Venezuelan Theater Festival 2025 the curtain rose in Caracas

Published at: 29/08/2025 01:57 PM

This Thursday, August 28, the first phase of the Venezuelan Theater Festival 2025 opened in the Anna Julia Rojas room of the National Experimental University of the Arts (UNEARTE), in Caracas, with the play “Neither Enemies nor Strangers”, directed by Jericó Montilla.

This cultural event, which will run until Sunday, August 31, pays homage to Venezuelan theater teachers Asdrúbal Meléndez and Guillermo José “Yuma” Díaz Mejías. In this first stage, the festival brings together 150 creators, 364 groups and will present 135 of the 404 submitted works.

During the opening ceremony, the Minister of Popular Power for Culture, Ernesto Villegas, stressed that the festival “started off on a very good foot”. He also highlighted the commitment to move forward, “removing all difficulties and obstacles to reveal the enormous strength, potential, talent, commitment, mysticism and quality of Venezuelan theater”, and announced that the festival will be held in all states of the country.

Villegas also emphasized the origin of the festival, which emerges as a response to the pandemic and as a need to give space to the large number of national projects that were presented at the International Progressive Theater Festival. “Today, after four editions of that festival, we managed to emancipate Venezuelan theater from that international call,” he said.

He confirmed that, in addition to theatrical performances, incentive, motivational and training activities are being carried out in the community axis of all communal circuits. This first phase will conclude in November with the second stage of the festival, which will present the best of the 135 works that will take place over these three days. “This is just the first date, we'll be back in November with more theater,” he said.

As part of the inauguration, the holder of the Culture portfolio awarded post-mortem awards to the families of the honored teachers.

It should be noted that the first phase of the Venezuelan Theater Festival 2025 will take place over three days, and will be complemented by a community axis of training and encouragement in the performing arts in all communal circuits. The event will continue in November with the second phase, where the best works from this first stage will be presented.

MINCULTURA PRESS