Candles outside, rechargeable lamps inside, and actors soaked in sweat on stage: this is how the group Impulso Teatro presented the play "Ensueño" in a repurposed mansion in El Vedado, while power outages in that Havana neighborhood approached 24 hours a day.
A report by Reuters published on Thursday depicted the resilience of these artists in the face of the electrical collapse affecting Cuba in 2026.
The performance on Friday, October 2, took place without electricity, air conditioning, or sound system at the Casona de Línea, the group's venue since 2015 in the capital neighborhood. The entire dramatic weight rested solely on the acting of the 14 cast members.
Linda Soriano, the director of the company, acknowledged that the power outages had taken a toll on the team's morale. "It became impossible for the actors to arrive on time; they were exhausted and found it hard to cope with the situation," she said. "I told them they were free to leave." However, the cast chose to continue.
The most compelling testimony came from Carlos Pérez Peña, aged 88, the oldest actor in the company and winner of the National Theater Award of Cuba in 2009. A co-founder of Teatro Escambray and a prominent figure in the Cuban scene, Pérez Peña succinctly summarized the dilemma of those who refuse to give in: "What keeps us doing theater is the determination that it does not die... but it has a cost."
The veteran actor also pointed out that many performers and technicians work multiple jobs to make ends meet in a country where prices have skyrocketed and the Cuban peso has collapsed. "I don't know if I could have held out at 25," he admitted.
For those who attended the performance, the show was more than just entertainment. Spectator Amanda Feijó described it as "a small ray of light amid all the darkness" and added that it was "uplifting to see an audience striving to nourish their spirit despite the truly unfortunate situation the country is going through."
The case of Impulso Teatro is not an isolated one. The electricity crisis has severely impacted Cuban culture: the Karl Marx Theater suspended all its performances in February 2026, and the International Ballet Grand Prix of Havana was postponed until July 2027 due to the inability to ensure minimum technical conditions. The National Ballet canceled performances of Giselle in June due to a malfunction of the air conditioning system at the National Theater.
Musicians have not been exempt either. Carlos Alfonso and Ele Valdés, from the group Síntesis, described the blackouts as a "psychological torture of the masses". Actor Roberto Perdomo revealed that he stopped accepting theatrical jobs because the cost of transportation consumed almost his entire salary.
This Saturday, on the 158th anniversary of the Grito de Yara, the Electric Union predicted a maximum impact of 1,680 MW at peak demand, with circuits in Holguín accumulating over 25 hours without service. The day before, the actual impact had reached 1,886 MW.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, acknowledged in May that circuits in Havana were experiencing outages of between 20 and 22 hours a day, a figure that in areas like El Vedado is already approaching the absolute limit.
Meanwhile, Impulso Teatro continues to light up its rechargeable lamps every Friday. "What keeps us going," Pérez Peña insisted, "is the determination that it does not die."
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