IN MEMORY OF JORGE GUERRA

What is life? A frenzy.

What is life? An illusion,

a shadow, a fiction,

and the greatest good is small;

for all of life is a dream,

and dreams themselves, are but dreams.*

 

 

 

Distinguished director, actor, designer, educator, and theater producer, Jorge (Coco) Wilfredo Guerra Castro, passed away last year, on Sunday, January 12, 2025, at the age of 72. On this first anniversary of his passing, I write this as a formal, as well as personal, in memoriam—a tribute to his life and his immeasurable contribution to the profession and art of theater, not only in Peru but also in the United States, whether through the plays he directed or by way of the thousands of young artists who were fortunate enough to learn from him, as well as his colleagues in the university/conservatory setting, either on stage or behind the scenes.

 

Jorge is survived by his wife of twenty years, Sarah (Rome) Guerra, and three children: Alejandra Guerra Morales, Martín Guerra Morales, and Mathias Guerra, the first two of whom he shared with his first wife, also of twenty years, Alicia Morales Dasso. He is also survived by two grandchildren, five siblings, several nieces and nephews, cousins, and many dear friends.

 

Jorge passed away as a result of complications derived from advanced Parkinson's disease, after living with the illness for 30 years. He died peacefully at home at 4:35 a.m. with his wife, Sarah, by his side, their hands clasped over each other's hearts until his last breath. He spent his final days in the company of his family and close friends, surrounded by their love for him.

 

Jorge was born on May 25, 1952, the eldest of six siblings, in Callao, Peru. While he was still young, the family moved to the town of La Punta, where he grew up in a vibrant environment—surrounded by a large family and the colorful characters of the neighborhood, the memories of whom remained ever present in his mind and his heart. It was his Aunt Emilia (la Mimi) who first took him to see operas and theater plays in the center of Lima, sparking his passion for the performing arts and the magical possibilities they possessed.

 

He also developed a great talent and love for drawing and painting. One of his first jobs was as an art teacher at the Colegio de la Inmaculada, the high school from which he graduated. When he entered the Catholic University (PUCP), he began in the College of Liberal Arts and had dreams of becoming an architect. However, a friend convinced him to audition for the School of Theatre (TUC, then directed by Luis Peirano), and it was there that theater became his life calling.

 

In 1973, he traveled to Montevideo to continue his studies at the then-called Margarita Xirgu Municipal School of Dramatic Arts. However, shortly afterward, the military coup in Uruguay forced him to return home. It was then that he assumed the position of Director of TUC at the young age of 21. He also married Alicia Morales, an actress with whom he had studied at the university. They had their first daughter, Alejandra, in 1975, and their second child, Martín, arrived four years later.

 

In the year Martín was born, Jorge was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to pursue his Master's degree in Theater Direction at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. After completing his studies, he was invited to continue on there as a professor, further developing his skills as an educator, designer, and theater director, teaching classes in movement, as well as acting and directing. He also co-edited the theater journal Theater Three, a Carnegie Mellon Press publication that he launched with theater scholars, Eric Bentley and Brian Johnston.

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In 1983, he co-founded the Ensayo Group with Alberto Isola and Luis Peirano. ENSAYO (Spanish for “rehearsal”) aimed to fully develop the potential for independent and professional theater in Peru. In 1988, his plans to return to Peru and continue with the group were interrupted by an offer to become the founding Dean of the Theater Division at the New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida, a high school conservatory, as well as undergraduate college program, that has become one of the leading theater training centers in the United States. During his time there, he created the now-defunct New World Rep Co., a theater company that won several regional awards for its productions. In 2002, due to his Parkinson's diagnosis, he stepped down from his responsibilities as Dean, dedicating himself to teaching and directing.

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In 2005, he returned to Peru to return to his position as Director of TUC. He married American actress and singer Sarah Rome, with whom he had a son, Mathias, two years later. He was then appointed Full Professor at the university. During this period at TUC, he injected new energy into the institution, giving it greater visibility in the public eye and achieving consistently increasing enrollment, solidifying its position as an important center for artistic training in Peru.

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Together with dancer and choreographer, Mirella Carbone, and musician and musicologist, Renato Romero, he dedicated his efforts, along with his experience in leadership of arts conservatory programs, to create the College of Performing Arts (FARES), the first university program in the country to grant degrees in theater, music, and dance studies.

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In 2012, he was named a Distinguished Figure in Culture by the Peruvian Ministry of Culture. And in 2014, due to his health, he stepped down from his responsibilities as Director of the Theater Program, as well as his position as the first Chairman of the College of Performing Arts, to seek more advanced treatment for Parkinson's disease. Over the next ten years, he continued at the university as a professor and thesis advisor, as well as an advisor of the performing arts, a student mentor, and theater director.

 

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An Irreplaceable Theater Artist

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For all the aforementioned, as well as other details that would be too numerous to list, Jorge was an artist who lived and breathed theater. The stage was the ideal space to bring together everything that interested and inspired him when staging a play: the visual aspect, movement, music, stories of people from different places and epochs, costumes, scenic design, lighting; in short, the magic of being able to create entire worlds, whether based on history or imagined from a visionary and innovative sensibility, creating unforgettable moments with his unique and fascinating style—moments that were fleeting on stage but remained indelibly etched in the memory of those fortunate enough to witness them.

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Jorge firmly believed in the magic of theater as a way of seeing the world and living in it. Within him coexisted wisdom and experience combined with child-like wonder and innocence, always seeing things anew, embracing creativity and play as a vital force. Play undertaken with absolute seriousness. At the same time, he used humor as a way of conveying what was essential, of telling the most complex and beautiful stories of life. Of “speaking” the unspeakable using all the creative tools at his disposal. His was a process full of challenges, but also of joy—that essential joy that the act of creation brings, and the absolute conviction of its fundamental importance in the lives of human beings.

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It was precisely this that attracted actors, designers, and other artistic collaborators to work with Jorge Guerra on one of his productions—the most challenging and, at the same time, the most rewarding. Working with him, one had the feeling of participating in something so elusive and rare in artistic endeavors: fulfilling a mission that went beyond appearances, giving both those who performed it and those who observed it a true sense of achieving something profound and lasting, stemming from a vital impulse that was not always explainable or understandable. And it could occur in any space that Jorge transformed into a "theater." Sometimes, actors who worked with him left rehearsals unsettled by the chaos that his creative process often entailed, but more eager than ever to achieve what he sought and wanted to share with them. For Jorge, that chaos was an essential component of his processes. And what he asked of those who worked with him was trust and faith: to follow him wherever he went, wherever it was.

 

He would frequently say, jokingly, “Don’t worry. I know what I’m talking about.” It was his way of telling you that you didn’t need to understand or worry about understanding. Rational comprehension didn’t interest him. What he was passionate about, and what he wanted to share with those who embarked on the journey with him, was the willingness to take the risk of entering the unknown, of leaving behind conventional norms to communicate something through theater that couldn’t be communicated in any other way. If he could instill in those who accompanied him that willingness to risk, that faith, the rest would follow naturally.

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Alongside his metaphors and seemingly unconnected images, Jorge possessed extraordinary technique, understanding, and mastery of theatrical semiotics. What he wanted to convey to his audience was wonder, and through that wonder, reaffirm the love of simply being alive, with all that it entails. Without resorting to sophisticated technologies, he achieved moments of breathtaking beauty in the theater. He had the ability to create absolute magic with a shift of light, the movement of a hand, and the perfectly selected section of music. His theater was truly a living painting. Many do this in one way or another. But no one could do it like Jorge. Not then, and not now. Jorge was... is... irreplaceable.

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Of all the years he worked in the theater, 30 of them were spent battling Parkinson's disease, a fact that was taken out of his most recent bio, but one he was proud of. He consciously wanted this fact included in his story, not hidden away in shame, but as a fundamental part of his physical and mental life, for more than half of his professional life, which he accepted, but never allowed to hinder him as a creator, as an educator, and as a human being. And so we mention it here. It is known that, with more support, he could have accomplished more of his work as a director in recent years, but the interests of others, and factors such as the pandemic, prevented him from realizing his later theatrical aspirations more fully. Nevertheless, Jorge was grateful to the PUCP Cultural Center and the University for ensuring that his last theatrical project came to fruition, after all that he gave to the University and to the profession throughout his life, during his more than fifty years in the theater.

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Of the more than one hundred plays he produced, designed, and directed, some of his most notable as a director, both in Peru and the United States, were: El Señor Puntilla y su chofer Matti, Enemigo de clase, Las Bacantes, Tales from the Vienna Woods, The Greeks, Life is a Dream, The Oresteia, Evita, The Three Sisters, Marisol, The Wild Duck, Die Fledermaus, Ur-Faust (dance-theater adaptation of Faust), Tech-Noh Lear (adaptation of King Lear), Fausto, La Opera de Tres Centavos, La Casa de Bernarda Alba, Tartufo, Don Juan Regresa de la Guerra (theater-dance adaptation), La Cura en Troya, La Cocina (codirected with Alejandra Guerra), and his final production (codirected with Martín Guerra), El jardín de los cerezos.

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Mind, Body, Soul—and now, Spirit

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Jorge had a brilliant mind for his chosen profession, yet he struggled with the more practical aspects of daily life. He was an absolutely genuine person, without any pretense, but with absolute conviction in his actions. He was ‘real’ in the way few are. He could articulate his ideas about theater, acting, directing, design, music, dramaturgy, history, education, and art with a depth and understanding that few possess. Theater somehow remained in a magically protected part of his brain practically untouched by Parkinson's, though the illness did place limits on his ability to share all that he had to offer to the world, due to a combination of factors he fought against until his last days.

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Jorge possessed an extraordinary and resilient spirit, but he was also a sensitive soul who operated with a unique perspective of the world—a charming soul who offered a version of reality and of theater that always aspired to the highest reaches of the heavens. His vision was one in which the purity of art had the power to resolve and accomplish everything. In his world, everything was possible through art, and art made everything possible. And the possibility that he was right made many want to enter his orbit, to share with him that free and pure version of reality, in which everything was an act of creation and telling stories conveyed the essential experience of being alive, with theater as a mirror that reaffirmed our connection to the world and the universe, and inspired us to live another day. Jorge did his best work surrounded by the love and support of his family and friends. And his two wives, Alicia and Sarah, at two distinct periods of his life, provided him with that presence and companionship–as well as being integral accomplices in his work–which helped him to maintain enough of a connection to the earth so that he could create dreams for others.

 

But as all of us must do, Jorge did have to leave this earth. When he departed, he left behind his struggles and his sorrows, his disappointments from the difficult years he had recently endured. But he also left—for those of us who remain—his love of life, of family, of art, and of the theater. He left behind a life full of joy, adventures, and loved ones. He left us his example as a creator, as a teacher. He taught us how to live, to always be hopeful and maintain a youthful spirit. He also taught us how to better care for those who need more care than others, more understanding, how to support special talent without fearing it. And how not to hold a grudge, nor ever care one bit what anyone else thinks of you.

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Jorge believed in art, and in arts education, as a fundamental way to feed and continue to grow society and culture, as a bridge that could connect distant lands. He also believed in love for one another, in coming together to enjoying life with each other, sharing music and food–the experiences that made the concept of time disappear. He also knew when to let things go, and that it wasn't worth it to let anything bother you so much, because, in the end, the only thing that truly matters in life is, simply, being in good company and having a good time of it.

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Perhaps, in the end, the theater was all of that for Jorge: the driving force that propelled him throughout his life. Every class, every talk, every rehearsal, every performance… every lunch, every party, every visit with his family, with his friends… every time he sang while playing his guitar, every meal he prepared, every trip he took to places around the world or within his own mind… and every time he stayed up in the middle of the night at home at his desk with the lamp on… drawing, or reading, or listening to some music… perhaps serving himself a little sweet in the kitchen with some chocolate sauce… imagining what he could build, compose, paint on stage… what magic he could create and offer to the world… dreaming… always dreaming… so that others could also dream.

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In an interview for Andina in 2011, Jorge commented, “I think what one wants is to leave something behind that is more than just plain proof of having passed through this world. One wants to leave something useful.”

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You did, Jorge. You did.

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At times under seemingly impossible circumstances, you never ceased to believe in "possibility." May you rest, finally, in peace.​

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*from Life is a Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca