Maruxa Vilalta
Encyclopedia
Maruxa Vilalta is a Mexican
playwright
and a theatre director.
Her plays have been translated, published and produced in numerous countries. She has won the critic’s prize for the best play of the year ten times.
In November 2010 she was awarded the National Prize for Arts and Sciences in the field of Linguistics and Literature, for her work which has national and international resonance. President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa gave her the award at the National Palace (Mexico)
.
Themes such a lack of communication and escapism are linked to a political critique, protest against social injustice, and defense of the human being in the works of this author. The theater of Maruxa Vilalta gives a broader meaning to the problems of countries and their inhabitants today.
and one of the founders of Esquerra Republicana party. He was also a distinguished jurist, elected and proclaimed deputy of the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de Barcelona. María Soteras was the first woman to graduate with a degree in law from the University of Barcelona and she was also a member of the Colegio de Abogados. In 1936, at the start of the Civil War in Spain, they went in exile to Brussels and they arrived to Mexico
, by the way of New York
, in 1939.
Since the age eight Maruxa has had Mexican nationality. She received all her education in Mexico, from primary school and then six years of French baccalauréat at the Liceo Franco Mexicano. She enrolled in the School of Liberal Arts at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where she studied for a master's degree in Spanish literature.
Besides her theater plays prizes she has received the following honors:
Certificate from the Mexican Institute of Culture(1963). Certificate from the Mexico City Cultural Program for the 19th Olympic Games (1968). Appointed Vice President of the College of Literature, of the Mexican Institute of Culture (1968). Literary Merit Prize, Círculo de Letras Nuevos Horizontes, Managua, Nicaragua, (1972). El 9 (Number Nine) published in the anthology The Best Short Plays 1973, compiled by Stanley Richards. Honorary Member of the Women’s Association of Journalists and Writers (1974). Named Woman of the Decade 1980-1990 by the Women’s Association of Journalists and Writers. Claridades Honor Prize for her Outstanding Contributions to the Arts (1998). In 2001 The Ninth Journeys on Latin American Theater, organized by the University of Tennessee
, in Puebla
, Mexico, were dedicated to Maruxa Vilalta for her career as a playwright.
Among the major essays and articles on the work of this writer are those published in Mexico by Carlos Solórzano, Luis G. Basurto, Luis de Tavira, Ramón Xirau, Efraín Huerta, Mauricio Magdaleno, Héctor Azar, Henrique González Casanova, José Ramón Enríquez, Felipe Garrido, Sergio García Ramírez, Marcela del Río, Reyna Barrera and Fernando Sánchez Mayáns; in Madrid and Venezuela by Carlos Miguel Suárez-Radillo; in Barcelona by Manuel Aznar Soler, Josep María Poblet, Joaquín Ventalló and Josep María Lladó; in Paris by Jean and André Camp; in the United States by Sharon Magnarelli, Robert L. Bancroft, Willis Knapp Jones, J.Gaucher –Schultz and Joan Boorman; in Toronto by Kirsten F. Nigro; in Puerto Rico by Edna Coll
: in Río de Janeiro by María Ramos and in Prague by Jan Makarius.
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and a theatre director.
Her plays have been translated, published and produced in numerous countries. She has won the critic’s prize for the best play of the year ten times.
In November 2010 she was awarded the National Prize for Arts and Sciences in the field of Linguistics and Literature, for her work which has national and international resonance. President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa gave her the award at the National Palace (Mexico)
National Palace (Mexico)
The National Palace, or Palacio Nacional in Spanish), was the seat of the federal executive in Mexico. It is located on Mexico City's main square, the Plaza de la Constitución...
.
Themes such a lack of communication and escapism are linked to a political critique, protest against social injustice, and defense of the human being in the works of this author. The theater of Maruxa Vilalta gives a broader meaning to the problems of countries and their inhabitants today.
Early life and education
Maruxa Vilalta was born in Barcelona in 1932, daughter of lawyer Antonio Vilalta y Vidal and María Soteras Maurí, doctor of law. Antonio Vilalta, one of the great supporters for the Estatut de la GeneralitatGeneralitat
Generalitat is the name of the autonomous systems of government of two of the present Spanish autonomous communities: Catalonia and the Valencian Community. The term is also used for the government of the semi-autonomous comarca of Val d'Aran, the Generalitat a l'Aran.Generalitat refers to all...
and one of the founders of Esquerra Republicana party. He was also a distinguished jurist, elected and proclaimed deputy of the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de Barcelona. María Soteras was the first woman to graduate with a degree in law from the University of Barcelona and she was also a member of the Colegio de Abogados. In 1936, at the start of the Civil War in Spain, they went in exile to Brussels and they arrived to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, by the way of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, in 1939.
Since the age eight Maruxa has had Mexican nationality. She received all her education in Mexico, from primary school and then six years of French baccalauréat at the Liceo Franco Mexicano. She enrolled in the School of Liberal Arts at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where she studied for a master's degree in Spanish literature.
Early career
Vilalta started as a novelist. Her first works were El castigo (The Punishment) in 1957, Los disorientados (The Disoriented Ones), reprinted several times in 1959, and Dos colores para el paisaje (Two Colors for the Landscape) in 1961. She adapted Los disorientados for the theatre and since the first performance, in 1960, she began her career as a playwright. She only wrote dramas, excepting some short stories, among them the collection calledEl otro día, la muerte (The Other Day, Dead), in 1974, that includes Diálogos del narrador, la muerte y su invitado (Dialogues of the Narrator, Death and Her Guest), Romance con la muerte de agua (The Romance of Watery Death), Aventura con la muerte de fuego (Adventure with Fiery Death) and Morir temprano, mientras comulga el general (To Die Early, While the General Receives Communion).Plays and awards
- Los disorientados (The Disoriented Ones), 1960.
- Un país feliz (A Happy country), 1964.
- Soliloquio del Tiempo (Time’s Soliloquy), 1964.
- Un día loco (A Crazy Day), 1964.
- La última letra (The Last Letter), 1964.
- El 9 (Number Nine), 1965.
- Cuestión de narices (A Question of Noses), 1966. Prize for the Best Group and Best Director, Ramón Dagés, at the Manresa Theatre Festival, 1974.
- Esta noche juntos, amándonos tanto (Together Tonight, Loving Each Other so Much), 1970. Juan Ruiz de Alarcón Best Play of the Year Prize, and Best Play of the Year Prize at the Las Máscaras Festival, Morelia.
- Nada como el piso 16 (Nothing Like the Sixteenth Floor), 1976. Juan Ruiz de Alarcón Best Play of the Year Prize and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Best Play of the Year Prize.
- Historia de él (The Story of Him), 1978. Juan Ruiz de Alarcón Best Play of the Year Prize and El Fígaro Best Play of the Year Prize.
- Una mujer, dos hombres y un balazo (A Woman, Two Men and One Bullet), 1981. It contents four one act-plays that can be staged separately: En Las Lomas, esa noche (That Night in Las Lomas), El té de los señores Mercier (Mr. and Mrs. Mercier’s Tea), El barco ebrio (The Drunken Ship), Archie & Bonnie (Archie & Bonnie).
- Pequeña historia de horror (y de amor desenfrenado) (Little Story of Horror (and Unbridled Love)), 1985.
- Una voz en el desierto. Vida de San Jerónimo (A Voice in the Wilderness. The Life of Saint Jerome) Mexican Association of Theatre Critics Best Play of Creative Research Prize, 1991. Society of Theatre Journalists Prize 1991 and Claridades Best Play of the Year Prize, 1991.
- Francisco de Asís (Francis of Assisi) Mexican Association of Theater Critics Best Play of Creative Research Prize), 1992.
- Jesucristo entre nosotros (Jesus Christ Among Us), 1994.
- Ignacio y los jesuitas (Ignatius and the Jesuits), 1997.
- 1 9 1 0 (1 9 1 0), 2000 and 2001.
- Con vista a la bahía (With a View of the Bay) is produced by Conaculta, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes and Centro Cultural Helénico, from May to September 2007.
Besides her theater plays prizes she has received the following honors:
Certificate from the Mexican Institute of Culture(1963). Certificate from the Mexico City Cultural Program for the 19th Olympic Games (1968). Appointed Vice President of the College of Literature, of the Mexican Institute of Culture (1968). Literary Merit Prize, Círculo de Letras Nuevos Horizontes, Managua, Nicaragua, (1972). El 9 (Number Nine) published in the anthology The Best Short Plays 1973, compiled by Stanley Richards. Honorary Member of the Women’s Association of Journalists and Writers (1974). Named Woman of the Decade 1980-1990 by the Women’s Association of Journalists and Writers. Claridades Honor Prize for her Outstanding Contributions to the Arts (1998). In 2001 The Ninth Journeys on Latin American Theater, organized by the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
, in Puebla
Puebla
Puebla officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 217 municipalities and its capital city is Puebla....
, Mexico, were dedicated to Maruxa Vilalta for her career as a playwright.
Articles and memberships
Maruxa Vilalta is a member of the Pen Club, the General Society of Writers of México, the Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics and the Association of Writers of Mexico, among other organizations.Among the major essays and articles on the work of this writer are those published in Mexico by Carlos Solórzano, Luis G. Basurto, Luis de Tavira, Ramón Xirau, Efraín Huerta, Mauricio Magdaleno, Héctor Azar, Henrique González Casanova, José Ramón Enríquez, Felipe Garrido, Sergio García Ramírez, Marcela del Río, Reyna Barrera and Fernando Sánchez Mayáns; in Madrid and Venezuela by Carlos Miguel Suárez-Radillo; in Barcelona by Manuel Aznar Soler, Josep María Poblet, Joaquín Ventalló and Josep María Lladó; in Paris by Jean and André Camp; in the United States by Sharon Magnarelli, Robert L. Bancroft, Willis Knapp Jones, J.Gaucher –Schultz and Joan Boorman; in Toronto by Kirsten F. Nigro; in Puerto Rico by Edna Coll
Edna Coll
Dr. Edna Coll was an educator and author. Coll, who came from a prominent family of Puerto Rican politicians and writers,See: "Notable family members" section was President of the Society of Puerto Rican Authors in San Juan...
: in Río de Janeiro by María Ramos and in Prague by Jan Makarius.