Amira De la Rosa/en

Amira de la Rosa

Datos generales

Nombre	Amira Hortensia Arrieta McGregor
Fecha de nacimiento	07 de enero de 1895
Nacionalidad	Colombiana }}
Seudónimo	Amira de la Rosa
Ocupación	Diplomática, poetisa y dramaturga colombiana
Primaria	Colegio de La presentación. Barranquilla
Bachillerato	Colegio de La presentación. Barranquilla
Estudios universitarios	Escuela de Periodismo de El Debate (Madrid, España)
Formación profesional	Periodista
País de nacimiento	Colombia, }}
Ciudad de nacimiento	Banrranquilla, Colombia.
Fecha de fallecimiento	01 de septiembre de 1974
País de fallecimiento	Colombia
Ciudad de fallecimiento	Barranquilla
Familia	Diógenes Arrieta (abuelo paterno), Rafael Arrieta (padre), Enriqueta McGregor (madre), Regina, Merce, Chulita, Mayo, Elena, Tica y Margot (hermanas), Rafael (hermano), Ramiro de la Rosa Arrieta (hijo)
Cónyuge	Reginaldo De la Rosa Ortega

Amira de la Rosa was a Colombian writer, educator, and diplomat, born in Barranquilla on January 7, 1895, and deceased on September 1, 1974 in the same city. Her official name was Amira Arrieta McGregor, but after marrying Reginaldo de la Rosa she acquired the surname she is known by today. She has been recognized for being the author of the lyrics of the anthem of Barranquilla. She traveled to Spain, and there she studied journalism at the El Debate school in Madrid, where she specialized in theater and theater criticism. She wrote some plays such as Piltrafa, Madre borrada, and Las viudas de Zacarías, and radio plays that were presented in Madrid through Radio Nacional. Among her theatrical, lyrical, and narrative compositions are Los hijos de ella, and written in poetic prose; Poemas de maternidad; Geografía iluminada; and the novel Marsolaire. De la Rosa was appointed to outstanding positions. She was an advisor and cultural attaché to the Colombian Embassy in Madrid, consul of Colombia in Seville, and cultural advisor to the Colombian Embassy in Spain. Her literary compositions include plays staged in Spain, Venezuela, and Colombia, as well as literary works for children. Her stories were collected in a volume entitled La luna con parasol, a series of short stories and poetry. In addition to being a great writer, she was an outstanding educator and cultural ambassador, as she founded the Gabriela Mistral School in Barranquilla with her sisters. The Barranquilla Municipal Theater was named after her in 1982 to honor her artistic legacy.

Biography

Amira de la Rosa was a Colombian writer, playwright, and diplomat born on January 7, 1895 in the city of Barranquilla. Granddaughter of the liberal poet and politician Diogenes Arrieta, she was the eldest of the eight brothers and sisters of the Arrieta McGregor family. She attended primary and secondary school at La Presentación in Barranquilla, and it was there that she began to show an early interest in writing, poetry, and teaching. At the age of eighteen she married lawyer Reginaldo de la Rosa Ortega, with whom she would have a son, Ramiro. Later, given her interest in teaching, Amira would travel to Barcelona to take an international course for teachers, directed by Maria Montessori. In Barcelona she met the Chilean writer Gabriela Mistral, who was also a student, with whom she would forge a great lifelong friendship. Upon her return to Colombia in the 1920s, she and her sisters founded the Gabriela Mistral School in Barranquilla, as a sign of admiration and homage to the poet. Later she would travel to Madrid to study journalism at the School of Journalism of the Catholic newspaper El Debate, specializing in theater and theater criticism. Once there, Amira began working for the Colombian diplomatic service, where she worked for twenty-five years until 1971. She worked first as an advisor and cultural attaché of the Colombian Embassy in Madrid and later as a consul in the city of Seville.

Her stay in Madrid allowed Amira to develop an important artistic proposition through dramaturgy. In 1948, her play Piltrafa, a Colombian drama that won first prize in the Spanish and Latin American Playwrights Contest, premiered at the María Guerrero Theater. Her play Madre borrada also premiered, presented by the Társila Criado Company. The play would go on to premiere at the Murillo Theater in Barranquilla in 1943. Las viudas de Zacarías, a one-act farce of coastal Colombian manners, premiered at the Fine Arts Theater in Barranquilla in December 1944. The story El triunfo del amor was adapted for ballet and premiered in 1956.

De la Rosa wrote numerous radio plays that were presented by the Spanish National Radio in Madrid and Emisora Atlántico in Barranquilla. One of the most lauded was Laúd de notas de agua, which debuted in 1950 on Emisora Atlántico. In December 1943, given the success of the premiere of Madre borrada, she founded an eponymous theater group with professional and amateur actors. The group, which disbanded in 1945, was based at the Murillo Theater in Barranquilla and toured other cities on the Colombian coast, such as Cartagena and Santa Marta. In an interview with Alfredo de la Espriella published in Marsolaire, Amira said that it was through theater that she found a means of expression and discovered a taste for communicating feelings and emotions. She began by writing short plays that were performed by the students at her school, but it was in Spain that this experience matured and she began to write for more demanding audiences.She was a member of Spain’s Society of Authors and an honorary member of Colombia’s Society of Authors and the Institute of Hispanic Culture. The canon of her work, especially following the publication Marsolaire and the theme of violence against women it addressed, has been compared to those other authors celebrated for their social conscience, such as José Félix Fuenmayor and even Manuel Zapata Olivella.

Among her published works of poetic prose are the selection of Poemas de maternidad, with a prologue by Gabriela Mistral; Lecturas para niños and Geografía iluminada. De la Rosa wrote short stories, poems, plays, news stories, and portraits of regional customs. In spite of her contributions to the culture of Barranquilla, de la Rosa has been an underappreciated author in Colombia. As one of the most important historical personalities of the Caribbean, she stood out for the masterfulness and spontaneity of her writing and her prestigious work of theater produced in Europe and Colombia.

After her death in 1974, the decision was made to name the city's Municipal Theater after Amira de la Rosa to pay tribute to this writer from Barranquilla.

Amira de la Rosa Municipal Theater of Barranquilla

From 1970 to 1972, Amira de la Rosa collaborated closely with other artists in the opening of the theater that would later carry her name. On June 25, 1982, President Turbay Ayala inaugurated the Amira de la Rosa Theater with a presentation of Eddy Toussaint's Ballet of Canada. At the time, Barranquilla did not have a cultural venue of importance that could allow for presentations of artists and shows of national and international stature. In 2018, the Society for Public Improvements, in collaboration with Barranquilla’s Town Hall, formalized the donation of the Amira de la Rosa Theater to the Banco de la República, in order to begin the redesign and restoration of the heritage building. With an investment of 60 billion pesos by the Banco de la República, it is estimated that the works, which will also include the creation of a large cultural complex and reconstruction of the theater, which the Ministry of Culture declared an asset of cultural interest in 2006, will take approximately four years.

Features of her work

De la Rosa’s drama includes Madre borrada, an unpublished drama in three acts, written in Madrid and staged at the Español de Madrid by the Társila Criado company, and premiered in Barranquilla at the Murillo Theater in December 1943, with a performance by the writer; Las viudas de Zacarías, an unpublished one-act farce of coastal Colombian manners, premiered at the Fine Arts Theater in Barranquilla in December 1944; Piltrafa, an unpublished drama in three acts, first prize in the competition of Spanish and Latin American Playwrights, premiered first in Madrid at the María Guerrero Theater and then in Barranquilla in 1946; El ausente, an unpublished drama in three acts, premiered by Amira’s theater group at the Metro Theater in Barranquilla in 1956, on the occasion of the Costeño Theater Festivals; Los hijos de ella, an unpublished drama premiered by the Eugenia Zúffoli Company in Carácas in 1939; Solitos en Miramar, an unpublished comedy with a Colombian Caribbean setting; and Casta de infieles, El hijo de Piedra, and La angustia del barco amarrado, all unpublished.

In December 1943, following the success of the premiere of Madre borrada, Amira de la Rosa founded an eponymous stage group with professional and amateur actors. The group was based at the Murillo Theater in Barranquilla and toured other cities on the Caribbean coast of Colombia such as Cartagena and Santa Marta, where it was very much applauded. This group was active until 1945. In an interview with Alfredo de la Espriella published in Marsolaire, Amira said that it was through theater that she found a means of expression and discovered a taste for communicating feelings and emotions. She began by writing short plays that were performed by the students at her school, but it was in Spain that this experience matured and she began to write for more demanding audiences.

Amira de la Rosa's concept of theater was captured in an interview with Enrique Santos (Calibán) for El Tiempo. In it, Amira maintained that the excess of literature was detrimental to theater:"The theatrical author requires technique, a rigor of synthesis, and a gift of creation that has nothing to do with what we generally call literature [...] A play is all the better the less it seems like literature."

While Amira de la Rosa was active with her stage group, the theater was experiencing a boom, and several controversies arose at the time around theatrical issues. She once again advocated for the creation of a national company, sponsored by the state, that would disseminate universal dramaturgy and promote and make national theater production known. Amira was of the opinion that stage arts would not progress without this type of company; it was therefore a necessity, a national priority. The year Amira died, the construction of Barranquilla's Municipal Theater began and the city paid homage to her by naming the building in her honor.

Honors

1.She was a member of Spain's Society of Authors and an honorary member of Colombia's Society of Authors, as well as a member of the Institute of Hispanic Culture. De la Rosa received the Civics Medal from the Sociedad Benemérita following the writing of the Barranquilla anthem in 1942.

Obras publicadas

Novela

• Marsolaire (1941), novella
• Marsolaire (1976), selection of prose
• Prosa (1988), selection

Theater

• Los hijos de ella (unpublished), premiered by the Eugenia Zúffoli Company in Carácas (1939)
• Madre borrada (unpublished) (unpublished), premiered at the Murillo Theater in Barranquilla (December 1943) and produced in Madrid by the Társila Criado Company
• Las viudas de Zacarías (unpublished), premiered at the Fine Arts Theater in Barranquilla (December 1944)
• Piltrafa (unpublished), premiered first in Madrid at the María Guerrero Theater and then in Barranquilla (1946)
• El ausente (unpublished), premiered by Amira’s theater group at the Metro Theater in Barranquilla (1956)
• Solitos en Miramar(unpublished)
• Casta de infieles (unpublished)
• El hijo de piedra (unpublished)
• La angustia del barco amarrado (unpublished).

Short stories

• El triunfo del amor

Poetry

• Poemas de maternidad (prólogo de Gabriela Mistral)
• Lecturas para niños
• Geografía iluminada

Compilation

• La luna con parasol

Timeline

• 1895: Born in Barranquilla.
• 1913: Marriage to Reginaldo de la Rosa Ortega.
• 1926: Founds the Gabriela Mistral School with her sisters.
• 1939: Los hijos de ella premiered in Carácas, Venezuela.
• 1941: Publication of her first work, Marsolaire.
• 1942: Writes the Barranquilla anthem for which she is honored with the Civics Medal from the Sociedad Benemérita.
• 1943: Established the Amira de la Rosa theater group in Barranquilla.
• 1943: Madre borrada premiered in Madrid and later in Barranquilla.
• 1944: Las viudas de Zacarías at the Fine Arts Theater in Barranquilla in December.
• 1945: First theater group founded in Barranquilla.
• 1946: Piltrafa (unpublished) premieres first in Madrid at the María Guerrero Theater and then in Barranquilla.
• 1948: Presentation of her first work, Piltrafa.
• 1956: El ausente (unpublished) premiered by Amira’s theater group at the Metro Theater in Barranquilla.
• 1974: Dies in Barranquilla.
• 1976: Publication of Marsolaire selection of prose.
• 1988: Publication of Prosa selection.

Bibliography

• “El Banco de la República no ha parado de trabajar para el Teatro Amira de la Rosa” (The Banco de la República has not stopped working for the Amira de la Rosa Theater) in El Heraldo newspaper, November 30, 2019. Accessed 01/12/2019 at: https://www.elheraldo.co/entretenimiento/el-banco-de-la-republica-no-ha-parado-de-trabajar-para-el-teatro-amira-de-la-rosa

• Aguirre Acuña, Ahmed. “El Amira De la Rosa: Testimonio a la historia del arte y la cultura” (Testimony to the history of art and culture). July 28, 2017. Accessed 01/12/2019 at:http://zonacero.com/opinion/el-amira-de-la-rosa-testimonio-la-historia-del-arte-y-la-cultura-87940

• Arias, Gloria Carmenza, Marleny García, and Marina Lamus Obregón: Medio siglo de teatro en Colombia: 1900-1950 (Half a century of theater in Colombia: 1900-1950). Bogotá, Instituto Caro y Cuervo, 1990.

• Arroyo, Ivonne. “Teatro Amira de la Rosa: La historia de un ícono que cierra sus puertas” (Amira de la Rosa Theater: The history of an icon that closes its doors) in El Heraldo newspaper, July 31, 2016. Accessed 01/12/2019 at: https://www.elheraldo.co/local/el-capricho-de-construir-un-teatro-llamado-amira-275424

• Ávila Abel. El Pensamiento costeño, Diccionario de escritores (Coastal thinking, Writers’ Dictionary). Volume I, Editorial Antillas, p. 58-60. First edition, 1992.

• Blog Cultura Caribe. “Amira de la Rosa,” June 22, 2012. Accessed 01/12/2019 at: http://natigp.blogspot.com/2012/06/amira-de-la-rosa-esta-escritora.html

• Blog Encaribe. “Amira de la Rosa,” Encyclopedia of Caribbean History and Culture. Accessed 01/12/2019 at:https://www.encaribe.org/es/article/amira-de-la-rosa/1843

• De la Hoz Serrano, Jorge. “Cuatro años durará reconstrucción del Teatro Amira de la Rosa” (The reconstruction of the Amira de la Rosa Theater will take 4 years) in El Tiempo newspaper, May 8, 2019. Accessed 01/12/2019 at: https://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/barranquilla/teatro-amira-de-la-rosa-estara-listo-en-cuatro-anos-358974

• Frias Rincon, Amilde. “Diez años del Amira de la Rosa” (Ten years of Amira de la Rosa) in El Heraldo newspaper, June 24, 1992. Accessed 01/12/2019 at: https://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/MAM-144296

• Marsolaire, Bogotá, Talleres gráficos (Graphics workshops) Rasch, 1941. Presidency of the Republic. Antología los mejores relatos infantiles (Anthology of the best children’s stories). Bogotá, 1997. Accessed 01/12/2019 at: http://babel.banrepcultural.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p17054coll9/id/8

• Prosa, Bogotá, Fundación Simón y Lola Guberek, Editorial Lealon Medellín, 1988

• Rosa, A de la. (1976). Marsolaire y otras páginas. Bogotá, Ediciones Sol y Luna.

• Rosa, A de la. (1988). Prosa. Bogotá, Fundación Simón y Lola Guberek.

• Robledo, Beatriz Helena: Antología de los mejores relatos infantiles (Anthology of the best children’s stories), Bogotá, 1958.

• Sabido Sánchez, Fernando. “Amira de la Rosa”, Poetas siglo XXI- antología mundial (21st century poets – world anthology). Blog, May 27, 2015. Accessed 01/12/2019 at: https://poetassigloveintiuno.blogspot.com/2015/05/amira-de-la-rosa-16130.html

Related links on Banrepcultural

• Amira de la Rosa.

• The Banco de la República has not stopped working on the Amira de la Rosa Theater

• The alligator, the Amira and Obregón’s main curtain stay in Barranquilla

• This is how the Amira de la Rosa Theater Project is progressing

Credits

1.December 2019. Research and text by María Catalina Garzón for Banrepcultural

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