/ARTS-ENTERTAINMENT/PANAMA: Mobile Theatre a Singular Experience

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Silvio Hernandez

PANAMA CITY, May 4 1999 (IPS) - The Mobile Theatre of the State Institute of Culture (Inac), battling a shortage of funds and bureaucracy, has been bringing culture to the towns and cities of the Panamanian interior for nearly 18 years.

The “Theatre” consists of a portable wooden stage which, when assembled, measures 12.5 metres by 12 metres and provides a platform for ballet companies, folk dancers, musical groups and drama productions.

The department of Promotion of Popular Culture of Inac presents all these art forms around the country to bring culture to remote places where usually it is never seen, according to its director, Marco Antonio Palacios.

The people in the interior “enjoy with great enthusiasm” events offered by the Mobile Theatre,” he said.

“The audiences arrive at a theatre which magically opens and projects through its space every aspect of culture and art…particularly national art forms,” Palacios enthused.

Mobile Theatre-goers vary in number and social composition according to the location where events are staged.

Presentations of traditional dances from the beginning of the century in the historic Plaza Cathedral, located in the old part of the capital, drew a regular audience of adults but one that is smaller than those for orchestral concerts or national folk dancing, which are presented in more open spaces.

Performances by local musicians Jesus Abrego, Samy and Sandra Sandoval, Nina Campines and others regularly pull in crowds of around 2,000 people.

Drama and ballet – classical and modern – while not attracting that many people, do have a strong following in the interior, where people have very opportunities to visit the theatre due to its high cost, explained Palacios.

(The majority of the performances of theatre and ballet undertaken by private promoters in the state Nacional and Anayansi theatres cost anywhere between 20 and 120 dollars per person. Prices can be slightly lower at smaller theatres in Panama City)

Palacios noted that for the organisers and artists performing at the Mobile Threatre, however, the emphasis is on expanding the horizons of the audiences.

“What it tries to do is bring a message of peace and culture, especially this year, in which Panama is regaining its sovereignty over the canal,” Palacios said.

However, the Mobile Theatre needs economic support to assemble another cast “to fulfill its mission and reach out to a larger number of communities.”

Notwithstanding, Inac cannot count on receiving sufficient funds to reach this goal, because the state has relegated it to the role of “the Cinderella of institutions,” lamented Palacios. (FIN/IPS/tra-sh/dg/cr/ks/mk/99)