"The flying crab", an 'ingenious' and playful setting of Ingenio Teatro for children of all ages. (By Baltasar Santiago Martín)

On Saturday, July 23, I attended the theater of the Koubek Center, Miami Dade College, to enjoy the staging of the play The Flying Crab, based on a text by Onelio Jorge Cardoso adapted by Lilliam Vega, the actress and director of Ingenio, who also directed it, together with Flora Lauten, Ángela Moreno as an assistant and Ivanesa Cabrera as acting coach for the children.

If making theater for adults is always a challenge for any playwright, finding a text appropriate for children and adapting it, as well as choosing the actors and directing them – because it cannot be "any" actor either – is a rather complex and risky task, that Lilliam Vega and all the colleagues involved have earned with The flying crab, an “ingenious” and playful setting of El Ingenio Teatro for children of all ages, as I wanted to emphasize in the title of the review.

And I used the adjective "playful" intentionally because although every theatrical performance is a kind of game with reality, fantasy and even with the absurd, when there are children sitting in the auditorium, they should not feel bored at any time, and that is one of the many merits of this play, which made them participants in the "game" of this crab that wants to have wings to be able to fly, with several nice characters as companions of that "game".

José Raúl as Little Crab 

and Rubén Romeo as his grandfather.

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And as the scenery to tell this naïve and at the same time exalting story had the beautiful and original designs of Armando Tejuca, it is logical that all the actors felt "in and at their own air", as I could see: José Raúl as Little Crab, Rubén Romeo as his grandfather, Kirenia Vega as the Wood Pigeon, Simone Balmaseda as Maleficent, Fanny Tachín in her double role as Owl and Flamingo, and Luis Naleiro as Monkey and Tocororo, all of them wearing a very striking and enriching costume and makeup and "playing" with their characters as if they were big children again, demonstrating their ductility and their commitment to the craft they have chosen to live to the fullest.

Simone Balmaseda as Maleficent.

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José Raúl, as Little Crab, 

already with his wings, on the top of the tree.

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Without leaving anyone behind, I want to mention Mily Martínez who was in charge of that makeup that I praised; "the older crab"; Héctor Agüero, who was in charge of the choreography; Jorge Morejón and the children of the Center Mater who played the musical part; Manolo Rodríguez, the curtain keeper, and Nara Valdés, in charge of the costumes of the Owl and the Pigeon, while Loipa Alonso was in charge of the general production. The rest of the costumes and the design of lighting were in charge of “ Ingenio Teatro."

At the end, with Centro Mater children “actors”

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I conclude with another great merit of this play: they were able to involve the children "actors" Madison Flores, Isaac Henríquez, Sebastián Vallenilla, Daniela Aragón, Lorena Martínez and Brithany Chantez in this "game", in which everyone, absolutely everyone, comes out as winners.

Baltasar Santiago Martín

ACP/ACE Miami Public Relations and Press.

Photos: Courtesy of Ingenio Teatro.

Translation: Baltasar S. Martin & Roberto Bauta.

Hialeah, August 5, 2022.

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Versión en Español

"El cangrejito volador", una ‘ingeniosa” y lúdica puesta de El Ingenio Teatro para niños de todas las edades. (por Baltasar Santiago Martín)