After sixteen years at the helm of Teatre Gaudí, playwright Ever Blanchet and actress Maria Clausó are stepping aside for personal reasons and ceding the management of this cultural facility to the production company Buganvilia. According to the ACN, starting October 1, the management will be led by a team that had been considering opening a new theater in Barcelona for the past few years, and the opportunity to take over Teatre Gaudí was "decisive" in making this long-awaited project a reality.
The production company Buganvilia began its journey in 2001 and specializes in show production, cultural management, and theater pedagogy. Anna Carreño, Màrius Hernández, and Gemma Deusedas are the people behind this project. The new managers positively value that Teatre Gaudí is one of the few medium-format venues that offer a 360-degree vision, which they believe they can make great use of thanks to their diverse professional profiles.
Regarding the direction they want to take, Hernández has made it clear that their two premises will be to "move" and make the audience "reflect" on different realities and hot topics. "We want to continue retaining our lifelong audience as well as contribute to expanding it, with programming for adolescent audiences, and also betting on family theater and dance shows," he explained, "in this first season we won't be able to solve everything, but little by little we will work on these axes." The season will begin on October 3 with Anna, by Marc Torrecillas, the story of two characters who meet in an attic and who, through their memories, explore the fear of losing a loved one and the strategies the mind can develop to avoid facing grief.
With the handover guaranteed, one of the until now managers of Teatre Gaudí, Ever Blanchet, has assured that he is "happy" to be able to transfer it to three people he believes will take good care of it. At 77 years old, he has acknowledged that managing a space with two venues, so much programming, and economic obstacles is complicated, which is why they have chosen to pass the torch. "The work team behind it is a small marvel," he made clear, "but it cannot be sustained without the necessary aid, and these will surely be obtained by younger people."
Along the same lines, Maria Clausó has stated that they will remain in the shadows to be able to lend a hand in whatever is needed. "In the end, it's for health and life reasons, we've said we need to stop the cart," she added. However, the actress has made it clear that she is "a stage animal" and that she will find a way to remain involved. "We want to thank everyone who has supported us for their trust, that theaters work is the best thing that can happen," she concluded. The leadership of Blanchet and Clausó puts an end to a stage that has programmed a total of 280 shows and has performed more than 5,500 functions.