Coahuila Actress Juliana Pugliese Heads to National Theater

Saltillo, Mexico — Juliana Pugliese, an actress from Coahuila, will represent the municipality of Arteaga at the National Theater Showcase (Muestra Nacional de Teatro, MNT) as part of the Jóvenes a la Muestra (Youth to the Showcase) program. She is the fourth woman from Coahuila to participate in this program in recent years and the first from the municipality of Arteaga to attend the national encounter.

Pugliese expressed that she views this achievement with both pride and a sense of responsibility, seeing it as an opportunity to bring visibility to her hometown as a place where art and culture can indeed flourish. This marks her second time applying to the program's open call; while she was not selected last year, she will now join the 45th edition of the MNT, scheduled for November in Cancún, Quintana Roo.

Additionally, in October, Pugliese will perform as part of the cast of the play “La gente a veces se va y ya no regresa” (People Sometimes Leave and Never Return) by Rodrigo González at the Coahuila State Theater Showcase.

“I had been interested for several years. I have been focusing intensely on theater for a relatively short time, about two or three years, but the National Theater Showcase is something that resonates a lot among my colleagues. I found this idea attractive: a group of young people from all over the country, sharing and getting to know the theater from their regions. I want to go to see what is being done in other parts of Mexico, to meet people who do different things, and to expand my knowledge, not merely in acting,” the actress told VANGUARDIA.

Jóvenes a la Muestra is a space for exchange among creators who are driving the performing arts across the country from the new generations. The program is part of the National Theater Showcase and is an experience that positively impacts the careers of those who participate.

Although she currently resides in Saltillo, Pugliese was born and raised in Arteaga. For her, this opportunity is about “giving visibility to a municipality that doesn't have much visibility in this type of thing. It's a small town, and it's also about motivating people there to become interested in the arts, in culture, in theater, and to start sowing the seeds of theater, because I think there is still this idea that in Arteaga they can't do it,” she expressed.

She also mentioned her interest in gaining experience to share with her students in Coahuila, in addition to what will nourish her own theatrical career, whether as an actress or producer—roles she currently performs with companies like Cuarta Pared and Frenesí Teatro. She is also considering exploring direction and playwriting in the future.