The Post and Courier
Sunday, April 27, 2014
ART IS A MEANS TO EDUCATE AND GROW
Theater
Art
ABC News- Charleston
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) -- An Hispanic family whose passion for the arts is making history at the North Charleston Arts Festival.
The Castillo family play is set to be the first Spanish play of North Charleston.
The Castillo family loves the arts. Gino Castillo is a musician, his wife Maribel Acosta is an Artist, Director and playwright, and their two children dance and act.
“Our house eats, sleeps and breathes the arts 24/7, we never stop,” said Gino Castillo.
Since March, the family has been working on a play written and directed by Acosta.
What started off as the family doing what they love grew into something bigger than they expected.
“The play is the first play totally in Spanish, in the history of the cultural arts of North Charleston,” said Lydia Cotton,
the Hispanic Liaison for the city of North Charleston. “This is an important part of our heritage and our language and we will be able to share this with the American people.”
“That is amazing we had no idea,” said Castillo.
“It’s a big responsibility because you have to come and do it again bigger and better next year,” said Acosta.
Acosta said the play is based on the French novel The Little Prince. The plot is about adults tapping into their youth.
“Many adults lose a lot of the child that they have within them, that innocence, the pureness,
they become people who are supposedly very important and busy, and they stop appreciating those things that are important,” said Acosta.
The family says even though the play is in Spanish, it’s not just for Latinos.
“Americans who like to speak in Spanish, and somebody who doesn’t know nothing about Spanish and has interest in the Latino culture, they can come too,” said Castillo.
The play debuts Friday at Sterett Hall Auditorium. It’s a part of the North Charleston Arts Festival.
http://abcnews4.com/archive/local-family-creates-first-spanish-play-in-north-charleston
North Charleston prepares to showcase all kinds of art, including "Little Prince" in Spanish.
-by Adam Parker
The North Charleston Arts Festival, which gets underway Friday and runs through May 10, is chock-full of interesting events, many free, including an out-of-the-ordinary stage adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's beloved "The Little Prince." This Latino community event for the whole family features a Spanish-language play written and directed by Cuban artist Maribel Acosta. Inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupery's novel, "The Little Prince," the story is a call to awareness of the human essence, innocence and friendship.
The play, by actor-artist Maribel Acosta, is called "Espacio Hispanico" ("Hispanic Place") and will be presented in Spanish. This is the first time the city has included a Spanish-language event in its festival, according to organizer Ann Simmons."What it says is valid any time, and any place," Acosta said, speaking Spanish that was translated by her friend and community outreach volunteer Lydia Cotton. "It is a look at what is really important, not just what you possess."It's about what it means to be human, to experience feelings, to be concerned about others for who they are and not for their status, Acosta said.The play also is part of North Charleston's ongoing outreach efforts, Simmons and Cotton said. Acosta isn't only directing her adaptation of "The Little Prince" during the festival. She is one of several women exhibiting paintings, sculptures and prints as part of the festival's visual arts component. Four women are included in the festival this year, not because they are women, but because their applications submitted to the Cultural Arts office were considered the most worthy, Simmons said.Acosta's pictures, instead, are informed by her years in Havana, Cuba, where she graduated with an art degree then studied theater, and her subsequent time in Ecuador, where she taught art and theater in a private International School.She said she is slowly emerging from her domesticated habits to present her art publicly. For years, she has focused on motherhood, she said. Acosta has two children, 12 and 10, and is married to percussionist Gino Castillo.Her visual artwork is introspective, with hints of psychological brooding, not unlike the paintings of Frida Kahlo. She said she prints on canvas by hand, using a spoon and a piece of wood, a manual technique she learned in Cuba. This gives her more contact with the work and a greater sense of control."I'm happy with my spoon," she said.Dramatic artAcosta is presenting pieces that were part of a solo show at The 827 Annex in West Ashley last September, but she's working on a new series called "Wings and Masks." Two works from the series could be ready soon, she said.She also is working on a new play called "One Voice." It's a metaphor for political and social rights and the value of community, she said. Three characters - one black, one white, one Hispanic - converge on a big tree and assert their rights to the place. It takes a trip into the past for them to discover an answer to the dilemma.Her interest in the theater began when she was 8 years old and walking along the street in Havana with her grandmother."What's that place," she wanted to know. "I like the smell, I want to go in."Sitting in the seat, unsure of what was happening, the young Acosta cried with joy; she had found a part of herself."I knew I wanted to come often," she said. "It was something magic for me."Her play "Hispanic Place" is a way to share her experiences and concerns with other Spanish-speaking residents of the Charleston area.Cotton said that many Latinos living in the Lowcountry remain suspicious of authority and concerned about their future in the U.S., even as acute fears has subsided in recent years. Now the goal is to bring the community together and celebrate its cultural inheritance.Art Pot Theater
Charleston Hispanic Group (Adults)
The Post and Courier
Sunday, November 16, 2014
FRONT PAGE
MARIBEL ACOSTA GLEZ
Art Pot Theater
Charleston Hispanic Group (kids)
Community
Thanks to FMA Free Music Archive for providing an interactive music library of high-quality, benefiting organizations and individuals in the educational and charitable area.
The work of the Hispanic Theater Group Art Pot gives importance to the work process,
where each participant is the creator of their characters and their stories in each exercises.
They experience from working patterns and are motivates to create their work routine, this process will leave not only an artistic experience but also a tool for everyday life, facing challenges and emotions. Relaxation, concentration, communication and teamwork are our primary goals, aiming an artistic presentation and as part of an education in human values and building ideas.El trabajo del grupo de teatro Hispano Art Pot otorga importancia al proceso de trabajo, donde cada participante es creador de sus personajes y de sus historias en cada ejercicio. Experimentan a partir de pautas de trabajo y se le motiva a crear su propia rutina, este proceso dejará no solo una experiencia artística sino también una herramienta para su vida diaria, al enfrentar retos y emociones. Relajación, concentración, comunicación y trabajo en equipo, son nuestros principales objetivos, en vias de una presentación artística y como parte de una educación en valores humanos y construcción de ideas.Hispanic Theater Group
Charleston City Paper
August 26, 2015
The 2015 Fall Arts Issue