National Theater Festival Kicks off Today in Camagüey

Camagüey, Sep 7.- Artists of Havana's Humour Promotion Center will start tonight the performances corresponding to the 14th National Theater Festival Camagüey 2012 at the city's Principal Theater.

Kike Quiñones, Iván Camejo and the group Pagola la Paga will present their show “Reír es cosa muy seria” (Laughing is a very serious matter), after the opening ceremony by the Camagua Folkloric Company, which wound up a three-month tour around France and Belgium on July.

Once more, Camaguey will host the biennial event in this city, the third most populated in Cuba.

Groups from 10 different Cuban provinces will take part in this year's edition, which marks the cessation of the forum's competitive character.

The casts will stage 29 plays chosen by an experts' committee that assessed the proposals on a tour around the country.

The stagings will be carried out in eight biuldings, most of which have been remodelled. The showdown project also includes activities such as tributes to personalities of the theater world and a theoretical forum.

According to some research conducted by Camagüey-born playwright and journalist Manuel Villabella, the first references known about theatrical performances in the city date back to February, 1779 at the San Juan de Dios Square. (Radio Cadena Agramonte).