Teatro Español y Naves del Español

Artistic direction

ARTISTIC DIRECTION

José Alberto Puertas 
Natalia Menéndez - Directora Artística
Artistic Director (2019 - 2023)
Natalia Menéndez

Natalia Menéndez (Madrid, 1967) is an actress, director, playwright and theatre director. She has a degree in Acting and in Stage Direction from the Royal School of Dramatic Arts in Madrid (RESAD). Her professional career as an actress began in 1987, a facet of the arts in which she has amassed considerable experience. In film, she has worked with directors such as Carlos Saura, Emilio Martínez Lázaro and José Luis Bollaín; in television, with Diana Álvarez, Carlos Serrano, Adolfo Marsillach, Eva Lesmes, Pepe Ganga, Jaime Botella, Toni Sevilla and Paino, among others; and in theatre, with Jesús Cracio, Guillermo Heras, Miguel Narros, Gerardo Malla, Jorge Lavelli and Jean-Pierre Miquel. 

Menéndez has directed some thirty productions in theatre, music, zarzuela and chamber opera, both in Spain and America; these include: Comida by Matin Van Velduizen, El Invierno bajo la Mesa by Roland Topor, Don Juan Tenorio by Zorrilla in a version by Yolanda Pallín, El Curioso Impertinente by Guillén de Castro, La Duda by Patrick Shanley, Las Cuñadas by Michel Tremblay, Música Clásica by Ruperto Chapi, Tantas Voces by Pirandello, in a version by Juan Carlos Plaza Asperilla, 2 Delirios by José Sanchis Sinisterra, Realidad by Tom Stoppard, La Amante Inglesa by Marguerite Duras, La Villana by Amadeo Vives, Tejiendo la Paz, which premièred in Bogotá on the occasion of the Signing of the Peace Treaty, Tebas Land by Sergio Blanco, Mi Niña Niña Mía by Amaranta Osorio and Itziar Pascual or Tres Sombreros de Copa by Miguel Mihura. 

She is the author of Llevarnos lo Malo, Querido Mozart, Clic, and A Voces, she has created versions of numerous texts including Tartufo, un Impostor de Molière, and a dozen or so adaptations including La Cantante Calva by Ionesco, Se Van los Días by John Fosse or Las Falsas Confidencias by Marivaux 

For the past ten years, she has been collaborating as a dance dramatist with 10&10 Danza. As an artistic director, she has put on several exhibitions, including A Tres Bandas, which was inaugurated in Bogotá, 1812: El Poder de la Palabra, which opened in Cadiz, or Arte y Naturaleza en la Prehistoria, which opened in Madrid. She gives courses, workshops and conferences in Europe, America, Africa and Asia. She was also the director of the Almagro International Festival of Classical Theatre Foundation from 2010 to 2017.

In 2020, Natalia Menéndez was made Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. Her career has been marked by awards such as the Chivas Prize for Best New Director for El Invierno bajo la Mesa (2006) or the Critical Eye and Agora awards at the Almagro Festival for La Discreta Enamorada, both in 1996. She was awarded the Celcit medal in 2013, and in 2017 she was admitted to the Civil Order of Alfonso X the Wise, in the category of Commendation.

My thanks to the team for their commitment and effort.





















 
 José Alberto Puertas
Luis Luque - Director Adjunto Artístico
 
Assistant Artistic Director
Luis Luque

An actor and stage director, Luis Luque Cabrera (Madrid, 1973) has trained alongside masters of the calibre of Miguel Narros and Andrea D'Odorico. He graduated from the Mar Navarro school of theatre where he specialised in the technique of Jacques Lecoq, and he trained as a performer with Zulema Katz. He has also studied at the Juan Carlos Corazza Studio, and in addition to this, he has trained in comedy theatre and clowning techniques with Hernán Gené and in vocal techniques and Spanish metrics with Vicente Fuentes. As a stage director, he has directed Fedra, Dentro de la Tierra, Lulú, El Pequeño Poni, El Señor Ye Ama los Dragones, Ahora Empiezan las Vacaciones and La Escuela de la Desobediencia, all of which are texts by the playwright and winner of the National Prize for Dramatic Literature, Paco Bezerra; Todas las Noches de un Día, by Alberto Conejero; La Cantante Calva, by Ionesco; Oleanna, by David Mamet; Alejandro Magno, by Jean Racine; Insolación, by Emilia Pardo Bazán; Diario de un Loco, by Nikolai V. Gógol; Porno Casero, by Jose Padilla; Ni Príncipes ni Azules, by Rosa Sáez; and No Digas que Fue un Sueño, by Constantino Cavafis. For Mónica Runde, he created No Quiero Olvidar, his first choreographic piece that was part of Episodios, a show that celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the 10&10 Danza company.

In 2005, he met Natalia Menéndez and began working with her regularly as an assistant director. He has worked with her in more than six productions, including, for example, Las Cuñadas, Realidad, Don Juan Tenorio, La Sospecha and Tres Versiones de la Vida.

He was nominated in 2018 for the 12th Valle-Inclán Awards as best director for La Cantante Calva, a production that premiered at the Teatro Español, and in that same year he was named Best Director at the 39th City of Palencia Theatre Festival Awards for Todas las Noches de un Día. With this same text and production, he won the award for Best Show of the 2018/2019 Montcada i Reixac season. As a teacher, he collaborates on a regular basis with the Juan Codina Studio where he has been a member of the teaching staff since the centre's creation.