Néstor Amarilla

Childhood and education

Nestor Amarilla was born on 24 July 1980 in a small rural farm 30 km from the main city of Coronel Oviedo. His parents are Juan de la Cruz Amarilla, who died in 2008,and Herminia Acosta de Amarilla. Both of his parents did not finish their elementary education. Amarilla has two brothers.

Being the son of a peasant, Amarilla lived a simple and humble life, growing up without running water, electricity and television. Only after he turned 7 years old, did he first wear shoes, walking to school and in a parade celebrating the anniversary of the independence of Paraguay. During the Stroessner era, it was mandatory to participate in the parades to celebrate the independence day. From the beginning, Amarilla stood out in school because of his ability and interest in the arts.

In their community, his father was known to be an anti Stroessner. Thus, remembering many of the different situations his father went through. When Amarilla was 7 years old, he accompanied his father to one of their secret meetings that took place. He remembers "I insisted so much in going with him to their secret meetings, that my father didn't have a choice, but take me along. The meeting location changed three times so Stroessner's informants wouldn't find out about the meeting place. The meeting was short and simple. There was a small table covered with a cloth and one candle. 30 to 40 people sat around the little table and they discussed a book one of the attendants had read. The book was titled "Democracy." Back then, I thought the name was a woman's name."

Amarilla met a Peace Corps volunteer working near his hometown when he was 13 years old. Her name was Kristin Callahan. Amarilla made a deal with Kristin that he would teach her the Guarani language and she would teach him English. Together they created a newspaper for the local people to read. This newspaper was called "Kokue Poty" and they also decided to teach English to local people interested in learning the language. The most important thing that Amarilla learned from that volunteer was to dream and believe that anything was possible in life. Then, she encouraged him to investigate about the American Field Service (AFS) about the possibility of studying in a foreign country. After manfully competitions and after moving to the city of Coronel Oviedo, Amarilla was rewarded a full scholarship to study in the United States.

At 17, Amarilla left Paraguay for the first time. He went to the United States before he visited any other foreign country. He lived with the Stillson family in Fridley, Minnesota for one year where he finished his secondary education. He graduated with honors especially in the areas of theater and music. At his host families' insistence, Amarilla returned to Minnesota to study in college in 2000.

While he was singing with the well known choir VocalEssence, he met the director of the Wallin Foundation. The director was very impressed by the young aspiration to succeed and by his amazing background, that she offered him a full scholarship to finish his college career at any university of his choice.

Amarilla chose the Metropolitan State University in Minnesota. Convinced that he wanted to study television and mass communication, he chose the career of television and dramatic arts. Two years later, one of this professor suggested that he changed his focus into writing authentic plays that can be carried to the stage. Discovering this new endeavor, Amarilla concentrated on acting and directing. In 2005, Amarilla graduated from Metropolitan State University with a bachelor's degree in Theater & Mass communication. His parents traveled all the way from the rural country home to see Amarilla graduate and receive the award as the honor student in his department.

Career

With two degrees and three plays produced by the University, Americana Rose, Ripped Dress o Vestido Roto y La Pruebera, Nestor started writing theatrical pieces for the theaters of the Twin Theaters. He wrote and directed the play Saved by a Poem at the Theatre Festival organized by Teatro del Pueblo. The same year, he co-authored the play "Born in Iraq" and it was presented at the Mixed Blood Theater in the Twin Cities, MN. Both plays were of a great success.

As he returned to Paraguay, Nestor assisted Mario Ferrero in Cuentas Claras on SNT, produced by Augusto Barreto. In 2008, he was hired as the Director of Fiction for channel 13 by the Chena Company. That same year, he directed the famous and successful show called Ninera de Adultos where he was also the co-writer of the show. The same year he was named the Director of the Fiction department and he also directed the talk show called Ellas.

At the end of 2008, Nestor was fired by the Chena Company for not complying with their rules and guidelines to be followed in order to air a show. The Director, Nestor, considered this action, as being censored by his boss. In his book, the author, mentions that he has pending legal action against the Chena Company. Until now, nothing has been settled between the two parties.

As a sign of protest, still going on in his country, Nestor directed "Fecha Feliz" the Spanish and Guarani version of "Saved by a Poem" in Asuncion at the Latino Theater. This play tells a true story of his family during the dictatorship during the Stroessner regime. With the intent of boycott the directors of the Canal 13 tried to stop the premier of the play Saved by a Poem. So, the play's premiere was taken place on February 6, 2009, three days later after it was first scheduled. The play received many good reviews and was highly claimed that Nestor was asked to present the play again at the Teatro Municipal de Asuncion on March 8. This date celebrated the day of the Women.

In July 2009, the same day he 29 turned years old, his most polemic and most criticized work Che, Che K-nal premiered. Che, Che K-nalis a comedy show that tells the life of a chief, who misunderstood his wife request to buy a TV. Instead of buying a TV, the chief, the husband, bought the whole channel to please his wife. The critics, mostly of them belong to the media, did not find it particular humoristic. What the author tried to convey through this play was the usage of power in the media in order to degrade the women. Later on, the author sued the Chena Company for defamation.

Going back to what the author loves the most, which is drama, the author published the book "Fecha Feliz" It is this the book that has been reported to be one of the reasons why he has been nominated by a Linguistic Professor and a Human Right Fighter from Paraguay for the Nobel Prize of Literature of 2010; one should notice that there are hundreds of nominations each year, and only very few of them are considered seriously by the Swedish Academy. The editorial company Servilibro, published the new version of the book Saved by a Poem in three different languages. Also, the well known site of Amazon.com features this book on its website.

On April 19, 2011, Nestor Amarilla launched his newest book LA PRUEBERA. and premiered the same work on stage that same night. The editorial company Servilibro published this book for Paraguay. The Spanish Embassy sponsored the production of the play on their main stage Juan de Salazar in Asuncion.

In May 2011, as part of bicentennial celebration of Paraguay independence, Amarilla's hometown authorities selected him as one of 200 most prominent people from Coronel Oviedo in Paraguay. In this year, also, as part of 40th anniversary celebrations, the Metropolitan State University selected him as one of the 40 greatest minds that studied in this institution and who make differences in the world. The Paraguayan flag and writer's photography are part of the traces wall located in the St John's Hall on the campus of that university.

Since May 28, 2013, Amarilla was part of the television program La Academia (Paraguay), which was produced by the Paraguayan television broadcaster Telefuturo. He was the acting and theater coach. Also, he was one of the panelists of the support program called "El Debate". Both lasted four months.

Plays written

Books