Flora Lauten-a Cuban actress, director, teacher and writer-will present a public lecture on Cuban culture at Wake Forest University’s Museum of Anthropology on Monday, Nov. 17. Her talk, “Cuban Life and Culture,” will begin at 7 p.m. in the museum classroom.
An important figure in Cuban theater for the past 30 years, Lauten will spend the week at Wake Forest teaching a theater workshop and lecturing about various aspects of Cuban culture, including the SanterÌa, a Cuban religious cult of African origin.
Lauten’s Cuban theater troupe, Teatro Buendia, recently presented a version of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.” Authored by Lauten and teaching colleague Raquel Carrio, “The Other Tempest” shows the collision of two cultures when Shylock, Prospero, Hamlet and MacBeth journey to an island and meet the Yoruba goddesses, the orishas.
In conjunction with Lauten’s visit, a photography exhibit by Candyce Leonard will be on display in Wake Forest’s Z. Smith Reynolds Library. The 30-photograph exhibit, titled “Cuba 1996,” presents photos of the Teatro Buendia rehearsing “The Other Tempest” as well as scenes of daily life in Havana taken during Leonard’s research trip in November 1996.
Lauten began her professional acting career as a member of Cuba’s Teatro Estudio in the 1960s just after Fidel Castro had come to power. In 1980, she joined the faculty of Havana’s Instituto Superior de Arte. In addition to teaching and directing, Lauten and her company travel regulaly for international performances. The Teatro Buendia has been selected as the Cuban representative to the United Nations Theater Festival scheduled for 1998.
Admission to the Museum of Anthropology lecture and the photograph exhibit is free.
For information, call 910-758-5282.
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