The renowned playwright Eugenio Hernández Espinosa, author of classics of the cuban theater as “María Antonia” and “My partner Manolo”, died this Friday, October 14, in Havana, according to official sources.
“Cuban culture is in mourning. An immense man has passed away, our National Theater Award and National Literature Award, Eugenio Hernández Espinosa”, reported on his social networks the National Council for the Performing Arts of Cuba, in a message in which he conveyed condolences to “family, friends and his audience” and did not specify the cause of his death.
For its part, the University of the Arts (ISA), lamenting the departure of the also film scriptwriter, described him as “one of the most important contemporary Cuban playwrights” and highlighted that “His theater is distinguished by explorations into popular culture and Afro-Cuban traditions.”
Hernández Espinosa was born in Havana on November 15, 1936, so he was close to turning 86 years old.
Founder of several theatrical groups, among them the group Teatro Caribeño, of which he was its artistic and general director, among his works stand out, along with the already mentioned “María Antonia” and “Mi socio Manolo”, titles such as “Calixta Committee”, “Emelina Cundiamor”, “Lagarto Pisabonito”, “Quiquiribú Mandinga”, “Odebí, el Cazador”, “Obba y Changó”, “Ochún y las cotorras” and “La Simona”, for which she received the Casa de the Americas.
His work on stage was honored with the National Theater Award in 2005, while in 2020 received the National Prize for Literature.
In the cinema, for his part, he was responsible for scripts and adaptations of plays. His filmography is made up of tapes Patakin (1982), by Manuel Octavio Gómez; The useless death of my partner Manolo (1989), by Julio García-Espinosa; Maria Antonia (1990), by Sergio Giral, scent oak (2003), of Rigoberto LopezY The oldest (2020), by the latter director.
With his death, the Cuban scene loses one of its most significant authors in recent decades and the island’s culture in general one of its most deeply rooted Cuban figures.
