In 1975, a group of stage fans founded the Alicante Independent Theater Association. His aim was to create a creating an audience pool, carrying out theater-related activities, giving various awards and managing programs Works of quality that will never reach the current cultural gap in the city. They went as far as 3,000 members Who answered this call and More than 300 demonstrations came to Alicante Thanks to the efforts of this diverse group.
AITA disappeared in June 1999 and 24 years later, the Spanish Theater Exhibition of Contemporary Writers, proposing a reflection on theatrical activity and the public, Create a spectator club. His ultimate goal is the evolution of how the performing arts are consumed, created and presented, and how this evolution affects the audience. A meeting point between very different audiences.
Alicante collective La Cuarta Piel will take responsibility for this work. Works in participatory processes and cultural mediation, last year he worked on a street proposal with a group of potential audiences. Join them in the new project actor, playwright and cultural manager Pedro Granero.
fresh meetings
The format chosen to develop is to save tradition. “fresh soup” and a little bit about what that means for popular gatherings with different audiences. reading clubs. “We want this to be a popular thing, a meeting point where we watch theater together and then come together to discuss it,” he says. Carlos Pastor, member of La Cuarta Piel.
both members of civic groups and the general public. It’s a situation Virgen del Remedio women’s groupEveryone who registers for this event will also participate amateur theater groups, up to 30 people in total. “We want to revive the impulse of the 80s, when people came together to do programs and go to the theater together,” he says, recalling AITA.
spectators club Will meet for two nights as part of the Writers’ Exhibition. On November 4 at 22.30 at Las Cigarreras and on November 11 at 21.30, At Plaza Ruperto Chapí, next to the Main Theatre. There, before an “al fresco” dinner, diverse audiences, young and old, will gather to talk about the theatre.
«There will be dramaturgy, a mediation project, but there will also be performing arts on the street.». Pastor emphasizes that La Cuarta Piel will, in fact, “also design a venue.”
More than cultural consumption
According to Pedro Granero, whose parents were members of AITA and therefore considered “the second generation product of this association”, this initiative “seems interesting to us to create this discussion, as AITA also does, but in this case the theater show It is not like that but the audience is talking about theater , so it is A reflection on the role occupied by public space».
With this audience club, we are thinking “How can we make theatre?” More than a cultural consumption experience To see how connections are made between people who have very different relationships with theater activity.
During this month within the scope of the project An informal meeting with members of the Alicante Independent Theater Association “to finish compiling this memoir”, but also with groups less involved in the theatrical event. “It would be very inept in terms of cultural management if we just targeted people who were very interested in theatre, and didn’t take into account what theater has been throughout its history as a community reality.”
They recognize that the needs AITA answers are not the same as those currently sought. «We are not considering reviving AITA Never consider it as a continuation of the subjects or functions it performed at that time.
«What we want is to provide a meeting space, just like in reading clubs. socialization area around the theater Our question is also whether this device or game we propose is fun and interesting enough for the participants. continuity that needs to emerge in a more self-directed way», says Granero.
And Carlos Pastor stands out. «Perhaps it is no longer a matter of organizing weekly meetings or program theater, but a small theater workshop in the summer at Las Cigarreras or create a ten commandments, some kind of document containing recommendations for implementation at the Exhibition next year or open whatsapp group where the information will be shared.