Mario Ernesto Sanchez, founder and producing artistic director of Teatro Avante and the International Hispanic Theatre Festival of Miami, received the 2014 Legacy Award in Los Angeles, Sunday. The honor recognizes “outstanding individuals whose lifelong commitment to Latino Theater in the United States and Latin America will have a lasting impact on the field,” said Jose Luis Valenzuela, artistic director of the Latino Theater Company/LATC, in his letter to Sanchez informing him of the award.

The presentation was part of the closing ceremonies of “Encuentro 2014,” a month-long gathering of Latin theater artists hosted by the Los Angeles Theatre Center in association with the Latina/o Theatre Commons.

“Your work,” noted Valenzuela in his letter, “has had a profound influence on the development of Latino Theater both nationally and internationally.”

Sanchez was honored alongside two other historic figures in Latino theater in the United States: Luis Valdez, founder and artistic director of El Teatro Campesino, a company founded in 1965, based in San Juan Bautista, Calif.; and Miriam Colon, founder and director of the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, created in 1967 and recently merged with Pregones Theater, another important Latino theater institution.

For Sanchez, a seemingly unsinkable champion of theater in Miami, the award means “that we have done a lot but we have a lot more to do. That’s all it means. I’m humbled by it but at the same time I’m very proud. But I always feel we haven’t done enough. We still need to create more interest in the residents of Miami for theater; that’s what we are still lacking.”

“Don’t misunderstand me, I’m happy we are getting this award and it belongs to everybody who has helped Teatro Avante and the International Hispanic Theatre Festival to survive, and that includes audiences and sponsors. But I have to be honest, I think there’s still a lot that needs to be done.”  

Teatro Avante is a two-time winner of Knight Arts Challenge South Florida. Dennis Scholl, Knight’s vice president for the arts, described Sanchez as a pillar of South Florida’s theater community.

“The festival has become the gold standard of Hispanic theater in the United States, and this is due to Mario Ernesto’s perseverance and skill over the last four decades,” Scholl said.  “This honor is well deserved.”

Mario Ernesto Sanchez receives Knight Arts Challenge award on behalf of Teatro Avante (Knightfdn photo)

But rather than discuss achievements — he founded Teatro Avante in 1979 and next year he will be presenting the 30th International Hispanic Theatre Festival — Sanchez talks about improving the use of supertitles in English in the Spanish language performances. “We‘ve tried since 1995 and have failed to attract the Anglo community. Completely,” he says. “But I’m going to keep trying even if it’s time-consuming and it’s costly, because I think it’s our duty to make it accessible to everyone.”

Born in Cuba, Sanchez arrived to the United States as part of the Pedro Pan airlift in the early 60s. He has witnessed the growth and changes in Miami, from skyline to politics, and remains optimistic about its future.

“Miami used to be a cultural desert — but not anymore,” he says. “Just in recent years, many things have happened: Knight Foundation has done a great job not just supporting the work of artists but developing audiences; we have the Adrienne Arsht Center, PAMM; everything helps. And in the last two years there’s been sort of an explosion in Miami of places that have opened and are presenting theater, black box theater, and new venues like the Koubek Center, and everything that happens brings people out of their homes and those people maybe someday might come to our shows too.”

He persists, he says, because he decided long ago, “Miami is my home. So I stay and fight, fight for what I believe and what I believe is good for the city. So whatever it takes, for as long as it takes. I believe in theater. It does a lot of good to people, to the community.

“Last year we just did [Mario Vargas Llosa’s] ‘Al Pie del Tamesis’ (‘On the Banks of the Thames’), a two-character play that deals with homophobia. It’s the story of a man who meets someone he believes is the sister of an old friend he hasn’t seen in 40 years. And at the end of one night a girl came to me with her eyes full of tears and said, ‘Thank you for bringing this play. My brother is gay and I have never, ever supported him and starting tomorrow that will change.’ And to me that did it. Something like that, even if it’s one person, covers all my troubles and tribulations doing theater.”

Fernando González is a Miami-based arts & culture writer.