He National Dramatic Center (CDN) will host for the next 2024-2025 season works such as ‘Orlando’ de Virginia Woolf, ‘Seagull’ Chekhov or ‘Anything’ by Carmen Laforet, which complete a program made up of 29 productions, seven more than the previous year, of which 14 are absolute premieres, and 50 complementary activities.
The new season premiered this Wednesday, under the motto ‘Dramas where we can meet’ at the Valle-Inclán Theater, where the director of the CDN, Alfredo Sanzol, and the general director of the INAEM, Paz Santa Cecilia, took part. has stated that the new season will be marked by the word “encounter.”
“The paradox that dramas deal with is that encounters that begin with separation can end in union and vice versa and, Within a plot, the unexpected twists that encounters produce transform the reality of the story“, he pointed out.
For his part, Sanzol has highlighted the importance of the past to build the future. “Faced with the threat of disintegration with which they control us, the meeting is essential. Even at the risk of conflict, or precisely because of conflict, the creation of the new requires the presence of the other, and the presence of the past,” he assured.
Among the productions that will make up the poster of the two theaters of the CDN – the María Guerrero Theater and the Valle-Inclán Theater, 45 percent of the productions will be directed by women and 55 percent by men. Besides, The new season offers two inclusive productions, 18 fully accessible performances and 29 performances with audio description and amplified sound.
The Large Hall of the Valle-Inclán Theater will host five productions: ‘This Is Not an Embassy (Made in Taiwan)’ (September 20-22), created and directed by Stefan Kaegi (Rimini Protokoll) and with dramaturgy by Szu-Ni Wen; ‘Le congrès ne marche pas’ (October 2-20) written by Joan Yago and directed by Israel Solà; ‘1936’ (November 29-January 26), with text by Albert Boronat, Juan Cavestany, Andrés Lima and Juan Mayorga, under the direction of Andrés Lima, which will reflect on what the military coup d’état of the 18th meant for Spain. July 1936; ‘Ours’ (February 21-April 6), written and directed by Lucía Carballal; and ‘La Patética’ (April 30-June 15), written and directed by Miguel del Arco.
For its part, the Francisco Nieva Room of the Valle-Inclán Theater will offer six productions. Among them stands out ‘The Seagull’ (October 9-November 10), an adaptation written and directed by Chela De Ferrari of the work of the same name by Anton Chekhov and performed by a cast mostly visually impaired; ‘Ensimismada’ (November 28-December 20), written and directed by Alfredo Sanzol; ‘Árido’ (January 2-5), with dramaturgy by Patricia Arroyo and Vera González and direction by the latter; ‘The Phantom Woman’ (January 22-February 16), comedy written and directed by Mariano Tenconi; ‘Vulcano’ (March 7-April 13) brings together Victoria Szpunberg as author and Andrea Jiménez as director; ‘Los Brutos’ (May 7-June 15), written and directed by Roberto Martín Maiztegui.
In the Sala Grande of the María Guerrero Theater, which will host five productions, the highlights are ‘Orlando’ (April 25-June 8) by Virginia Woolf, which will feature the dramaturgy of Gabriel Calderón and Marta Pazos, and ‘Nada’ (November 8- December 22) by Carmen Laforet, in a version by Joan Yago and Beatriz Jaén.
The Princess Room of the María Guerrero Theater will exhibit four plays: ‘You know that plastic flowers have never lived, right?’; ‘GRRRL’; ‘Roland mon amour’; and ‘The apparitions.
DRAMATIC ACTION ACTIVITIES
Transversally to the new programming, Season 24-25 is complemented by the Dramatic Action initiative, in order to bring theater closer to citizens and expand the theater’s capacity for action.
In the next season, there will be initiatives such as Nuevos Dramáticos, with the pedagogical coordination of Lucía Miranda, the Reading Club moderated by Adrián Perea or the Initiation Workshop on theater writing.
Furthermore, in collaboration with Acción Cultural Española, the Spanish Academy in Rome, the Royal Court, La Chartreuse, the Münchner Kammerspiele and the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin, a new edition of the Dramatic Residencies will be held.
The cycles + Dramas, Cinedrama or Cartas Blancas will also be held and the Dramático Weekend Pro will take place, an international meeting for cultural management professionals, and the conciliation workshops linked to the productions will be resumed.
BALANCE SEASON 2023-2024
Finally, the CDN has shared data from the outgoing season, in which both attendance figures for the general public and data for the public under 30 years of age have increased.
In the case of general public attendance, The CDN has increased its audience by 17 percent, going from 101,795 viewers from the 22-23 season to almost 119,500 in 23-24. Among the public under 30 years of age, attendance has reached 11,349 spectators compared to 11,173 in the 22-23 season.
Of the season that is closing, twelve productions have sold out: ‘Frankenstein’s Mother’, ‘Sans Tambour’, ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’, ‘Thus We Spoke’, ‘The Garden of Delights’, ‘Iribarne’, ‘Hedda Gabler’, ‘Small Cluster of Abysses’, ‘Play!’, ‘Fairfronts’, ‘The Theatre of the Madwomen’ and ‘A Brief History of the Spanish Railway’.
Likewise, a total of 15 productions have been on tour, visiting 122 theaters and performing 190 performances.