The Theater of the 1960s at the National Autonomous University of Honduras: The Civil Association of University Theater (1963-1968) three groups of the Dramatic Art Section (1968-1970)

Abstract

The 1960 decade is fundamental in the comprehension of the establishment of the theatrical discipline in the Honduran university field. At the start of the decade, administrative experimentation would take place, giving institutional independence to the University Theatre, originally founded in 1959 and, at the end of the period, a new theatrical impetus would begin under the influence of the Section of Dramatic Arts, created in 1968. These projects mixed professionalism with amateurism. So, experimented actors with academic formation in theatre, like Francisco Salvador would act next to students with no previous experience in a stage y, in the same manner, this groups would assist international festivals the same way as local public schools. In the present article, a descriptive analysis is made of the trajectory of four of this theatrical groups of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras: the Civil Association of University Theatre and three of the five constituting groups of the Section of Dramatic Arts, with the purpose of finding common characteristics that explain their working and becoming. The information for the research was recollected in the General Archive of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, employing for its writing the institutional memoirs, the programs and invitations that have survived from the period and the records from the University Counsel.