A free festival in Alt Penedès with Pol Guasch, Diana Gómez, and Elisabet Casanovas
Soolus is born, an initiative that brings creators from all disciplines to the stage alone.
BarcelonaStarting this summer, the Alt Penedès region will host a new free interdisciplinary festival, Soolus, featuring artists such as Pol Guasch, Diana Gómez, Tanit, Elisabet Casanovas, and Albert Baró. All participants have accepted the festival's basic premise: to bring artistic proposals starring a single individual to the stage. The creator behind this initiative is actor and director Francesc Cuéllar, who has decided to deploy a diverse program in his homeland, encompassing all genres. Soolus will run for three days: starting on June 7 in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, continuing on June 8 in Olesa de Bonesvalls, and ending on September 27 in Vilafranca del Penedès.
"It's a one-person festival in which all disciplines are welcome as long as they are performed by a single person, with the aim of giving artistic freedom to all participants," explains Cuéllar. The first edition of Soolus will kick off in Sant Sadurní with a poetry recital by Pol Guasch, to which the festival has given free rein. On the same day, Diana Gómez will perform a dramatized reading of a portion of the novel Dirty by Bárbara Mestanza, the story of survival of a girl who suffers sexual assault and a toxic relationship. Nnesha. In addition, singer-songwriter and dancer Tanit will present the EP Indomitable Three performances over the three days of the festival.
Elisabet Casanovas, on overcoming her ancestors
On the second day of the festival, actress Elisabet Casanovas will read the text Through the bathtub sink by Gaia Bautista in Olesa de Bonesvalls. "It's a reading about returning to the place where you were born and that struggle between the desire to honor your ancestors and the imperative to overcome them," highlights the festival director. The Soolus will conclude in Vilafranca del Penedès with a reading ofApnea, the first monologue in Catalan by Hodei Arrastoa, with Albert Baró. The festival will feature a dance performance by Patricia Hastewell, who will present V, a talk by political scientist Pablo Simón and the creation of two murals made live by two local artists, Xuquin and Lajarlei.
In a way, Soolus takes over from the EVA festival, which also took place in the Penedès and which in November said goodbye after twenty years of existence"One of our goals is to decentralize culture, make things happen in this region, and democratize the festival. That's why it's free," Cuéllar emphasizes. Soolus is sowing its first seeds this year with the hope that, in future editions, more municipalities will join in and the program can be expanded throughout the summer.
