Cuban Theater Digital Archive

Monta que te quedas is El Ciervo Encantado’s first performance to make use of and be documented through social media. It follows Black Hole in Territorial References, when they used emails, much like Lázaro Saavedra’s “galería imeil,” to indirectly refer to the cancellation of the exhibit and performance, Territorial References. It is also connected to previous performances where they have left the stage and taken their performances to the streets. (See Lillian Manzor and Jaime Gómez Triana, El Ciervo Encantado: An Altar in the Mangrove.)

For this performance, Mariela Brito and María Luisa Hernández Cadenas, donned wedding gowns and proceeded to walk through various Havana streets and neighborhoods -- Prado, Malecón, Piragua, Revolution Square, and L and  la Rampa Streets in Vedado. They held hands, looking at each other fondly, embracing, and kissing. They also talked to passersby who oftentimes congratulated them and helped them with their veils. Some also disapproved of the public expression of affection between two women.

The need to intervene in the public sphere was raised by the debate around the proposed article 68 of the new constitution, the equal marriage article. Various churches launched a campaign with an ad that stated “I am in favor of the original design; the family like God created it” with a drawing of the traditional heterosexual family: mother, father, boy, and girl. Cuban artists immediately responded with their own campaign “I am in favor of the Cuban design; a very original family.” In addition to walking and frolicking through various Havana neighborhoods, the performers handed out cards in favor of equal marriage with a variation of the second design.