During these thirty years, observers have had the chance to witness the dramatic works of hundreds of authors. The exhibition featured the dramaturgy of Alicante. It is striking that in this new two-year period there are no works by Alicante authors in production. At least a few participants spend their summers in Alicante. Of the fourteen authors in this edition, all strong contenders, four come from Valencia, three from Madrid, and two from Andalusia. Galicia, the Basque Country, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Castellón contribute titles.
The absence of Alicante writers cannot be blamed on the director being from Valencia or on the exposition being planned there. Since Heras was from Madrid, the event was organized in Madrid, and over thirty years there was rarely a representation from Alicante. The project has faced challenges. For this reason, its manager may have struggled to find works in the first two years or could not locate works of sufficient excellence. None of this is inherently objectionable. Yet it should be noted that, unlike the previous decades, the Exhibition team now consists entirely of people from Valencia, and volunteers with ties to Alicante participate in a limited way. This marks another meaningful shift compared with the past: more than a hundred Alicante residents took part in the event. If this benefits Alicante institutions, it also benefits the author and creator community, which has felt long dormant. Still, there are signs that some observers are reassessing, suspecting that recent changes reflect Sergi’s relocation strategy. If the entire team stems from Valencia, the sentence feels incomplete.
As for the audience, the director himself observed that about 60 percent of the visitors at the exhibition were not seated in the traditional seats but were exploring an installation at MACA. He perceived this as a positive outcome. Street theater and children’s theater have faded, as have tributes and awards, while MACA facilities are increasingly utilized. In essence, the exhibition has moved further from the central hub, while maintaining an even distribution across the city.
What remains a concern is how the Alicante City Council and the Provincial Council will respond to the decline of Alicante’s presence in Spanish dramaturgy. It is well understood that a playwright does not emerge in a single day. There was a moment of progress when the Estruch Residence took root in 2016, now in its sixth edition, with main authorship represented by Antonio Cremades, Josi Alvarado, or the newcomer Marcos Montagud, indicating that roughly half of the projects come from local authors. Alacant a Escena is a project that introduces fresh dramaturgical voices such as Eva Collins, Sara Ruiz, Jose Maleno, Esther Abellán, and Juan Diego Cerdá, among others. Yet this did not begin there: in 2001, in collaboration with the then Deputy Provincial for Culture Miguel Valor, the First Exhibition of Theater Writers of the Province of Alicante took place. There was only one edition at that time.
However, the IVC is not far behind and should be noted for not repeating the small theater productions held in Alicante for four years. They did not appear generously or frequently, with just five instances in thirty years, and their spending on these productions was modest compared with other initiatives in Valencia. This was not the case for the writer, because the only public production, as modest as the earlier works, faced opposition from political quarters, and the IVC declined to release the compromised version in Valencia. Paradoxes persist: loyalty to the institution is not always essential for creative progress.
The result suggests a shift in Valencia’s theatrical landscape away from the nineties while Alicante, through the Exhibition, gains platforms to showcase productions from the IVC and its Dramaturgical Workshop, both located in Valencia. It is hoped that the cultural leadership within the City Council and the Provincial Assembly will listen to this evolving dramaturgy that is finding space, even when it struggles to secure consistent public investment. The exhibition should remain a key venue, just as it once was. After all, the exposition is funded in part by local and state taxes, resources that have historically mattered to the governing parties and the communities they serve.