Over 30 plays and hundreds of shows all of kind coupled with live music and dancing.

Colmenitas that get churned out all across the island nation and beyond its borders. Cuban kids and from other countries aff ected by profound social problems, impairments, physical handicaps, deafness, Down syndrome… sign up and perform inthis company…

Television and the fi lmmaking industry pamper them. Th e movie “Viva Cuba” grabs a multitude of international prizes. Th e fl ick vies for the 2006 Oscars. Cinderella Told by the Beatles is one of Cuba’s hottest theatrical developments in 2007.

Rounds of applause in major world stages as well. UNICEF makes the company a part of its actions worldwide… Fidel Castro smiles before the cameras with his face and beard stained in thousands of colors after being kissed by the children made up by Tim Cremata… It’s barely an incomplete attempt to wrap up something that just can’t be summarized:

1990/ February 14: In Havana, fourteen youngsters led by Carlos Alberto (Tim) Cremata performed the play God Save You, Commissar, the very fi rst stage presentation by the amateur theater group La Colmena.

1994/ April 2: Boys and girls performed for the fi rst time before an audience of 5,000 spectators at the Karl Marx Th eater. Little Finger, adapted by Jose Marti from the well-known story by France’s Laboulaye, gives La Colmenita its debut.

1995: Versions of Th e Puss in Boots, Humanoids, Golden Little Curls and Th ree Teddy Bears. Th ey got their big break in major theaters. And they also start doing their on-the-go staging all across the island nation. Presence in the “Singing to the Sun” National Children’s Song Festival.

1996: Th e grand children’s musical “A Little Roach Called Martina” debuts at the National Th eater in Havana. “Mr. Rainbow”, with musical score by Liuba Maria Hevia, y “La Colmenita’s Big Concertazzo” –accompanied by famous vocal group Sampling- followed up. 1997: Th e group settled down in its HQs 13 Street and G Avenue in the Vedado area. Th e debut of

“Children Sing to Che” comes next. Th e Alamar Colmenita is formed, with Santa Clara, the Jarahueca and Plaza following suit. 1998: Th e Construction Ministry’s Colmenita comes into being. First international tour with a hop to Haiti.

The Cayo Hueso Colmenita, featuring kids hit by harsh social and family conditions, is born. A presentation of Little Fingers brings down the house at the Pinar del Rio ballpark with over 25,000 spectators. Presentation in English language for the fi rst Cuba-U.S. Meeting. Th e Boyeros Colmenita is born, led by a physical impaired girl named Mabel Cedeño.

1999: Presentations and onstage performances with U.S. Bread & Puppet Group and sold-out presentation at the Revolution Square. “Alice in Wonderland” hits the planks to open the 9th International Performing Arts Festival in Havana. Special presentation for Spanish Queen Sofi a and the fi rst ladies attending the Iberian American Summit in Cuba. Th e Playa Colmenita is founded.

2000: La Colmenita at the Rene Vilches Special School for deaf and mute kids is born. Tours around Spain, Japan (to attend the 6th World Children’s Theater Festival) and Venezuela. “Th e Fable of a Wax Country” is premiered. Presentation of “Summer Night Dream”. First visit, workshops and presentations with U.S. physician and clown Patch Adams.

2001: Premiere of “The Black Doll”, “That’s The Way We Sing”, “Th e Upside Down World”, “Concert Story”, “Th e Coconut Island” and “Th e Adventures of Captain Plin”. Tours through Panama and Belgium. Memorable presentation of all the Colmenitas before a million people at the Revolution Square.

2002: Joint presentation with Denmark’s Odin Th eater. Performances before James Carter and Harry Belafonte. Tours around Germany (7th World Children’s Th eater Festival, Lingen 2002) and Spain. 2003: Visit to the U.S, tour around California. Premieres of two major shows:

“The Clowns Are Coming to La Colmenita” and “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. A raging fi re plays havoc with the Vedado mansion, leaving $40,000 worth of losses. Fourteen days later, the group debuts “Stew of Dreams” to open the 9th International Performing Arts Festival in Havana.

2004: Reopening of the Vedado headquarters following an all-out restoration of the mansion bankrolled by the Cuban government and with the help of workers, the company’s children and their parents. A bilingual presentation (in English and Spanish) of “Stew of Dreams” and “Magic Journey” hit the stage. Presentation in Havana for the 8th World Children’s Th eater Festival. Premiere in Bangladesh of a co-production entitled “Morning Out the South Window”.

2005: Premiere of “Th e Andersen Stories”, “Ogaraiti” and “From the Golden Age”.

They opened the Pedagogy 2005 event and made a presentation at the Havana International Book Fair. Cuba’s fi rst-ever fi ction movie starred by children (from La Colmenita) and acted for kids, “Viva Cuba”, nabs the Grand Prix Ecrans Junior at the Cannes Film Festival. Visit to France for the presentation of the Centre des Arts in Paris; and grand tour around 25 Spanish cities. Premiere of “Pinocchio” and grand opening of the Order III Th eater in Old Havana.

2006: Grand tours all around Cuba. Participation at the 8th World Children’s Th eater Festival in Lingen, Germany.

Performance in the closing ceremony of the 1st International, Caribbean and Latin American Festival of the International Amateur Th eater Association. Bilingual presentation (in English and Spanish) for a U.S. delegation of Pastors for Peace. Th ey performed at 14th Summitof the Non-Aligned Movement in Havana. Tours around the Dominican Republic and Spain’s Andalusia.

2007: Visit to Ecuador. Opening performance in Pedagogy 2007.

Presentation of “The Cinderella Told by the Beatles” –and its version in English language. Music concert of “Sung Secrets” together with Liuba Maria Hevia. Special presentation at the Eastern Women’s Penitentiary. Special performance for XP disease-suff ering kids –known as the Moon Children. Dozens of tours nationwide. Tour around UK. La Colmenita’s Beatles make a presentation in Liverpool. UNICEF declares the group as Goodwill Ambassadors to the World.

2008: Th ey travel to Caracas for the offi cial opening of the Inside Heart Mission, together with President Hugo Chavez. Tour around Turkey… And the list goes on, and on, and on…

Applauded also at major stages worldwide, UNICEF tapped them as Goodwill Ambassadors and made them part of its international efforts