Every child has a place in the theater, according to director of Cuba's Children's Theater. Carlos Alberto Cremata (Tin), Founding Director of the world famous Cuban Children's Theater La Colmenita, stressed that theater has a pedagogical importance and said that every child has a place in the theater.
Cremata spoke to AA correspondent about the children's theater "La Colmenita", which means "Little Beehive", which he founded in 1990.
Cremata said La Colmenita was founded 45 years ago on Valentine's Day and had a mystical meaning, and recalled that his country was going through the economic crisis of the 1990s.
Cremata pointed out the significance of the creation of the children's theater at that time, referring to the words of a Cuban artist: "In times of crisis very important novelties happen".
Cremata said that the theater began its work with 20 children in the first years of its creation, and today it has spread around the world as a trend, and stated that he compared his theater to a beehive and that the bees are imitated.
Cremata described La Colmenita as "an important project on both a pedagogical and humanitarian level" and explained how it has grown over the years.
Cremata continued his words as follows:
"Cuban families understood that this was not only an artistic project, but also a humanitarian project with pedagogical importance. So Cuban families also began to knock on the door of La Colmenita, and little by little it grew. At first it was just a theater group, then it became a national movement "It became a movement and then an international movement. Now the world is full of Las Colmenitas".
Cremata pointed out that there are La Colmenita teams in many parts of the world, especially in Latin American countries, and that this is a trend.
Reiterating that theater has pedagogical importance, Cremata said: "This is not about using children professionally for art. Art is here a tool to make us better citizens, to be good people." said.
Cremata points out that theater is a collective work and states, "Every child in the world has a place in the theater." he said.
Emphasizing that theater is a playground, Cremata said that children always play and that children know theater best.
Cremata recalled that La Colmenita has been a goodwill ambassador for Unicef since 2007 and stated, "We defend the rights of children all over the world." he said.
Our dream is to establish "La Colmenita" in Turkiye.
Cremata said Turkiye has a wonderful culture and he wants to establish a theater group in Turkiye as soon as possible and bring it to life by mixing it with Turkish culture.
"It would be great if children in Turkiye could form a theater group and go to Cuba and perform plays there." Cremata said that bridges should be built between countries and walls should not be built.