Gilberto Valenzuela sits in Dean Zayas’ chair in the new season of Estudio Actoral

For the theater director Gilberto Valenzuela sit in the same chair occupied by the late actor, director Dean Zayas in the program “Acting Study”which WIPR broadcasts, is an honor he welcomed without the expectation of filling the shoes of the great master of theater.

Valenzuela recognizes that no one can wear Zayas’ shoeswho spent 20 years leading the interview space that reveals the development of those who forge and work in the national theater industry and in the media.

After the death of the actor, director, producer and professor, who died in February 2022, and who dedicated his entire life to the arts in Puerto Rico, the “Actorial Studio” program had not been made, until a few weeks ago the premiere of the season with Valenzuela leading television production. The program began last September 12 with broadcasts on Tuesdays at 11 pm and rebroadcast on Saturdays at 10:30 pm, and Sunday at 7:30 pm

WIPR’s new television season comprises 13 episodes.

“It’s not the body but the shoes. Nobody fills those shoes. That generation like Dean’s… I don’t think they will exist again. They were people with incredible preparation and total dedication to the theater and everyone else. That generation practically breathed theater 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “I feel very happy and honored to be able to be in this project that Dean loved so much,” said Valenzuela, who was also one of Zayas’ students, whom he followed in his footsteps as director and producer.

Valenzuela has a career of more than 35 years in the performing arts. He is highly knowledgeable about the theater industry, which has allowed him to work with almost the entire artistic class, including people dedicated to the production phase. The director clarified that in this new season he gets to season the television space with his knowledge and experience, and that unlike Zayas he is not a theater teacher.

“As I have worked with almost all the actors, producers, and theater technicians in this country, we talk a lot about what we have worked on. Furthermore, it is essential to touch on the interviewee’s career so that people know it, because otherwise the collective memory is lost. The approach I can give to the interview is different from that of Zayas, who was a teacher for all of us. For me, the program is a continuity of paying tribute to the artistic class and letting people know what is behind a production that seems easy but requires great work. In fact, making it look easy is actually the job,” the director revealed that this year he had to direct productions that evoke 1980s television, such as “Entering Through the Kitchen” and the return of veteran actor Otilio Warrington to the theater with the piece “The true story of Cuca Gomez”.

Among the interviewees of the season are the tenor Rafael Davila, the teacher Rosa Luisa Marquez, the actresses Linnette Torres, Sara Jarque and Alfonsina Molinari and Pedro Adorno from the collective “Agua, sol y sereno”, among others.

“In space, all aspects of the interviewee are sought so that people know everything they do and how they diversify,” he concluded.