
Eleinis Rodríguez began working at the institution shortly before it reopened: “I fell in love with the idea that they were young people wanting to work. —A Tony Ávila concert was being prepared for the big day, and she played an important role in the promotion. You had to follow a strategic plan to start and this included going to the stations; I offered myself daring and I almost died of fright. In one day I learned the most important thing about the great history of this theater and even details of its construction. When it opened, that was crazy; but we all really wanted to achieve things and I fell in love with what happened behind each show and the effort that everyone put into it”.
The thousand capacities were not enough on the day of Tony’s concert. But when it seemed that everything was back to normal, the covid imposed a new challenge for the theater, which was forced to close its doors due to the wave of infections, with numbers in the red in Ciudad Bandera.
It was not until December 2021 that life returned to the Cárdenas cinema-theater, initially, with film projections. The circus show Clown Party, the humorous Siempre que llueve escampa (with performances by Osvaldo Doimeadiós, Kike Quiñones, Rigoberto Ferrera and Michel Pentón), Waldo Mendoza and a Buena Fe concert were chosen to restore energy to the long-standing institution of the performing arts.
“I think its vitality is based on the commitment it has with Cuban culture and especially with the public that visits us every night. As a good friend says: «This institution is the heart of Cardenense culture.»
“We have learned to work as a team, that is essential in the difficult times we are experiencing. The programming is defined at a work table in which the entire management council of the theater participates. There ideas are given, debated in detail, and in the end the proposals of the highest artistic quality are chosen. It is worth mentioning that the programming is characterized by the different art specialties and the months of the year, emphasizing the dissemination of the performing arts, which are our main objective. In addition, we are guided by a cultural program that is prepared and planned in advance, setting objectives to be met”, considers Darián.
Teatro Icarón, the Federico children’s company, Circuba, Danza Espiral, Eme Alfonso, the Lírico Nacional, the Matanzas Chamber Choir, David Torrens and Ray Fernández were among the first proposals of 2022, attesting to the variety and exquisiteness of the selection, which takes into account all tastes.
«A mostly young group has allowed us to achieve a brotherhood that contributes to the harmony of work breathed in the center,» says the manager, satisfied with his work team. Harmony perceived by those who visit us, be it public or artists”.
This has been expressed by renowned groups and artists who have stepped on its stage, such as Ivette Cepeda, Raúl Paz, the director of the National Ballet of Cuba, Viengsay Valdés, and Tony Ávila, the latter chose the cultural institution for the launch of his album Universes.
“I always wanted to be an artist, but I learned the importance of the team behind them and I love not only art, but also making everything happen and the artist leaving wanting to come back. I live among artists and I know how important a good service is and what that influences even in the show. We are the face of Cárdenas, when we receive personalities from other places”, says Eleinis, who currently works as deputy director of the institution.
EDUCATING AND GERMINATING ART IN THE CÁRDENAS CINEMA-THEATER
The music instructor Kenia Molina considers that, beyond spreading the art, “the theater has educated; Darián as a director, but also as an art instructor, has educated his workers first, has sensitized them, but above all things the public, and has focused within the programming on bringing theater groups.
“If we make a diagnosis, Cárdenas does not have the theater as a preferred manifestation, they really like dancing and musical groups. The theater is to sit down and sensitize you in another way, and Darián has achieved that in his workers with the staging.
“Arena theaters are made, a few in the heat of the artists, interacting with them. However, it has happened that they exceed the expectation of how many people could come to this type of meeting, but also with surprising discipline and concentration. There are times when young people even have other options to choose from, and they choose the theater. In other words, it has been a school for the Cardenense public”.
Dr. Yenisey Rodríguez also has a very favorable opinion of the Cárdenas cinema-theater. “They have a staff, in general, very professional, concerned and meticulous. They take care of even the smallest details! —She is Isabel’s mother, one of the more than 80 infants that make up the Bulerías dance project, presented on different occasions at the cultural institution. Isabel loves performing there, the dressing rooms, the tables, the lights. They have been very beautiful and unforgettable experiences.”
For his part, Alejandro Arteaga, percussionist and member of the group The Heat Transfer, assures that film-theater “means a lot” to him. “After it reopened, I was one of the first who, being in the Esteban Hernández High School choir, performed at that cinema. It was one of my first performances in the world of art, of music in general. While the Sauto theater was closed, the Cárdenas assumed full responsibility for the province, all the performances and concerts. For the Cardenense it means a lot.
“At some point there was a standby, it had a decline. But the new direction (and I mean the entire work team that the cinema has now) set a pattern, a before and after, and they renewed the visuality and connotation of yesteryear.
“For me it has been very special because I have had the opportunity to see great figures from the national scene, and I have also been able to perform there”.
DREAMING BIG
The Cárdenas cinema-theater enjoys an incredible vitality after more than seven decades of existence. National tours, galas and film projections keep it active all year round, with a good influx of public. But Darián Pérez Castillo is not satisfied and continues looking for incentives to win more followers.
“The biggest debt we have left with the public is to convert the institution into a versatile center of culture. I think that the town of Cárdenas is owed a café-singer in there, with programming different from what is presented on the usual stage; there is room for that. If we have already created the Virgilio Piñera archive-library, the La Jungla art gallery, why not have a café-cantante as well? It could enrich our work and continue modernizing the institution.
“Every day is an immense challenge, but we have looked for alternatives so that the public can enjoy quality proposals, I believe that Cárdenas needs it,” says Ele. We are all cardinals in that place and something very important is that we are all sensitive to art, and that works wonders.
“Facing the anniversary we have an ambitious celebration plan, always thinking of the Cardenense public.
“I believe that we have achieved a lot in terms of the quality of proposals. We remain in that purpose, we know that people need us, they need to disconnect or connect. That can only be achieved with quality, and we have the responsibility to offer those options through all artistic manifestations”.
“We project ourselves for the 75th anniversary with the strength of wanting to continue overcoming obstacles,” emphasizes Darián. The country is going through a difficult situation, but no one has said that culture has to stop. Therefore, we keep dreaming. As our slogan says: ‘Teatro Cárdenas, a stage for you’”.
Translated by Casterman Medina de Leon