Isabel Moreno

Isabel Moreno Pérez (28 January 1942 – 9 June 2024) was a Cuban actress.

She worked in Cuba, Venezuela, and the United States, where she later resided. She is known for playing characters such as Teresa Trebijo, La Santiaguera, Chachi, La Mexicana, Soledad Mendoza Cachita, and Bernarda Alba.

Biography

Isabel Moreno was born in Havana on 28 January 1942, the only daughter of Eugenio Moreno and Isabel Pérez. She was married to actor Gaspar González from the 1970s onwards. They had two daughters and a son.

Moreno died on 9 June 2024, at the age of 82.

Early career

Moreno's beginnings were in the theater, where she spent most of her artistic career, although she ventured into film and television.

In the 1960s, she became involved in the cultural movement of Havana and the formation of several theater groups. She made her debut as an amateur in the play La taza de café, directed by Juan Rodolfo Amán. She participated in the First Worker and Peasant Theater Festival in 1962 with La fablilla del secreto bien guardado.

In 1961, she joined a group of young actors with training in mime and body language under the orders of the French professor Pierre Chausat. She belonged to theater groups such as the Conjunto Dramático Nacional, Las Máscaras, La Rueda, and Guernica, appearing in plays such as A Streetcar Named Desire, Réquiem por Yarini by Carlos Felipe Hernández, The Threepenny Opera, Aire frío by Virgilio Piñera, and Entremeses japoneses by Yukio Mishima.

Moreno joined Grupo Teatro Estudio in 1969, and remained with it for more than 20 years. She taught at the National Art School of Cuba and the Instituto Superior de Arte for several years. In the early 1990s, she emigrated to Venezuela. Her first roles there were in telenovelas on networks such as Marte TV [es], RCTV, and Venevisión. In early 2001 she arrived in the United States, where she worked in television and theater, with sporadic appearances in film.

Grupo Teatro Estudio

Under the direction of Raquel Revuelta and with the mentorship of Vicente Revuelta , Berta Martínez, and Armando Suárez del Villar, among others, she participated in more than 20 plays, and alternated theater with roles in Cuban cinema and television. This was the most fruitful stage of her career in Cuba. In turn, she made several national and international tours with the company to Spain and other European countries. Some of her most prominent roles were:

• El millonario y la maleta by Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda ... Gabriela
• Bernarda (Berta Martínez's version of The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca) ... Adela
• The Dog in the Manger by Lope de Vega ... Countess Diana
• El becerro de oro by Joaquín Lorenzo Luaces ... Belén
• El Conde Alarcos by José Jacinto Milanés ... Blanca
• La dolorosa historia de amor secreto de José Jacinto Milanés by Abelardo Estorino ... Carlota
• A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen ... Nora
• The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca ... Adela
• Las impuras by Miguel de Carrión  ... Teresa Trebijo
• Blood Wedding by Federico García Lorca ... The Bride
• Santa Camila de la Habana Vieja by José Ramón Brene ... Camila
• Morir del cuento by Abelardo Estorino ... Delfina the old woman
• ¿Y quién va a tomar café? by José Milián ... The Grandmother

Theater in the United States

• 2003: El arte de quejarse or Kvetch, Venevisión Internacional ... The Mother-in-Law
• 2007: O.K., Repertorio Español, New York
• 2010: The Color of Desire, Actors' Playhouse ... Leandra
• 2011: The Misunderstanding, Teatro Avante ... The Mother
• 2011: The House of Bernarda Alba, University of Miami Theater Department ... Bernarda Alba
• 2012: ARPIAS, Hispanic Theater Guild ... Mildred
• 2012–2013: El No, Teatro Avante ... Laura
• 2013: Metamorphoses, adapted by Mary Zimmerman, University of Miami Theater Department ... Various characters
• 2014: Años difíciles, Teatro Avante ... Olga