Oscar Castro Ramírez,ÓscarCastroRamí (13 May 1947 – 25 April 2021), was a Chilean playwright, actor and director of the Aleph Theater.
Life
Óscar Castro founded the Aleph Theatre in Santiago in 1968 with fellow students. Self-taught and politically active, the Aleph wrote and staged a series of musical plays and produced satirical programmes for Chilean television. On tour in France at the time of the coup d’état in September 1973, the company presented La Trinchera del Supertricio (an allegory of the military coup ) in October 1974. As a result, several actors of the troupe were arrested, interrogated and tortured: two disappeared under interrogation and two others (Óscar Castro and his sister Marieta) were interned in concentration camps for two years. During his internment, Óscar created a new play each week for the «Viernes culturales» for his fellow inmates.
On his release in 1976, Óscar was exiled and sought asylum in France. Since 1976, Óscar lived in Paris where he continued to create plays and write novels. The Aleph Theatre company, which he directed, is based in the Parisian suburb of Ivry sur Seine, where they have their own theatre space. Over the years, the Aleph Theatre company has become a myth and a reference for Latin-American theatre and Erase una vez un rey Once upon a time there was a king, written in 1971, has become today one of the most frequently performed plays throughout Central and Latin America.
He died from COVID-19 on 25 April 2021 at the age of 73 in Paris, France.
Drama
Some dates
Óscar Castro has written, directed and performed in more than 30 Aleph creations, touring in France, Europe, Russia and North, Central and Latin America.
1982 Nominated member of the French PEN Club. 1983 Received the prize of the Best Script and Best Stage Direction for "La Nuit Suspendue" at Rencontres Charles Dullin, Villejuif (France). 1988 “On s’est tant aimé à Santiago”: documentary directed by Frédéric Laffont et Pierre Barouh about Óscar Castro’s life and career, produced for French television (Résistances, Antenne 2). 1990 created the Théâtre des Gens et des Métiers (T.G.M). First festival in the Bataclan (Paris). 1992 Nominated Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres distinction awarded by Jack Lang, ministry of Culture of French President François Mitterrand. 1995 Creation of the Theatre Aleph in Ivry sur Seine: a theatrical space for creation, training and performance. Creation of his school - LATINACTOR. 2013 Óscar Castro creates Teatro Aleph in Santiago with young Chilean actors. 2017 Nominated Comendador del orden al mérito docente y cultura Gabriela Mistral distinction awarded by ministry of education of Chile. 2018 Nominated Chevalier de la légion d'honneur distinction awarded by Françoise Nyssen, ministry of Culture