González, Ofelia

Pessoa singular

González, Ofelia

1920-

Ofelia González (b.1920) was a Cuban theater actress and the first actress to win an OBIE Award without having performed in English. In her native Cuba, she appeared often in performances at Havana's Palacio de Bellas Artes. She enrolled in an acting academy in the 1950’s and went on to be the recipient of six “best actress” awards. After leaving Cuba in 1971 due to the political situation, González arrived in Miami, and settled in North Bergen, New Jersey with one of her daughters and two grandchildren. In 1972, she became a founding member and prominent addition to the New York based company, Repertorio Español founded in 1968 by producer Gilberto Zaldivar and Artistic Director René Buch, after she was seen cast in Bernarda Alba and El Pagador de Promesas by Max Ferra, artistic director of INTAR Hispanic American Arts Center. She stayed with Repertorio Español for the entirety of her decades-long career. Since all of the productions are performed in original Spanish language geared towards Hispanic audiences, González never learned English, although she expressed desire to, she noted that developing her art was always her primary focus.

She was one of the strongest actresses in Repertorio Español, with Zaldivar calling her the backbone of the company. In fact, at 73 years old in 1993, she played four roles of a grandmother or grandmother-like character in the same season, first for an adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Innocent Erendira, as Doña Geno in Dolores Prida's comedy Botánica, the cigar-smoking grandmother in Gloria González's lighthearted Cafe con Leche and the title character in Garcia Lorca's House of Bernarda Alba. In a 1989 New York Times review of the Repertorio’s ''La Casa de Bernarda Alba,” it says that “Ofelia Gonzalez, as Bernarda Alba, plays to the ridicule of her sharp-toothed servants. She makes you believe absolutely that her character is absurd, terrifying, irresistible and pitiable all at once.” A review of Repertorio Español’s production of Federico García Lorca's tragedy ''Blood Wedding'' (''Bodas de Sangre'') where González played the role of “Mother,” notes that her voice had the timbre of a cello. The artistic director of Repertorio Español, Rene Buch, stated that "[Ofelia] is the most instinctive actress I have ever encountered." In a 1984 interview, González herself admits that her technique was always to work from ''intuition, not method.''

Her major roles on theater were her portrayals of Bernarda in The House of Bernarda Alba in New York, Nurse in Romeo and Juliet in New York, Serafina in The Rose Tattoo in Havana, the title role in Medea in New York, Amanda in The Glass Menagerie in New York, the title role in Celestina in New York, Clara in The Visit in New York and Mother in The Guns of Mother Carrar in Havana. She has also acted in film and TV.

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Biographical note written by Kate Villa, 2020-2021 UGrow Fellow for Manuscripts and Archives Management.

1. Pearce, Michele. "Ofelia Gonzalez." American Theatre, vol. 10, no. 3, Mar. 1993, p. 26. Gale In Context: Biography, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A14152126/BIC?u=miami_richter&sid=BIC&xid=792bf926

2. Cuban Theater Digital Archive (miami.edu)

3. FOR CUBAN ACTRESS, ART IS ALL - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

4. Repertorio Espanol :: About Us (archive.org)

5. Cuban Theater Digital Archive (miami.edu)

6. Reviews/Theater; Repertorio Espanol in 'La Casa de Bernarda Alba' - The New York Times (nytimes.com)