Rafael Abolafia Cobo

I am a creative professional and I always strive for continued excellence and challenge. I am used to being a member of multicultural and multidisciplinary teams (onsite and remotely). My working style is open, respectful and encouraging. My education and experience converge across Culture/Performing Arts and Language/Literature Studies. My skills and working fields are broad, driving from the organization and management of diverse cultural events to teaching and applied training, adding research and logistics of projects of multiple kinds, including the direction of artistic pieces. Language mechanisms, the arts, the humanities and how the world is thought today are among my personal interests.

Preferred pronoun: He

Credits

Selection of works:

Director and Performer, Vuestros huesos florecerán como un prado, Sala El Apeadero (Granada / Spain), 1 week, 2022

Scenic Director, Brave Women, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM / NYC), 1 week, 2018

Director, Remember me, Teatro Sea (New York), 2 weeks, 2017

Director, R A Í Z -an experimental flamenco performance-, La Nacional (New York), 4 weeks, 2017

Director, The Last Call -based on Jean Cocteau's The Human Voice-, Dixon Place and Theatre Row (New York), 4 weeks, 2014

Director Assistant-Visual and Sound Designer-Videocreator, La Noche de Max Estrella, Teatro Central (Seville / Spain), 4 weeks, 2011

Director Assistant, In Nomine Dei, Teatro Central (Seville / Spain), 4 weeks, 2007

Director Assistant, El deseo atrapado por la cola, Teatro Central (Seville / Spain), 4 weeks, 2007

Director Assistant, Federico-Un drama social, Teatro Central (Seville / Spain), 4 weeks, 2006

Director Assistant, Llanto por Ignacio Sánchez Mejías, Reales Atarazanas (Seville / Spain), 4 weeks, 2005

Actor, Farsa y Licencia de la Reina Castiza, Teatro Alhambra (Granada / Spain), 1 week, 2004

Actor, King Lear, Teatro Alhambra (Granada / Spain), 1 week, 2003

Actor, Comedia sin título, Teatro Federico García Lorca (Fuente Vaqueros / Spain), 6 weeks, 2002

Training

EDUCATION:

Visiting Scholar.
Research line: Contemporary Theatre and Paratheatre in Andalusia. Studies with David Savran, Claire Bishop, Peter Eckersall.
Martin E. Segal Theatre Center. City University of New York (CUNY), 2016

Visiting Scholar.
Analysis, Composition and Direction of theatre plays and performance: Interculturality and Theatre. Research Grant (Performing Arts / Culture Department. Regional Government of Andalusia).
Studies with Richard Schechner, Diana Taylor, Douglas Crimp, Allen S Weiss, André Lepecki, José Muñoz.
Performance Studies. TISCH School of the Arts, New York University (NYU), 2008-2009

Acting, Corporal Expression and Vocal Techniques.
Centro de Estudios Escénicos. Culture Department. Regional Government of Andalusia, 2001-2003

Postgraduate (PhD) Studies: Linguistics, Literature and Didactics of English. Research line: American Avant-Garde Theatre.
University of Jaén, 2000-2002

Postgraduate Certificate in Education.
University of Jaén, 2001

Degree in English Language and Literature.
University of Jaén, 1996-2000

Socrates-Erasmus Scholarship.
University of Northumbria, Newcastle, 1997-1998

Advanced Level Degree in English Language.
Escuela Oficial de Idiomas de Jaén, 1992-1996


COMPLEMENTARY TRAINING:

Advanced Level (C1) Certificate in English Language.
Escuela Oficial de Idiomas de Granada, 2020

Teaching the Spanish Civil War. Abraham Lincoln Brigade (ALBA). Studies with James Fernández, Peter Carroll, Fraser Ottanelli.
King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center (KJCC). New York University (NYU), 2016, 2017, 2018

Stage direction, imparted by Jack Hofsiss.
HB Studio, New York, 2013

Performance and Justice. Coordinator: Seth Baumrin.
John Jay College of Criminal Justice. City University of New York (CUNY), 2013

TRANSFORMATIONS. Art and Aesthetics since 1960. Seminars with Dora García, Remedios Zafra, Javier Codesal, Antoni Miralda, Rogelio López Cuenca, Eugenio Ampudia, Armando Montesinos, et al.
Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo, 2009

Memory, Heritage and the Past.
Seminar with Diana Taylor, Marianne Hirsch, Andreas Huyssen, et al.
Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, New York, 2009

Archive and Performance.
Seminar with Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver, Reverend Billy, Anna Deavere Smith, et al.
Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, New York, 2009

Augusto Boal and the Theatre of the Oppressed, imparted by George Emilio Sánchez.
New York University (NYU), 2008

Visuality, Performance and Social Critique.
Seminar with Diana Taylor, Jill Lane, Coco Fusco, Ricardo Domínguez, Susan Meiselas, et al.
King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center (KJCC). New York University (NYU), 2008

Theatre and Cultural Dialogue.
Seminar with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Josef Nadj, Rabih Mroué, Wajdi Mouawad, et al.
Festival d’ Avignon, 2008

Theatre and Anthropology.
Seminar with Jean M. Pradier, Antonio Prieto Stambaugh, Lluis Masgrau.
University of Granada, 2004

Analysis of the Dramatic Text, imparted by José Carlos Plaza. Menéndez Pelayo International University, Santander, 2004

Contemporary Spanish Theatre. Seminars with Alfonso Sastre, Ernesto Caballero, Ana Diosdado, Alberto Miralles, et al.
International University of Andalusia. Baeza, 2002

I International Conference on Women and Literatures in the 20th Century. Secretary of the Conference Organising Committee. Essay presentation: Women artists in Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's short stories.
University of Jaén, 2001

The Role of Literature in the Social Processes of Latin America. Director: Arturo Azuela
International University of Andalusia. Santa María de la Rábida, 2000