Today we’d like to introduce you to Georgina Palencia
Hi Georgina, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am an actress, teacher, and theater director. My professional life is framed by cultural
and artistic work in stage productions. I also hold a degree in Social Communication, a
Master’s in Linguistics and Language Teaching, and a Ph.D. in Managerial Sciences
with an emphasis on Cultural and Academic Management. I have extensive experience
in my home country (Venezuela) as a researcher in Public Speaking and in teaching
body-vocal expression to performing artists at universities.
Among my specializations, I have a diploma in Voice and Movement with an artistic and
therapeutic focus, completed in Brazil. Additionally, I pursued postgraduate studies in
Havana, Cuba: Intelligence, Creativity, and Talent Development and Cultural and
Educational Management. I trained as an actress at the Dramatic Society of Maracaibo (Venezuela), and in my artistic and specialization pursuits, I took courses and workshops in Venezuela and
Brazil in dance, music, and acting with renowned masters like Antunes Filho (Brazil),
Madalena Bernardes (Brazil), Flavia Puchi (Brazil), Eugenio Barba (Denmark), Carlos
Simioni (Brazil), Gisele Barre, and Marc Klein (France).
I have worked as an actress and director in various theater companies, participating in
national festivals in Venezuela and international ones.
I developed an extensive career in Venezuela as an artist and in training performing
artists at the University of Zulia, where I am now retired, and where I served as Director
of Culture for seven years. I left that role the year I moved to Houston in 2017. Naturally,
I brought with me my experience as a cultural manager, fulfilling my roles as director,
coordinator, and planner of strategic cultural initiatives, including serving as coordinator
of the National Culture Commission of Venezuelan Universities for four years.
Upon arriving in Houston, which is now my community, I acted and directed alongside a
group of Hispanic actors in La lechuga, a production about caring for the elderly; this led
to the creation of Teatro Loft, the company I currently direct. For several years, I
focused on stabilizing myself professionally, economically, and personally in Houston,
and thus in 2018, I founded the Spanish language school Spanish Perfecto, where I
serve as a teacher and academic leader. This is a school for adults where we promote
Spanish as well as Hispanic art and culture. The school has grown, and today we have
12 teachers from various Spanish-speaking countries. I also teach Spanish for native
and non-native speakers at Lone Star College.
At the same time, since my arrival in the U.S., I have conducted workshops in acting,
voice, and diction, interpretation, and stage management, establishing alliances and
connections with the local artistic community, with whom I have organized talks,
seminars, and explorations of dramatic and poetic texts.
In 2022, now established in the country, I formally founded Teatro Loft, a company with
very clear interests: to increase the presence of Spanish-language theater in Houston
and to ensure it is of ever-increasing quality. Therefore, our main activities are training
programs and a repertoire that speaks of Latin American identity through quality
productions.
As part of our programming, and given that in 2023 we were rehearsing our own
productions, we were able to host the National Company of the Dominican Republic,
artists who are friends, with whom I maintain exchanges of knowledge and
collaborations in productions, such as the one Teatro Loft brought for the audience’s
enjoyment. On that occasion, in my role as director of the company and general producer, we
presented El Último Personaje de Cecilia B, a work of great beauty with dramaturgy by
Giovanny Cruz, which was a great success among the audience at the Midtown Arts &
Theater Center Houston (MATCH) in Houston.
In March of this year, 2024, we premiered El corazón del incauto, a production I
adapted and directed. It is a play that speaks about diversity and love, but also about a
society that judges and punishes. With the premiere, we held training sessions with a
visit from one of its co-authors, Sandra Franzen, from Argentina.
For this production, we received support from the Colibrí Feminist Collective and
funding from the Houston Arts Alliance of the City of Houston, as well as many other
sponsors who contributed their expertise in services, publicity, and encouragement.
In May of this same year, we premiered Nuestra señora de las nubes by Arístides
Vargas (Argentina). On this occasion, I performed as both an actress and director,
which is always a challenge. This play, with its dramatic sensitivity and occasional
humor, portrays the hardships and memories of two immigrants who do not know each
other but come from the same place. They come together on stage to speak about their
nostalgia and the cultural influence of a homeland they had to leave behind for different
reasons.
Teatro Loft is growing because Hispanic performing artists identify with my content and
aesthetic proposal.
Another of my ongoing projects as a director is El sueño de las mariposas. This play addresses the value of democracy and the struggles of citizens, especially women.
I have always created theater in Venezuela that is committed to Latin American
narratives and issues, and this commitment to my approach to art has grown since
immigrating to the U.S., as it is my only way of speaking about who we are culturally as
Latin Americans, both within our countries and in this one that welcomes us as a
community. This sentiment defines my work, which is always focused on respecting
human rights.
My intention is to create real, activist theater that serves as a solid and transparent
medium for conveying messages. I do not aim to engage in hedonistic work; instead, I
put my talent and tools as an artist at the service of theater that is committed, reflective,
inclusive, and aligned with the principles of democracy, freedom, equity, and social
empathy.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My journey could never have been a peaceful one because I have never been peaceful,
but it has been a very fortunate journey. I was fortunate to be born into a home with an
artist mother and an academic father, and I also had extraordinary opportunities to be
alongside great masters, both in theater and linguistics. I was able to contribute to the
creation of academic spaces for the arts in my country, which gave me managerial
experience that has allowed me to create new spaces here in the United States, such
as my Spanish school and my theater company.
And here, in the United States, it’s difficult to speak of a peaceful journey as an
immigrant, a woman, a mother, and the daughter of parents with physical disabilities
whom I care for at home. These conditions already create challenges, in addition to the
need to learn a new language. No matter how strong I was as a person and in my
training, I even encountered a boss who was determined to undermine my self-esteem.
But all of this also makes me fortunate because it has made me stronger and more
aware of my social commitments.
For me, it is very important to work for the benefit of my community, of my surroundings,
trying to emotionally impact my students, the teachers and actors I direct, the audiences
of my plays, and my own family. Therefore, from any leadership position, I promote
values that, perhaps for me, were stumbling blocks in my path due to their
absence—diversity, valuing others, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a linguist, actress, director, teacher, and researcher. I have focused on corpo-vocal
development from a therapeutic, functional, and artistic perspective. My research
objectives have been linked to linguistics and various forms of expression on stage. I
have trained hundreds, maybe even thousands, of public speakers. I am known for this
field, but also as a theater actress and a cultural and academic manager, both in
Venezuela and the United States.
I am very proud of the extraordinary linguistic, theatrical, and managerial training
opportunities I had, and because of them, I was able to make a solid contribution to the
training of others. For example, in Venezuela, I designed the curriculum for the School
of Theater at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zulia, and I also designed the
University Cultural Policies, a benchmark in universities across the country.
I am proud that I was able to start my own Spanish school for adults in Houston, which
is growing more and more, and that I am successfully bringing attention to the theater
company.
Naturally, I am very proud of my greatest work of art: my children.
I believe that what sets me apart, even more than my theatrical identity, is the
combination of being an artist and a manager, because I can imagine but also execute,
create the execution plan over different timelines, and carry it out. I also think that what
distinguishes me is my way of working in a team; I promote an environment of absolute
appreciation for others being and thinking. I do not believe in leadership through
dictatorship; it is not possible for me because fighting against dictatorships begins with
myself.
What matters most to you? Why?
The people. Meeting people. Learning from people. Serving people. I always say
it, even in the context of doing theater now in this country and having a school for
adults. The best part of it all has been surrounding myself with sensitive,
intelligent, creative, positive, and loving people who value culture and diversity
and have a hunger to learn. People who, without knowing me before or knowing
my experience in my country, have generously given of themselves and trusted
me. When someone from either of my two endeavors tells me they are grateful to
me, for the opportunity, for the learning, for the enjoyment, I always have to
return the words because, in reality, I am immensely grateful for each and every
one of those people because they help me continue creating and believing in
myself. Because I want more sensitive and beautiful people in the world, I create
sensitive and beautiful theater.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.teatroloft.org and www.spanishperfecto.com
- Instagram: @teatroloft.houston @spanish.perfecto
- Facebook: @teatroloft.houston @spanish.perfecto
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZCeAl9wq8SGphjf6_7oITg
Image Credits
Betty Luis Fernandes
