• Source: Margarita Xirgu Multidisciplinary School of Dramatic Art

The Escuela Multidisciplinaria de Arte Dramático Margarita Xirgu (EMAD) (Spanish for 'Margarita Xirgu Multidisciplinary School of Dramatic Arts') is a public drama school in Montevideo, Uruguay. The institute offers a degree in acting and theater design, as well as a teaching degree in theater and body expression, and a technical degree in dramaturgy.
Founded in 1949, it is the first drama school in the country and the only public. In 2010, it was named in honor of the Spanish actress Margarita Xirgu who developed part of her career in Uruguay. For its first 50 years, the school operated in the east wing of the Solís Theatre and after operating in different locations, in 2008 it was established in the Cordón neighborhood.




History


One of the oldest drama schools in the Hispanic world, the Municipal School of Dramatic Art was founded on November 14, 1949 by the playwright and politician, Justino Zavala Muñiz and the Spanish actress Margarita Xirgu, who was exiled in Uruguay. As head of the theater commission of the Intendancy of Montevideo, the former had created the Comedia Nacional, an official stable theater cast, and the Municipal School of Music two years earlier. Its first home was the east wing of the Solís Theatre in Montevideo, a place it shared with the Comedia Nacional.
Its first artistic director was Margarita Xirgu, who was in office until 1957. In the 1970s, the theatrical set design course began to be taught, under the supervision of the set designer Osvaldo Reyno.
In 1998, due to the renovations carried out at the Solís Theatre, the EMAD was temporarily housed in the Astral Theatre of the Zhitlovsky Israelite Association, in the Palermo neighborhood. Two years later, it moved to the Alliance Française building in the central business district. Starting in 2001 and in the following years, the school moved several times, until settling in its current home, on Mercedes Street in the Cordón neighborhood.
In July 2013, the school became associated with the National School of Fine Arts Institute of the Faculty of Arts of the University of the Republic, and in 2016 a technical degree in dramaturgy began to be taught in agreement with the Faculty of Humanities and Educational Sciences of the same university.
In 2010, by resolution of the Intendancy of Montevideo, the school was renamed the Margarita Xirgu Montevidean School of Dramatic Art, retaining the acronym "EMAD". However, a year later, it was renamed the Margarita Xirgu Multidisciplinary School of Dramatic Art, again retaining the acronym.
In late 2023, it was announced that the institute would be moved again. In January 2024, the purchase of the headquarters building of the Central Israelite Committee of Uruguay and the Synagogue of the Jewish Community to house the school facilities was confirmed.




Notable alumni


Roxana Blanco
Mateo Chiarino
Estela Medina
María Mendive
Margarita Musto
Walter Reyno
Alfonso Tort
Omar Varela
Enzo Vogrincic




References






External links


Official website

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Margarita Xirgu Multidisciplinary School of Dramatic Art
• Enzo Vogrincic
• Alfonso Tort
• María Mendive
• Margarita Musto
• Mateo Chiarino
• Estela Medina
• Roxana Blanco
• Walter Reyno
• Omar Varela