teatro la fragua (in english--the forge theater), is based in el progreso, honduras.

teatro la fragua was founded in the city of Olanchito, Honduras: on July 19 1979, the first work opened in a small adobe building converted into a simple theatre with a capacity of some 80 spectators. Since that time the teatro has continued working uninterruptedly in the effort to contribute to the development of a Honduran and Central American culture.

In 1980 the teatro transferred its home to the city of El Progreso, Yoro, where it moved into an old wooden building which had once been the dance hall for the executives of the United Fruit Company. After many years of remodelling, this home building has been transformed into a complex that contains all the essentials for a well-functioning theatre, centered on the three-quarters playing space which can accomodate some 200 spectators. The teatro has presented religious theatre, classical and popular works. They have developed a unique style which one North American critic has dubbed "neo-medieval".

"Art and religion spring from the same human roots," says the founder of teatro la fragua, Fr. Jack Warner sj. "They spring from our need to be in touch with something beyond the littleness we feel as human beings."

For the last fifteen years teatro la fragua has continually given workshops for the formation of actors and the mounting of simple scenic pieces in all parts of the country, as well as in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Cuba y Belize. These workshops have been especially directed to the marginalized and dispossessed sectors of the society, both rural and urban. They are a special emphasis of the teatro, which has defined its basic mission:

To awaken the creativity of the pueblo by means of the theatre, so the people find their own solutions for their present predicament. The theatre thus becomes an educational alternative which can express to the same people and to the world the richness, the beauty and the power of Honduran and Central American values. This is an especially urgent task at this historical moment characterized by the phenomenon of economic and cultural globalization which marginalizes and excludes those cultures which are considered "inferior".

The company has realized various tours beyond the limits of Central America: to México, Colombia, the United States and Spain. And the work of teatro la fragua continues to reach a world-wide audience by means of the film ¡Teatro!, made for U.S. Public Television in 1989, and which continues to surface on world-wide cable channels in six languages.

please email us at teatrolafragua@Gmail.com

or write us at teatro la fragua
Apartado 70
El Progreso, Yoro
Honduras, Central America

phone: 504/2647-0974