Carlos Ferrari (playwright)
Carlos Ricardo Ferrari Sarracino was an Argentine-Puerto Rican playwright, actor and theatrical director. In Puerto Rico, Ferrari was well loved and known as "The most 'boricua' Argentine", "boricua" being a slang word that means Puerto Rican. In his adopted Caribbean country, Ferrari created the "Nuestro Teatro" theatrical company in 1977.
Life and career
Ferrari studied acting from a very young age at Instituto del Arte Moderno in Buenos Aires, beginning in the 1940s. He was a radio and television screenwriter and collaborated in that role during the early days of Argentine television. Ferrari toured all over Argentina as a screenwriter.The Caja Nacional de Ahorro Postal gave Ferrari an award for a play in which he collaborated. The CNAP was a financial institution which was established in 1915 in Argentina under president Victorino de la Plaza; it was geared towards children and awarded young people whom they considered talented.
During the early 1960s, Ferrari moved to the United States, settling in New York City. In the United States, he studied direction at the RCA school. He decided to visit Puerto Rico, where he fell in love with that country's people and its tourist sites, deciding to establish himself there. He immediately directed one play for "Teatro del Sesenta", a theatrical company whose stars included, at one time or another, such luminaries as Luis Oliva and Luz María Rondón.
Ferrari directed many of Puerto Rico's top theatrical plays with Teatro del Sesenta, these included "El Herrero y el Diablo", "Marat-Sade", "La Cocina", "La Mandrágora", "Hip Hip Ufa" and his best-known play, "Puerto Rico Fua!", which lasted for many years on Puerto Rican theaters and was shown at the Theater Festival in Nancy, France and in Caracas, Venezuela, among other places.
Other successes included "El Otro Agueybana", "1898: El Ultimo Ano de la Desgracia Colonial y el Primero de lo Mismo", "Los Titingo de Juan Bobo" and "Amor en el Caserio".
In 1977, Ferrari formed "Nuestro Teatro", one of the most successful theatrical companies of Puerto Rico, together with partners, actor Eduardo Diaz and actress Damaris Rodriguez. With that company, Ferrari presented "El Insolito Caso de Miss Piňa Colada", "Dito! Tan Bueno Que Era!", "Con el Agua Hasta el Cuello", "Como Chava Chendo!" and more.
Through the rest of his life, well into his later years, Ferrari kept writing and directing plays, including "Seis Maridos Para Marie", "Festival del Chillo", "Aquel Contraya'o Dia en que no Tuvimos Television", as well as children's plays "La Cigueňa va a la Escuela" and "Bailando al Son Del Corillo". He continued touring internationally, including Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and a return to New York.