por 
ALFREDO AZCARATE VARELA
THE BAJA POST/EDITOR
Angel Norzagaray, a benchmark in Mexican theater at the end of the 20th and early 21st centuries, founder of “Mexicali a Secas” theatrical group, playwright, actor, director, academic and journalist, who became a benchmark in Mexican theater, died on Monday, December 26, after a long fight against cancer.
Norzagaray was supposed to be honored for his artistic career by the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL in Spanish), in January 2022, a recognition that he will receive posthumously, an outstanding character for Baja California and Mexico´s art and culture, a distinguished Sinaloan, who took his dramaturgical work all over the country and the world, an irreparable loss for Mexico.
Angel Norzagaray was born in Guasave, Sinaloa, in 1961, he studied acting at Veracruz State University, a doctorate in Spanish Letters from the University of Valladolid, Spain, he was also vice-President and academic at the Autonomous University of Baja California, where he was also the director of Institutional Image for a few years.
Creator of the Mexicali a Secas theater group, Norzagaray formed several generations of actors, writers and theater directors, he was director of the Baja California Institute of Culture, during the administration of Governor José Guadalupe Osuna Millán and was recognized as “emeritus creator” of Baja California.
The most important thing that can be said about Norzagaray, an important testimony to his legacy, is the large number of actors, writers and directors who were trained under his protective wing and who now have their own groups and theater projects, careers that are emerging and others that have already been consolidated, all as students and pupils of Angel.
Angel Norzagaray was born in Sinaloa somehow, he worked in Mexicali for more than three decades promoting Mexican theater through his plays, which were presented all over Latin American and several countries in the world, he leaves a huge empty space, almost impossible to fill
In addition to having the will and assuming the mission of training and promoting the careers of various “theater workers”, he was also Vice-Rector at the UABC, took their works to various countries and the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL) determined Give recognition to his work as an artist and promoter of new values, which he will receive posthumously.
Among his plays, the following stand out: El velorio de los mangos (1992), An island called California (1994), co-authored with Jesus González Davila, and Letters at the foot of a tree, his works were presented at renowned festivals such as the International Cervantino, the International of the Golden Age in Texas, the Don Quixote of Paris and the American Folklife of the Smithsonian Institution. They were also presented in Los Angeles, Cádiz, Colombia, Nicaragua and Miami, as well as in the INBAL National Theater Show.
