ECAS en Casa 2021 – Elvys Ruiz

ECAS en Casa, is a virtual program series in which Teatro ECAS Executive Director Francis Parra interviews artists and scholars from across the Spanish-speaking world about humanities topics connected to the theater. Programs will be in Spanish with English-language subtitles and can be viewed on Facebook Live the night of the event. To view ECAS en Casa in English, log on the Teatro ECAS YouTube Channel three days after the event.

Thursday, April 15, 2021 at 7:00 pm EST on Facebook Live
Elvys Ruiz

Juan Pablo Duarte: Passage through Lands

Founder of the Dominican Republic, Duarte left his country for the first time as a teenager to study in Spain. Before arriving in Europe he spent a short time in the United States. Although it is believed that he entered North America through New York City, another version indicates that he did so through Providence, Rhode Island, on July 2, 1829, and from there passed into New York. In 1840, he founded the “Sociedad La Filantrópica” in order to indoctrinate and propagate democratic nationalist ideas. Later, they founded the Dramatic Society; in which almost all of the actors were Trinidadians. They staged the struggle of a people to free themselves from an oppressive government. When they took the trinitarian oath, it was made clear that they would form a new state, which would be called the Dominican Republic.  Duarte and his followers also founded the societies La Filantrópica and La Dramática, a more visible organization than La Trinitaria, which spread its separatist ideas by staging theatrical events. Duarte saw how Spain used theatre to raise public sentiment, keep spirits high and build a democratic vision and as a result, he wanted to bring it to the Dominican Republic.

Guest Scholar: Elvys Ruiz, Etnias Global Cultural, Pawtucket, RI

A writer, director and theater researcher, Ruiz studied Anthropology at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) and graduated with honors obtaining a Bachelor of Science with distinction “Summa Cum Laude” and a Master of Science from Springfield College, Boston Campus. He also has a Specialty in Linguistics and Translation from the Open University of Catalonia, Spain. Ruiz has lectured at universities and community centers in the state of Rhode Island. He has 20 years of experience in the field of translation. He began in the theater in 1981 in the Dominican Republic. To his credit, he has acted and directed theater in the main halls of his native country and has received numerous awards for his career and contributions to Dominican theater. He studied acting and directing with Michael Griggs, director of the Bear Republic Theater in California. He has directed the plays: “El lugar”, by Carlos Gorostiza, Minister of Culture of Argentina (Casa de Teatro, RD); “Los Corsarios”, Palace of Fine Arts, RD; “Miracle in the Old Market” by Osvaldo Dragún, (Casa de Teatro, RD); “The Stone of Happiness”, by Carlos José Reyes (Gardens, National Theater, RD); “What More Do They Want From Me” (Providence, RI); “Café y Dominó” (Providence, RI); “Chicken Cordon Blue” by Frank Disla, (Providence, RI).

This series is supported in part by a major grant from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities.