René Ariza

René Ariza (1940–1994) was a Cuban actor, director, and writer born in Havana, Cuba.

René Ariza
Born	1940 Havana, Cuba
Died	1994 (aged 53–54) San Francisco, California
Nationality	Cuban
Occupation	Actor, playwright, theater director

Biography

Ariza graduated from the Academia Municipal de Artes Dramáticas in 1959, eventually receiving the Premio de la Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC) in 1967 for his play La vuelta a la manzana.[1]

An opponent of the Castro regime, he was jailed in 1974 for his political views until Amnesty International intervened and he was released in 1979.[1] Ariza left Cuba during the Mariel boatlift and settled in Miami, where he continued to develop professionally.

His theatrical work carries a marked political valence and has been produced primarily in the United States (and had been even prior to his departure from Cuba).

Some of his most well-known plays include Los tres cerditos y el lobo carnicero, the aforementioned La vuelta a la manzana, and El banquete. His unpublished work was destroyed during his time in prison, but he continued his creative pursuits until his death in California in 1994.[1]

Works or publications

• Cuentos breves y brevísimos. Miami: Ediciones universal. 1997. ISBN 0897297288. OCLC 39703235.
• Escrito hasta en los bordes. San Francisco: Ibarra Bros. 1993. OCLC 29856062.
• La vuelta a la manzana. Havana: Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba. 1968. OCLC 2102839.
• Pequeña antología. San Francisco: Public House. 1991. OCLC 41980259.
• Regreso de Alicia al pais de las maravillas. Miami: Ediciones Universal. 1994. ISBN 0897297288. OCLC 83296143.

Notes and references

1. Finding aid author: Amanda Moreno (2013). "Guide to the René Ariza Collection". Prepared for the University of Miami Libraries, Coral Gables, FL. Retrieved March 31, 2014. This article incorporates text from this source, which has been released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 and GNU Free Documentation license.

Further reading

• Álvarez del Real, María Eloísa (1991). 12.000 minibiografías (in Spanish). Panamá: Editorial América, S.A. p. 47. ISBN 0944499767.
• Montes Huidobro, Matías. "El teatro cubano" (PDF) (in Spanish). Spain: Cervantes Virtual.

External links

• The René Ariza collection is available at the Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries. This archival collection contains original drawings and photographs of René Ariza; audio cassettes and video tapes of Cuban music; and Ariza's personal recordings, manuscript poems and scripts for his plays, as well as personal correspondence and papers.
• Creator page for René Ariza in the Cuban Theater Digital Archive.
• Instituto Cultural René Ariza.
• Video of the 2010 Premios René Ariza ceremony, held at the University of Miami Libraries Cuban Heritage Collection. In 2010, the awards were given to the playwrights Raul de Cárdenas and Héctor Santiago and to the actress Magali Boix.
• René Ariza at IMDb.