Vagrants and scammers is awarded the XVI Leopoldo Unfortunately Mínguez International Competition prize
Juan Carlos Mestre Gonzalez, born in 1974 in Elda, and Celia Moran, born in 1990 in Toledo, earned the XVI Leopoldo Unfortunately Mínguez International Competition prize in 2022. The prize, organized yearly by the SGAE Foundation in partnership with the Visible Culture Association, aims to promote new theatrical texts and broaden their production to wider audiences, including narratives that reflect LGTBIQA+ experiences. The winning script, Vagrants and scammers, unveils a concealed history of homosexuals who faced suppression during the Franco dictatorship and highlights the resilience of those communities.
The response to the performance was strong. Yet assembling a cast of five elderly actors and a deaf teenage character posed challenges for the production team. The victory brought considerable excitement, with the award signaling to production companies a potential path to staging and validating that the work resonates with audiences. It marked a very rewarding milestone for the creators.
At the judge’s table, a representative from the Visible Culture Association presided over the ceremony. The XVI LAM Award jury also included playwrights Avelina Hernández Martín and Aitziber Garmendia, alongside past winners such as Mark Gisbert and Xavier de God. The event underscored the continuing relevance of theater that records historical memory and voices from marginalized communities.
Vagrants and scammers will receive a prize of 4,000 euros. The winning work will be published by the SGAE Foundation and included in the SGAE Dramatized Readings Cycle in the next year. In total, thirty-three texts were submitted, with nine advancing to the final round.
Commenting on the work, Vagrants and scammers presents a theatre of raw humanity, portraying lives under political pressure and shaped by regimes that push for a homogeneous society centered on heterosexual and cisgender narratives. The piece sheds light on a lesser-known chapter of Spain’s past and invites audiences to reflect on the costs of censorship and social conformity.
Mestre: “A timely Spain story that few people know about and that will give you goosebumps.”
The jury praised the work for its non-commercial focus and its emphasis on older characters. It also highlighted the piece’s contribution to historical memory by honoring those who suffered under Francoism for living love beyond the regime’s approved norms.
A handwritten collaboration
Juan Carlos Mestre and Celia Morán first connected as actors in several theater productions. After attending a performance at Madrid’s Teatro Valle-Inclán, Morán met Alicante-born activist and director Hernando Gomez, who is pursuing a documentary about homeless gay seniors. This meeting sparked new conversations that revealed a surprising reality, including shelters for such individuals in the Lavapiés neighborhood, a community Morán has observed firsthand. Extensive research followed, drawing on books, documentaries, and comics, with works by Juan Sepúlveda Sanchis and Antonio Santos Mercero identified as essential reading in schools.
This intersection of lived experience and documentary exploration inspired Mestre and Morán to co-create a text. They explored several ideas before settling on a recent and emotionally charged period of Spanish history that remains relatively little known. The story centers on real people whose names and lives endure beyond the page. The final draft felt right from the start, and both writers anticipate further collaborations. Vagrants and scammers reads as if authored by a single voice, a seamless blend of their styles. The creative process flowed with ease and mutual understanding.