Cuban and Cuban Diaspora Theater Collections

One of the strengths of the Cuban Heritage Collection is its holdings of 20th- and 21st-century papers of theater artists in Cuba and the diaspora, principally the papers of playwrights, designers, performers, directors, and theater companies.  These collections include playscripts; playbills and programs; correspondence; audio and video recordings; and visual materials such as photographs, posters, and set and costume designs.  These primary sources are complemented by extensive holdings of published materials on Cuban drama from the 1800s to the present. 

Yolanda Arenas Papers
The papers of Cuban actress Yolanda Arenas include primarily photographs, clippings, and programs of theater productions in which Arenas performed. Folders for a few productions include scripts with annotations by Arenas.

René Ariza Collection
Audio recordings and papers of René Ariza (1940-1994), Cuban-born poet and playwright.

Randy Barceló Collection
Costume and set designs by Cuban-born designer Randy Barceló (1946-1994). Digital collection available. Digital collection available. 

Eva Canel Collection
This small collection of papers of the Spanish playwright Eva Canel includes correspondence, newspaper clippings and theater programs.

María Julia Casanova Papers
The María Julia Casanova Papers primarily document the work of radio and television writer and theater designer and director María Julia Casanova (1916-2004) in Cuba and Miami. The Papers include her scripts, photographs, clippings, theater programs, set and costume designs, posters, audiovisual materials, memorabilia, and honors and awards. Digital collection available.

Adria Catalá Casey Papers
Scrapbooks of photographs, clippings, and ephemera of the "Cuban Shirley Temple," Adria Catalá Casey, who was also a dancer in the Grupo Folklórico.

José Corrales Papers
Consists of the works of Cuban poet, playwright, and critic José Corrales (1937-2002), including published and unpublished scripts, poems, essays, stories, criticism, editorials, and articles. It also includes programs for performances of his plays and personal papers such as personal and business correspondence, financial records, and research notes.

Herberto Dumé Papers
Papers document the work of theater director Herberto Dumé (1929-2003) primarily during his years in exile from Cuba. The collection primarily includes the scripts of plays that Dumé directed along with photographs, clippings, programs, and reviews and records related to the Dumé Spanish Theater. Digital collection available.

Hispanic Theater Guild Records
The Hispanic Theater Guild is a Hispanic theater company in Miami, Florida founded in 1989 with the involvement of the well-known Cuban American actor-director Marcos Casanova. In 2000, the Hispanic Theater Guild opened their venue, Teatro 8, which hosts frequent premieres of Spanish-language theater as well as stagings of standards in the Hispanic theater repertoire in the heart of Miami's Little Havana neighborhood.

Carlos Espinosa Domínguez Papers
Dr. Carlos Espinosa Domínguez is a scholar of Latin American theater and Cuban literature. His papers consists of letters he received from various Latin American writers. The collection includes some manuscripts as well.

Carlos and Rosa Felipe Papers
Papers of the playwright Carlos Felipe (1911-1975) and his sister, the actress Rosa Felipe (1917-2009), including scripts, programs, reviews, and clippings. Digital collection available.

Ofelia González Papers
Photographs, clippings, and letters of the actress Ofelia González, principally of her work with New York's Repertorio Español.

INTAR Theatre Records
Organizational records of New York-based INTAR Theatre, one of the oldest Hispanic theater companies in the United States. Digital collection available.

Alberto Sarraín Records
Organizational records of theater company La Ma Teodora, headed by Alberto Sarraín.

Eduardo Machado Papers
Works of Cuban-born playwright Eduardo Machado (b. 1961).

Dolores Martí de Cid Collection
Includes the papers of Cuban playwright José Cid Pérez and research materials about Latin American theater.

Manuel Martín, Jr. Papers
Primarily scripts, programs, clippings, and photographs of plays written by Cuban-born playwright Manuel Martín, Jr. (1934-2000). Digital collection available. 

Pedro Monge Rafuls Collection
Records of Ollantay Center for the Arts and Ollantay magazine of Queens, New York, founded by the playwright Pedro Monge Rafuls. The collection also includes ephemera documenting Hispanic and primarily Cuban theater, literary, and other arts in the area.

Matías Montes Huidobro Papers
Typescripts of works by Cuban-born playwright and critic Matías Montes-Huidobro.

Norma Niurka Papers
The papers of Norma Niurka (1942-2009), journalist, writer, and theater critic, include manuscripts, photographs, correspondence, clippings, video recordings, memorabilia, daybooks, and theater programs. The collection also contains materials of Norma Niurka's aunt, the actress Miriam Acevedo.

Patronato del Teatro Ephemera Collection
Contains programs and playbills from performances at the Patronato del Teatro in Havana, Cuba. Digital collection available. 

Manuel Pereiras García Playscripts
Scripts of the complete works of Cuban-born playwright Manuel Pereiras García.

Humberto Piñera Llera Papers
This collection contains the personal papers of Humberto Piñera Llera (1911-1986), Cuban philosopher, essayist, literary critic and educator. A section of the collection includes papers relating to Piñera's brother, playright Virgilio Piñera Llera (1912-1979).

Virgilio Piñera Collection
Correspondence exchanged between Virgilio Piñera (1912-1979) and Argentinian writer Adolfo de Obieta during the 1940s and 1950s, as well as a typescript of Piñera’s play Una caja de zapatos vacía. Digital collection available.

Repertorio Español records
Records of the Spanish-language New York theater company Repertorio Español, founded in 1968 by Cuban-born producer Gilberto Zaldívar and Artistic Director René Buch. The collection includes playscripts, playbills and marketing materials, administrative files, and audiovisual recordings.

Teresa María Rojas Papers
Papers of theater director Teresa María Rojas, founder of Miami's Teatro Prometeo. Digital collection available.

Asela Torres Photography Collection
Photographs provide a detailed chronicle of the growth and development of Cuban and Hispanic arts in South Florida. Digital collection available. 

Luis Santeiro Papers
Scripts and related materials of Cuban-born television writer and playwright Luis Santeiro (b. 1948).

Héctor Santiago Papers
Papers of Cuban-born playwright Héctor Santiago (b. 1944), including scripts, essays, short stories, reviews, clippings, theater programs, correspondence, and interviews. Digital collection available. 

Leandro Soto Papers
Set and costume designs and related materials documenting the work of visual and performance artist Leandro Soto. Digital collection available. 

Caridad Svich Papers
Scripts and related materials of Caridad Svich, playwriter, translator and editor of Cuban-Spanish-Argentine-Croatian descent. Digital collection available.

TeatroStageFest Records
Contains the official records and memorabilia of TeatroStageFest, an annual two-week event held in New York City. Put on by the Latino International Theater Festival of New York, Inc., TeatroStagefest was a showcase of groundbreaking Hispanic and Spanish-language theter from New York, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Spain.

Teatro Avante Collection
Programs of Miami-based Teatro Avante's productions and the Hispanic Theater Festival it produces.

Theater Ephemera Collection
Playbills, programs, and handbills of Cuban theater productions on the island and in the U.S., primarily Miami, Florida. Digital collection available.

Theater Scripts Collection
This collection includes scripts of works authored, translated, or adapted by Cuban writers in Cuba and the diaspora. It is a growing collection started with donations from Lillian Manzor and transfers from the papers of Herberto Dumé and José Corrales. 

Theater Poster Collection
Posters for plays, festivals, and related theatrical performances and productions in the 20th and 21st centuries, primarily in Miami, Florida and Cuba. Digital collection available.

Blanca Varela Papers
Papers of the soprano and zarzuela star Blanca Varela that include ephemera, photographs, clippings manuscript music scores and sheet music.

Laura Zarrabeitia Papers
Four scrapbooks documenting her career as an actress in Cuba in the 1960s and 1970s. The scrapbooks include photographs, theater programs, contracts, scripts, and clippings.

The Cuban Heritage Collection has digitized theater materials from its holdings and makes them available online through a variety of resources.

Cuban Theater Digital Archive

Cuban Theater in Miami, 1960-1980