Cuban theater is an ancient art form, tracing its origins to the “areitos,” ceremonies performed by Cuba’s earliest inhabitants. It is therefore considered our nascent cultural expression. Since its emergence, theater in Cuba has been represented by countless prominent actors, theater companies, and playwrights, who have staged Cuban and foreign works that demonstrate the high level of this expression on the island.

Theater is a very ancient universal artistic expression, so ancient that it can be compared to society itself. Over the course of history, it has transformed its functions, but at the same time, it has preserved its ability to make people meditate while they shudder and cry, or while they laugh.

Theater is the ensemble of performing arts (plays, opera, operetta, ballet); due to its high value and exquisite exuberance, theater is considered the recipient of the arts. It consists of the entirety of creations of peoples, specific to a nation, or of literature. It facilitates the interrelationship between art, expression, heritage, dramaturgy, literature, and performance.

We Cubans are fortunate to enjoy theatrical performances very often, whether at festivals or in the numerous productions that take place throughout the year. There are numerous theater groups, made up of both amateurs and professionals, from across the Cuban archipelago.

Theater offers us the opportunity to broaden our cultural horizons while also providing recreation; but we can also develop as individuals, as human beings, by feeling sad or laughing at the life situations depicted on stage.

In the performance of plays, it’s not just the librettos that are involved; it’s a work that unifies the forces and functions of music, scenery, and the collective work of a trained staff.

Cuban theater, like that of other nations colonized by Hispanics, has imitated the theatrical models of the Spanish colony.