Identity elements
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Héctor Santiago Papers
Date(s)
- 1958-2002 (Creation)
Extent
7 Boxes
Name of creator
Biographical history
Héctor Santiago Armenteros Ruiz is a versatile artist who was involved in theater in Cuba, before and after the Cuban Revolution, and in the United States. He worked as an actor, playwright, director, choreographer, dancer, and puppeteer. Santiago was born in Havana, Cuba in 1944. He graduated from the Cuban National Dramatist School after studying literature at the University of Havana. In 1959, he co-founded the Children’s Theatrical Movement in Cuba. The writer Virgilio Piñera was his intimate friend and his literature professor throughout those active years.
In 1965, Santiago was accused of antisocial behavior. Five years later he was arrested and his literary works seized by the government. The artist was sentenced to three years service in UMAP (Military Units to Aid Production), which was a type of Cuban forced labor camp where political dissidents were made to work in inhumane conditions. In 1979, he left Cuba for Spain. Santiago was eventually able to move to New York, where he resides today.
Santiago has been active in promoting HIV awareness in New York City. He has shown a strong desire to portray the social and human impacts of the disease, as it was a theme in his plays throughout the 1980s. He once said, “As a human being, I have tried to bring light to these dark times and unflaggingly struggled so that man does not become man’s wolf.”
Many of his plays have been performed in Cuba and in the United States. His short stories, essays, and plays have been published and translated into English, French and Catalan. His play Vida y Pasión de la Peregrina (Life and Passion of the Pilgrim) was the winner of the Golden Letters Award from the University of Florida, and the world premiere took place during the Miami International Theatre Festival in 1998.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
The Héctor Santiago Papers collection includes only part of his literary anthology, with future additions expected. The Papers include scripts, essays, short stories, reviews, clippings, and theater programs. Additionally, the collection contains personal and professional correspondence, interviews, awards, and financial records. Some scripts and stories written by Santiago in 1960s were excavated from the ground beneath a tree in Cuba where they had been buried for more than 20 years. In order to preserve these original typescripts, photocopies have been made for perusal. Also of interest is a group of letters written by Santiago’s fellow prisoners in UMAP.
System of arrangement
The Héctor Santiago Papers are organized into two series described in the "Finding Aid/Inventory" section of this guide. A detailed container list is available in the "Container List (PDF)" field.
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
This collection is open for research.
Physical access
Due to the fragile condition of originals, selected manuscript playscripts and stories written by Santiago in 1960s are only available for use as photocopies.
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Requests to publish or display materials from this collection require written permission from the rights owner. Please, contact chc@miami.edu for more information.
Preferred citation: Héctor Santiago Papers, Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries, Coral Gables, Florida.
Languages of the material
- Spanish
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Generated finding aid
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Gift of Héctor Santiago, 2006. A second donation of materials was received in 2016.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Selected materials from this collection have been digitized.
https://digitalcollections.library.miami.edu/digital/collection/theater
Related archival materials
Related descriptions
Notes element
General note
Other Information:
Sponsor Note:
This collection processed with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.
Rights Statement:
The text of this webpage is available for modification and reuse under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License and the GNU Free Documentation License (unversioned, with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts).
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Archivist's note
Processed by Marta Martínez, November 2008. Finding aid edited by Rachel Ewy and María R. Estorino, October 2009. Finding aid subjects terms assigned by Ana D. Rodríguez, February 2013. Updated by Juan A.Villanueva and Samuel J. Franco, February 2017. Updated by Rebeca Gonzalez, May 2021.
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Unidades Militares de Ayuda (Subject)