MIGUEL PONCE

(Matanzas, Cuba, 1931)

THEATRE, TV AND FILM ACTOR, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER AND PROFESSOR

As a Drama Teacher

In Cuba, in 1960, after being graduated at the Drama Department (University Theatre), he started his work as a teacher by creating the first amateur theatre groups in Cuba.

In 1961 he and his group ‘Teatro de Camagüey’ received the First Award in the First Amateur Drama Festival; the following year he received again the same award with his group ‘Teatro de La Habana’.

During four years he not only devoted his time in training actors and actresses, but he also developed an important pedagogical task and taught future teachers who, subsequently, created many theatre groups in Cuba.

Afterwards, as a Professional, together with his work in acting and directing, he trained professional actors and actresses until 1965, in Cuba.

In 1966, in the United States, he created ‘Teatro 66’, which became the first Hispanic theatre in Miami, Florida.

In New York (1969-1972) he created the first bilingual theatre group, ‘New York Theater of the Americas’, where he produced more than 30 plays with English speaking professional and amateur (mostly Hispanic people) actors and actresses.

In Venezuela he created ‘Teatro de Repertorio del Ateneo de Caracas’ (1973-1998) where he went on with his pedagogical task. He also was a drama teacher at the Theatre University Institute (‘IUDET’) in several offices all over the country (1996-1999).

In Colombia he went on working as a drama teacher (1999-2004) and, nowadays, he is a teacher and acting coach for Cinema and Television professional actors and actresses in Madrid (2004-2008).

Professional Studies

After being graduated at the University of Havana, Miguel Ponce studied at:

• TEATRO UNIVERSITARIO DE LA HABANA (1959)
• TEATRO ESTUDIO with VICENTE REVUELTA (1959)
• ODIN TEATER with EUGENIO BARBA (1976)
• ACTORS STUDIO with LEE STRASBERG (1977-1979)
• AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE (1979-1981)
• SHERWOOD OAKS EXPERIMENTAL COLLEGE with SYD FIELD (1980)
• TEATRO LABORATORIO with JERZY GROTOWSKI (1978-1982)
• BERLINER ENSEMBLE with MANFRED TENSCHER (1978)
• CENTRO DE CREACIÓN TEATRAL with PETER BROOK (1978)
• WILL KEEN, MADRID (2007)… among others.

PRODUCER-DIRECTOR-TEACHER-ACTOR

Nowadays, he manages the ‘Studio de Actores’ in Madrid where, for the last four years, he has been teaching to many professional actors and actresses who have achieved recognised social prestige, such as the main characters of the successful Spanish version of ‘Yo Soy Betty, La Fea” (Yo Soy Bea), Ruth Núñez and Alejandro Tous.

Miguel Ponce is also a teacher in ‘[La Factoría del Guión]’, which is the most important and well-known institution of Madrid in training audiovisual writers.

As a Director

He received several international awards as a director on more than fifty theatre plays.

As an Actor

He has performed the most important characters of the worldwide repertoire, for which Miguel Ponce has been unanimously acclaimed by the international critics and awarded in more than twenty occasions.

As a Producer

He manages Minimal Entertainment, S.L., a young audiovisual Spanish company which has created different projects that have been very well received by several international producers.