The Valencian company Groc Teatre wins, with 'Genovese', the Max Prize of the Public 2019

Written and directed by the alcoyano Miguel Ferrando, the work is an allegation against sexist violence based on the real story of the murder of Kitty Genovese in the New York of 1964

Written and directed by Miguel Ferrando Rocher for the Valencian theater company Groc Teatre, the play Genovese has risen with the Max Public Award in its edition of 2019, thanks to the votes cast through the application on-line #VotaMax and in the voting section of the official website of the Max. This is the second time that the Max Performing Arts Awards have granted this special award – which is in addition to the Max de Honor and Max Amateur Awards, as well as the 19 contest categories -, with which it is desired to recognize the favorite show of this season for fans of the performing arts. In 2019, a total of 9,443 people participated in the vote (compared to 4,926 in 2018), and 11,782 votes were counted (one year before, 7,132).

The architects of the assembly Genovese will receive the award on May 20 during the gala of the XXII edition of the Max Awards for Performing Arts, organized by the SGAE Foundation with the collaboration of the City Council of Valladolid and the Foundation of Universities and Higher Education of the Junta de Castilla y Lion. The ceremony will also be broadcast live at 8 pm at La 2 de TVE.

With Genovese, the company Groc Teatre won a nomination, in the category of Best Revelation Show, in the current edition of the Max Awards, but did not manage to be among the finalists. The award has now reached them from the hands of its own public. "It has been an incredible surprise. For a small company like Groc Teatre, which also has only been active for six years, such a prize is a gift, "Miguel Ferrando comments excitedly. "The fact that it has been the public that has recognized our work is especially significant, since Genovese It is a complicated, hard, shocking work. In fact, after some performances, we have organized round tables with the public and the comments have always been wonderful, very emotional. We feel that with Genovese We have connected with the public, with their feelings, "he adds.

Symbol against sexist violence

Miguel Ferrando Rocher explains that the germ of his work Genovese you have to look for it in a theatrical writing workshop taught in 2017 by the dramatist Xavier Puchades. "He proposed an exercise on the subject that is dealt with in the text. I was very interested in the story and decided to investigate further. From there I wrote the work, I later passed it to the actress Amparo Marí, who interprets it together Ilion Trebickaand he loved it. It was a whole succession of incredible factors. " The process continued with an initial assembly that allowed for slight adjustments until its official release in November 2018, in the Sala Matilde Salvador de La Nau of the Universitat de València.

The story that tells the work, by the way, is that of Kitty Genovese, a 28 year old girl who was raped and murdered in 1964 near the apartment in Queens (New York) where she lived. As it became known later, more than thirty people heard the cries for help from the young woman, but they did not react in any way. Since then, the Genovese case has inspired films, songs and even comics, and has become a symbol against macho violence. "Unfortunately, Genovese is a universal and timeless theme, given that, although it happened more than fifty years ago, it is still fully valid. So many years after that, we are still talking about the same thing, "laments the playwright from Alcoy.

The play GenoveseHowever, it is not a faithful recreation of that fateful episode. Miguel Ferrando explains: "The piece shows a parallel between the event in New York and another similar set in the present. I wanted to start from that real story so that the public of today could empathize more with this issue, and, in this way, denounce that the story of Kitty Genovese is not something that has already happened, but something that is still happening, with other protagonists and, perhaps, in other circumstances, but it is something real and everyday. "

About Groc Teatre

The company Groc Teatre was founded in 2013. Since that date, it has set up different assemblies, such as Fuss, Tourmalet (Crisàlide Award 2019 to the Actor Revelación, of the association Actors i Actrius Professionals Valencians, a Guille Zavala) or Good luck Mr. Gorsky. The hallmark of the company is that all its productions are nourished by real stories, as in the aforementioned case Genovese. "In my texts I try to start from authentic events, but little known by the public, to then take them to the stage in a different way. I love popular culture and those facts that one day give rise to big headlines in the media and shortly after, suddenly, disappear. I love to rescue those stories, discover them to the public, and that's where, in fact, I find inspiration and material for my works, "says Miguel Ferrando.

The actor and director Miguel Ferrando was born in Alcoy (Alicante) in 1985. He has studied Performing Direction and Dramaturgy at the School of Dramatic Arts of Valencia, in addition to attending numerous theatrical courses and workshops taught by, among others, Antonio Rojano, Carles Alberola, Paco Zarzoso or Eva Zapico. Director and founder of the company Groc Teatre, he has written, directed and premiered more than a dozen pieces. His work Tourmalet It has been published by La Caja Books.

Three special prizes

Organized by the SGAE Foundation since 1998, the Max Awards, whose award is designed by the poet and artist Joan Brossa (Barcelona-1919/1998), promoter of one of the renewing collectives of post-war Spanish art, has consolidated over these years as the broadest recognition in the field of Performing Arts in Spain, reaching every time a greater number of followers and arousing the interest of companies of all types and throughout the national territory.

These awards celebrate 23 years keeping their three special awards: Max honor award, that this year has distinguished the figure of Concha Velasco as a pioneer of Spanish musical theater; the Max Amateur or Social Prize, which in their XXII edition share ex aequo the company from Alicante Taules Teatre and the riojana The Garnacha Theater, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the Performing Arts; and the Max Public Award, granted to Genovese, by Groc Teatre, by adding the most votes through the online application #VotaMax.

The Organizing Committee of the XXII edition of the Max Performing Arts Awards is composed of Ana Graciani, president of the SGAE Foundation; Pilar Jurado, president of the SGAE; the dramatists Juan Luis Mira, Paloma Pedrero Y Óscar Castaño 'Garbitxu' (president of the Territorial Committee of SGAE in Euskadi); and the members of the School of Great Law of the SGAE Eduardo Galán, Yolanda García Serrano and the choreographer María Pagés.

(tagsToTranslate) Max Awards



Source of the new