A fourth pillar was missing to firmly establish the foundation of Assitej Spain Publications. A foundation that began with the Ibero-American Bulletin, continued with the Collection of Dramatic Texts, and, later, with the Essay Collection. Now comes this brand-new Collection of Theater Written Beyond Our Borders and in Another Language.
In a way, the association, which is many things, is also a vantage point from which to observe a panoramic view of children's theater in our country and around the world. Our battered country has been plagued for years by an economic crisis that also puts culture at risk. Like any injustice, the crisis doesn't affect everyone and everything equally, and we are aware that, if no one remedies it, children's theater, which has flourished brilliantly in recent decades, will suffer the rigors of the recession like no other.
If we were already starting from a discriminatory situation, the gap is now widening. It's clear from this vantage point, which also showed us that something very important was missing from our publications: the voices of foreign authors, of foreign playwrights who have contributed with their works, their generosity, and their wisdom to the development of our theater for children and young people.
Because it's true that these works have been staged on occasion by Spanish companies, but it wasn't easy to find them published in our language. And when they were, it was almost always in Latin American editions, loaded with phrases and words as beautiful as they were strange.
This International Children's Theatre Collection will bring us even closer to these fundamental texts around the world.
It's no coincidence that we're laying a new foundation at a time when it's easy to let ourselves be swept away by inaction and discouragement. It's no coincidence. We want to make it clear that much remains to be done, and that we must do it—or at least try.
It is also no coincidence that we inaugurate this Collection with Suzanne Lebeau, a Canadian author and a world reference for the best drama for children, a tireless fighter who vindicates wherever she goes the infinite greatness of a theater designed for children.
Lola Lara
Lola Lara and Juan López Berzal, President and Vice President of ASSITEJ-Spain, presented the association's new collection, the International Theatre Collection, and its first issue, which contains two works by playwright Suzanne Lebeau, The Little Ogre and Shoes in the Sand, at the 13th International Theatre Book Fair in Seville on December 12.
