Rafael Guizado, the founding director of the Colombian National Radio, was commissioned by Caja Colombiana de Ahorros to write the four radio plays which comprise The Ages of Man. These were among the first radio plays to be broadcast when the station took to the airwaves in 1940. “Senescence”, the final piece in The Ages of Man, is also the most poetic. Lush language, a blurring of the line between our worldly existence and the spiritual realm, and an emphasis on the bonds of familial love are characteristic of Guizado’s work, and are present in this text.
Part of my stated intent, when applying for the grant that made translation of Las Edades de Hombre by Rafael Guizado possible, was to make this forgotten gem available to new audiences because representation matters. That moment has arrived with “Senescence”, the final radio play in The Ages of Man, making its UK premiere on July 16th at Omnibus Theatre, London as part of Out of the Wings Festival 2025!
Thanks to the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts for their support of my translation of Las Edades del Hombre / The Ages of Man by Rafael Guizado. That support was key in completing the early drafts of the script. Thanks to Out of the Wings Collective for featuring one of the radio plays from this four-part series in the upcoming Out of the Wings Festival of staged readings. Taking the script from the page to the stage is the next level of development. I’m excited for the discoveries and refinements that will surely come as a result of the Out of the Wings rehearsal and performance process with a professional creative team in London.
It’s an honor to have The Ages of Man included on the same bill with Dr. Feelgood: A Voyage to Belle Reve by contemporary Portuguese playwright Armando Nascimento Rosa and translator Susannah Finzi.
Tickets for Double Bill with Scenes From: Dr. Feelgood: A Voyage to Belle Reve and The Ages of Man, 16 July, 7:30pm at Omnibus Theatre are on sale now at https://www.omnibus-clapham.org/out-of-the-wings/.