The Hallucinatory Worlds of José Milián
Within the Festival of Origins celebrated in the Athens of Cuba, the colloquium dedicated to the 80th birthday of Matanzas native José Milián, National Theater Prize 2008, stood out among the studies presented at the Fernando Ortiz Theoretical Forum, held at the Casa de la Memoria Escénica.
Participants included Master Rubén Darío Salazar Taquechel, National Theater Prize winner, with the paper «Paréntesis teatral con caballo, lluvia y una vaca» (Theatrical Parenthesis with Horse, Rain, and a Cow), about the theater artist’s works for children; and Ulises Rodríguez Febles with the research «Esperando a Virgilio: Milián y la ciudad maldita» (Waiting for Virgilio: Milián and the Cursed City), as well as Licentiate Pablo G. Lleonart, who presented the work «Bachiche reloaded: una pesadilla teatralizada» (Bachiche Reloaded: A Theatricalized Nightmare).
The event featured the stellar performance of actor Iván García in a fragment of the piece «Si vas a comer, espera por Virgilio» (If You’re Going to Eat, Wait for Virgilio), which he starred in on stage and in Tomás Piard’s film of the same name. The forum was moderated by Laidys Daniel Santana.
José Patricio Milián Martínez was born in Matanzas on March 17, 1946, and among his merits is the creation of characters of powerful dramatic force, of poetic atmospheres in which the tragic bears the cosmic marks of the Greek classics.
Matanzas native José Milián is considered one of the most relevant playwrights in the history of Cuban theater.
In this 2026, Milián turned 80, and this event, organized by the Culture Research Group, dedicated this special session to him.
His work «Si vas a comer, espera por Virgilio» served as inspiration for artist Adán Rodríguez to create one of the most popular pieces of the Wooden Sculpture Museum of the Casa de la Memoria Escénica, in which the Cárdenas theater artist appears seated at a table before a cup of coffee with an empty chair before him, awaiting an interlocutor.
José Milián’s incursion onto the stage dates back to Havana when he was part of the Playwriting Seminar of the National Theater, taught by Osvaldo Dragún, of which Matanzas native René Fernández Santana, National Theater Prize 2007, was also a part.
Milián, who is an actor, designer, theater director, and playwright, revealed himself in the avant-garde movement, notes specialized criticism, «from a theater of hallucinatory worlds and characters who carry all the catastrophe, chaos, and miseries of humanity.
«His theater moves and overflows in the search for deeply human conflicts.»
Among his main texts are also his masterwork «Vade Retro,» «La Toma de la Habana por los ingleses» (The Taking of Havana by the English), and «Juana de Belciel…,» both First Honorable Mention at the Casa de las Américas Contest, plus numerous pieces, musical revues, and stagings.
He is the founder of prestigious companies such as Joven Teatro de Vanguardia and the Theatrical Art Ensemble «La Rueda,» as well as a member of the legendary Teatro Estudio and the Havana Musical Theater. In 1989, he founded his own company, which he named Pequeño Teatro de la Habana.
