Mexican Stage Designers win Medals in Taiwan

Set designer Jesús Hernández, who was directly participated in 100 theatrical projects and is known as one of the most prominent set designers of his generation, won the gold medal in the categories Set Design and Space Design with his work Psico/Embutidos , at the World Stage Design, an exhibition and award platform on international set design.

Moreover, in the 2017 edition of this event– which took place from July 1 to July 9 in Taipei, Taiwan – Gloria Carrasco won bronze medal in Set Design and Alternative Design with her work Caja china /Diez mil cosas , and eight Mexican designers were finalists in the professional category and five in the emerging one.

Since 2005 – held every four years at different hosting cities – Mexico has had an outstanding participation. This year, with more than 600 designers who participated in 12 categories.

Likewise, four contestants won accolades in the emerging category: gold medal for Rodrigo Cortés in Performance Design for his work 3 Catastrophes I Happily Survived ; gold medal for Josafath Reynoso in Set Design for his work on La gata en el tejado caliente ( Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ); bronze medal for Andrea Pacheco in Costume Design for her work in Pájaro Azul ( Blue Bird ); and bronze medal for Davil Molina in Set Design with Dialogo de Carmelitas (Dialogues of the Carmellites).

Psico/Embutidos

( Psycho/Cold Cuts) debuted in 2014 under the direction of Richard Viqueira, and the set design of Hernández went beyond the stage border to pervade the visual arts, since the set design emulated the digestive tract.

“The installation stage was quite interesting. I've worked in other projects with Richard and I think this set up is the one where we truly managed the union between direction and space design . I also work with another company, Teatro Línea de Sombra, who has explored with assemblies; as an architect, I've found interesting to work on a tridimensional level, to make the audience part of the space; I like to think more in terms of devices or assemblies rather than conventional set designs. This is my main interest and these are the projects I want to keep working on.”

He added” There's a huge amount of work at a production stage, a design that moves away from the conventional and establishes production at another level with its own rules; we all have to put more effort into it. Each time we take this piece to the stage it takes us five days. Taking this overseas is also complicated; frameworks change.”

On her part, Carrasco said she presented two pieces, the set design of stage play Diez mil cosas (Ten Thousand Things) and Caja china , (Chinese Box) andaudiovisual play.

“ Caja china allowed me to be part of a theatrical company, but also to work in one of my greatest passions without the need of having a pre-established idea, to generate new content and work from a more horizontal angle to talk about the meaning of creation,” she claimed.

She added that theater companies have had their stars over the years; playwrights, directors, and actors have always stood out, but set designers have always been the low-key creators. “We've always been important. There's still a bit of catching up to do, but now I think our work is widely recognized as part of the joint effort. THis is something very interesting,” she said.

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