|
Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library
Overview
| Works: | 572
works in
763
publications in
7
languages and
1,077
library holdings
|
Most widely held works by
Hemispheric Institute Digital Video Library
Bocas de bolero(
visu
)
2
editions published
in
1994
in
Spanish
and held by
4
libraries
worldwide
'Bocas de bolero' is a collective creation by Teatro La Máscara on the relationships women have with everyday activities in the domestic realm. The melodrama of marriage, the notion of waiting, domestic chores, religion, mother-daughter relationships, gender conventions, etc., are woven with the romantic and melancholy sounds and themes of bolero. Through a polysemic treatment of space, reiteration, movement and image that explores the dynamics of memory, personal present and collective past, the performance artfully confronts the taboos, conventions and struggles surrounding cultural notions of gender. Teatro La Máscara is the oldest - and one of the only - feminist, all-women's theater in Colombia. Founded in 1972 in Cali, La Máscara was a political theater initially comprised of male as well as female actors; by the early 1980s, when only the women stayed and wanted to continue the theatrical trajectory of the group, Lucy Bolaños decided to make La Máscara a women's ensemble fully dedicated to a feminine dramaturgy on gender issues. Committed to feminism and social change, they have stayed true to this mission, despite the many social and economic pressures they've had to endure in an environment plagued by violence and machismo, which constantly seeks to 'invisibilize' their work. Because of their fruitful stubbornness, La Máscara is not only creating and staging plays, but also working with marginalized communities, actively participating in political protests and demonstrations, and being involved in the organization of theater festivals. Through their work, they keep re-thinking women's role in the construction of a peaceful Colombia.
Salad of the Bad Café(
visu
)
4
editions published
between
1998
and
2000
in
English
and held by
3
libraries
worldwide
Since 1981, the Split Britches Company (founded by Lois Weaver, Peggy Shaw, and Deb Margolin, www.splitbritches.com) has written and performed in trio, duet, and solo, as well as collaborated and performed with other artists. They describe their work in this way: 'Our work is rooted in popular culture, but positioned against it. It relies on moments rather than plot, relationships rather than story. It depends on the surprise of transformation rather than the logic of psychological narrative. It straddles the line between performance and theater, exploiting theatricality while exposing the pretense. It is about a community of outsiders, queers, eccentrics. It is feminist because it encourages the imaginative potential in everyone and lesbian because it takes the presence of lesbian on stage as a given.' Their vaudevillian satirical gender-bending performances have received numerous awards, including a Jane Chamber award and four Village Voice OBIE awards. Their collection of scripts, 'Split Britches Feminist Performance/Lesbian Practice', edited by Sue Ellen Case, won the 1997 Lambda Literary Award for Drama. 'Salad of the Bad Café' is a postmodern cabaret written and performed by Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw of Split Britches and Asian American performance artist Stacy Makishi. Inspired by Carson McCullers' story 'The Ballad of the Sad Café' and the lives of Tennessee Williams and Yukio Mishima, it is a treatise on love in a post-claustrophobic era. The play begins in 1945, in the summer that lay between the war and the postwar period when Japan was weeping, the American South was seething and the word 'gender' was mostly used in grammar class. The setting is a café where people come to spend a few hours so that the 'deep bitter knowing that their life is not worth much can be laid to rest.' Racial, gender and regional stereotypes come together to tell a story of unrequited love, in an attempt to demystify the Queer, disorient the Orient and demythify the Southern Gothic and the American Grotesque. This is one of the first iterations of the piece, performed as a work-in-progress in London in 1998.
Upwardly mobile home(
visu
)
3
editions published
between
1984
and
1986
in
English
and held by
3
libraries
worldwide
Since 1981, the Split Britches Company (founded by Lois Weaver, Peggy Shaw, and Deb Margolin, www.splitbritches.com) has written and performed in trio, duet, and solo, as well as collaborated and performed with other artists. They describe their work in this way: 'Our work is rooted in popular culture, but positioned against it. It relies on moments rather than plot, relationships rather than story. It depends on the surprise of transformation rather than the logic of psychological narrative. It straddles the line between performance and theater, exploiting theatricality while exposing the pretense. It is about a community of outsiders, queers, eccentrics. It is feminist because it encourages the imaginative potential in everyone and lesbian because it takes the presence of lesbian on stage as a given.' Their vaudevillian satirical gender-bending performances have received numerous awards, including a Jane Chamber award and four Village Voice OBIE awards. Their collection of scripts, Split Britches Feminist Performance/Lesbian Practice, edited by Sue Ellen Case, won the 1997 Lambda Literary Award for Drama. This video documents their show Upwardly Mobile Home. Originally produced at WOW Café on East 11th Street, New York City in 1984, this version is a revived performance at WOW Café on 4th Street in 1986. The piece is a working class survival story, where a troupe of actors camps out under the Brooklyn bridge and peddle their wares, trying unsuccessfully to sell out and be greedy like the rest of America in the 1980s.
Interview with Drew Hayden Taylor(
visu
)
3
editions published
between
2005
and
2007
in
English
and held by
3
libraries
worldwide
Drew Hayden Taylor (www.drewhaydentaylor.com) is an Ojibwa author, humorist and playwright from Curve Lake Reserve Ontario, Canada. In this interview, Taylor talks about his use of humor, the way he feels about using Native issues in his work, and they way his work is received in different communities. He also addresses writing from an Aboriginal perspective for a broader non-Native audience. By analyzing the use of Native humor in his pieces, he breaks down the universal language of his plays. Within the larger context of Aboriginal Theater, Drew looks at the development of his works as an offshoot of the work of people such as Thompson Highway and feels that he is able to go beyond the early works in this area that are primarily dark and depressing. Finally, Taylor rhapsodizes about the future of Native Theater and the translation of the classics such as Chekhov into Aboriginal settings.
Interview with Teresa Hernández(
visu
)
2
editions published
in
2006
in
Spanish
and held by
3
libraries
worldwide
Teresa Hernández is a Puerto Rican stage artist. Since 1987 she has written, directed and performed contemporary theater and dance, both in Puerto Rico's commercial and experimental art scenes. Along with choreographer Viveca Vázquez, she directs and administers the Taller de Otra Cosa, Inc., a nonprofit organization committed to the development and production of experimental dance and performance projects. As a solo artist, she produces her work since 1991 through her organization Producciones Teresa, no Inc.. She also offers workshops, talks and performance demonstrations for high school and college students. Teresa's creative projects are characterized by a consistent eschewing of traditional artistic categories. Theater, dance, performance, dramatic text, movement, costumes, video and everyday objects are juxtaposed and confronted, placed in a liminal space where notions of precariousness are explored and celebrated. Teresa's characters explore and expose the anxieties of everyday life in Puerto Rican society, transversally investigating issues of gender, class and race. In this interview, the artist talks about her coined term 'stage artist' (vis-à-vis 'perfomer', 'actress' or 'dancer') in the light of her multifaceted training and artistic trajectory. Teresa explains the role of the 'taller' (workshop) as a format and context for artistic creation. She talks about approximation, appropriation and precariousness as organizing coordinates of her artistic work. Hernández also discusses the creation and transformation of her characters, the use of costumes and everyday objects as stimuli for creation, the exploits of being an experimental artist in Puerto Rico, and her (at the time of the interview) upcoming project 'Nada Que Ver (Composiciones Escénicas Sobre el Yo)'.
The role of the arts in a time of crisis(
visu
)
2
editions published
in
2005
in
English
and held by
3
libraries
worldwide
Keynote address delivered by Mary Schmidt Campbell at the Hemispheric Institute's 5th Encuentro in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in 2005 (http://hemi.nyu.edu/eng/seminar/brazil2005). Titled The Role of the Arts in a Time of Crisis, the keynote addressed the theme of the role of artists and intellectuals in times of cultural, political and economic crisis. Ms. Campbell focused her lecture on the current cultural climate in the United States, from the culture wars of the 1980s to issues of surveillance and fear surrounding the Patriot Act, paying special attention to considerations of civil liberties and the public expression of dissent. By means of examples of how works by 20th century artists engage with their political and social contexts, Campbell emphasized the critical role of artists, intellectuals and educators in terms of social conscience, moral critique, and collective action. Scholar, author and former New York City Cultural Affairs Commissioner, Ms. Campbell was, at the time of her keynote address, Dean of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Dr. Campbell began her career in New York as the executive director of the Studio Museum in Harlem, widely regarded as the principal center for the study of African and African-American Art. Dean Campbell, who authored several catalogues on African-American artists, and frequently curated major exhibitions, firmly established the Museum as a major New York City cultural institution. In 1999, Crain's New York selected her as one of the City's 100 Most Influential Women in business, and in 2001 she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dean Campbell co-authored the books Harlem Renaissance: Art of Black America and Memory and Metaphor: The Art of Romare Bearden, 1940-1987. A noted expert on the artist Romare Bearden, Dr. Campbell also lectures and publishes widely on a range of subjects including arts policy issues and American cultural history.
Money amok(
visu
)
2
editions published
in
1996
in
English
and held by
3
libraries
worldwide
Video documentation of Circus Amok's show, 'Money Amok', performed in 1996 in diverse New York City parks, squares and other public spaces. The piece revolves around the political and social implications of the current U.S.economic climate. Issues like financial monopolies, budget safety nets, financial loopholes, the national debt, the cutting of social programs, the corporate dependence on government handouts, and the unequal distribution of wealth under the idea of 'progress' are all managed in the skits comprising the performance. Through the unveiling of these issues, the piece poses an open call for civic activism and empowerment, a demand for justice and for a revision of the coordinates of American civil life, all interwoven in a joyful extravaganza of acrobatic artistry, satiric skill, and good old-fashioned circus fun. Circus Amok (www.circusamok.org) is a New York City based circus-theater company whose mission is to provide free public art addressing contemporary issues of social justice to the people of NYC. Directed and founded by Jennifer Miller, the group has been together since 1989 bringing its funny, queer, caustic and sexy, political one-ring spectacles to diverse neighborhoods throughout the city. Over the years the traditional circus skills - tight rope walking, juggling, acrobatics, stilt walking, clowning - have been combined with experimental dance, lifesize puppetry, music old and new, and gender-bending performance art and improvisational techniques, creating new meanings for circus while continuing to entertain the crowds of all ages throughout the city streets, gardens, parks, and playgrounds, inviting the audience to join them in envisioning a more empowered life of community interaction while enjoying a queer celebratory spectacle.
Los perfiles de la espera [2003 version] The profiles of waiting(
visu
)
2
editions published
in
2003
in
Spanish
and held by
3
libraries
worldwide
Originally conceived in 1998 for two actresses, and later a one-woman show (its final version, here shown), the piece is centered on the labor of waiting. The character represents the many women, at home or in their workplaces, who are living the anguish of waiting for their disappeared family members. We see the woman in her private space, as she performs mundane tasks; as the character attempts to stay engrossed in her housework, traumatic memories of violent events - recorded in her body - are repeated time and again. Lodged in her body, the scars of violence, death, and terror inevitably puncture every gesture, every task. When the character does speak, it is a fragmented collage of commonplace phrases mixed with texts from Rodoreda, Galeano, Borges, Vestrini, and actual testimonies from the families of the disappeared. The actions of the character rise above the silence and make us witnesses of a world plagued by fear, where hope and courage are the unique materials of survival. Teatro La Máscara is the oldest feminist, all-women's theater in Colombia. Founded in 1972 in Cali, La Máscara was a political theater initially comprised of male and female actors; by the early 1980s, when only the women wanted to continue the theatrical trajectory of the group, Lucy Bolaños decided to make it a women's ensemble fully dedicated to a feminine dramaturgy on gender issues. Committed to feminism and social change, they have stayed true to this mission, despite the many social and economic pressures they've had to endure in an environment plagued by violence and machismo, which constantly seeks to 'invisibilize' their work; La Máscara is not only creating and staging plays, but also working with marginalized communities, actively participating in political protests and demonstrations, and being involved in the organization of theater festivals. Through their work, they keep re-thinking women's role in the construction of a peaceful Colombia.
Quality of life II(
visu
)
2
editions published
in
1999
in
English
and held by
3
libraries
worldwide
Video documentation of Circus Amok's show 'Quality of Life II', performed in Tompkins Square Park in New York City in 1999. A joyful extravaganza of acrobatic artistry, satiric skill, and good old-fashioned circus fun, this piece bring together utopic and dystopic aspects of living in NYC at the turn of the millennium. Police brutality, privatization, and excessive construction of corporate and commercial buildings in former residential areas (including the demolition of community gardens) are some aspects of an ongoing political process of restricting the pubic sphere, to which the troupe counteracts through the proposal and support of education, advocating for freedom and creativity, community building, and the public denunciation of abuse and injustice. Circus Amok (www.circusamok.org) is a New York City based circus-theater company whose mission is to provide free public art addressing contemporary issues of social justice to the people of New York City. Directed and founded by Jennifer Miller, the group has been together since 1989 bringing its funny, queer, caustic and sexy, political one-ring spectacles to diverse neighborhoods throughout the city. Over the years the traditional circus skills - tight rope walking, juggling, acrobatics, stilt walking, clowning - have been combined with experimental dance, lifesize puppetry, music old and new, and gender-bending performance art and improvisational techniques, creating new meanings for circus while continuing to entertain the crowds of all ages throughout the city streets, gardens, parks, and playgrounds, inviting the audience to join them in envisioning a more empowered life of community interaction while enjoying a queer celebratory spectacle.
Interview with Enrique Buenaventura(
visu
)
2
editions published
in
1999
in
Spanish
and held by
3
libraries
worldwide
Interview with renowned Colombian theater director, theorist and playwright Enrique Buenaventura, founder of the Teatro Experimental de Cali (TEC), conducted by Chicano theater scholar Alma Martinez. In this extensive interview, Buenaventura discusses key topics germane to his artistic work, narrating his first experiences in theater and literature, the influences and lessons of his many travels (especially to France and throughout Latin America), his personal and professional relationship with theater director Jacqueline Vidal, and the history and situation of Colombian theater, and its culture in general, in the context of the country's economic crisis, issues of censorship, and political struggle. A prolific playwright and theater director, Buenaventura discusses his most influential contribution to Latin American experimental theater, 'creación colectiva' ('collective creation'); he also comments on the trajectory of the TEC, one of the most important Latin American theater groups, founded by Enrique in 1954. In a dialogue with interviewer Martinez and Colombian actor Lisímaco Núñez, Buenaventura poses a commentary on the interplay between art and politics, the nuances and differences between notions of 'popular' vs. 'populist' theater, and the role and limits of art criticism; taking into account the works by Luis Valdez and El Teatro Campesino, the artist also discusses the aesthetic and political points of contact between Chicano and Colombian theater.
Rats, the fantasy of extermination(
visu
)
2
editions published
in
1998
in
English
and held by
3
libraries
worldwide
Susana Cook (www.susanacook.com) is a New York-based Argentinean theater and performance artist. Mainly directed to queer and Latino communities in New York City, Cook's work also encompasses a heated response to broader State policies that oppress communities defined in the intersection of race, gender, and class. In her shows, Cook parodies discourses of power, drawing attention to the close ties between the state, religious and political conservatism, and the military. Cook's plays usually feature all-women casts that defy the normative performance of gender, race, and sexuality. During his administration, Rudolph Giuliani, the Mayor of New York City, decided that he was going to 'exterminate' the rats from New York City. In 'Rats' Susana Cook used some of Giuliani's discourse to compare it with the fantasy that some people have to make gays and lesbians disappear; the fantasy that those in power have that they can exterminate and rend any minority group invisible. 'Rats' is about queers, butches, lesbians, and a little bit about rats. The show has a non linear structure. The piece starts with a comparison between rats and King Hamlet. The main character realizes that she already became a ghost - even when she is not dead yet - and she starts obsessing about her ghost and her death. She states: 'sometimes your death can be more important than your life'.
The idiot king(
visu
)
2
editions published
in
2006
in
English
and held by
3
libraries
worldwide
Susana Cook (www.susanacook.com) is a New York-based Argentinean theater and performance artist. Mainly directed to queer and Latino communities in New York City, Cook's work also encompasses a heated response to broader State policies that oppress communities defined in the intersection of race, gender, and class. In her shows, Cook parodies discourses of power, drawing attention to the close ties between the state, religious and political conservatism, and the military. Cook's plays usually feature all-women casts that defy the normative performance of gender, race, and sexuality. 'The Idiot King' was presented at WOW Café and at Dixon Place a week before the Senate of the United States discussed an amendment to the Constitution that would ban the marriage of gay and lesbian couples. The amendment didn't pass, but some conservative Republicans announced that they will restart the discussion after a month. 'The Idiot King' is about the Sanctity of Marriage and policy making. In the play the Idiot King and his Court discuss several issues affecting the world like Satan, global warming, the sanctity of marriage, abortion, and evil. The discussions are embedded within Christian religiosity, biased logic, and irony. The parody includes real quotes from some of the ruling discourse, making it difficult to tell them apart from the jokes.
The temple of confessions : pre-performance street intervention, Detroit(
visu
)
3
editions published
in
1996
in
Multiple languages
and held by
2
libraries
worldwide
This itinerant performance/installation present two 'end-of-the-century saints' from an 'unknown border religion', in search of sanctuary across the United States while gathering confessions on intercultural fears and desires. Designed as a theater of mythos and cultural pathologies, the 'Temple' proposes a ceremonial space for the reflection on ethnic, racial, and gender prejudices. It is divided in three main areas: the 'Chapel of Desires', displaying 'El Pre-Columbian Vato' or 'holy gang member' (performed by Roberto Sifuentes); the 'Chapel of Fears', displaying 'San Pocho Aztlaneca' (a 'hyper-exoticied curio shop shaman for spiritual tourists' performed by Guillermo Gómez-Peña); and an enigmatic funerary vignette composed by performance objects. Paintings of other 'hybrid santos' hang from the walls, two 'nuns' ('chola/nun' Norma Medina and 'dominatrix nun' Michelle Ceballos) take care of the temple, and visitors can leave their 'confessions'; the most revealing ones are incorporated into the installation soundtrack for future performances. La Pocha Nostra (www.pochanostra.com) is an ever-morphing trans-disciplinary arts organization, founded in 1993 by Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Roberto Sifuentes, and Nola Mariano in California. The objective was to formally conceptualize Gómez-Peña's collaborations with other performance artists. It provides a base (and forum) for a loose network of rebel artists from various disciplines, generations and ethnic backgrounds, whose common denominator is the desire to cross and erase dangerous borders between art and politics, practice and theory, artist and spectator. As of June 2006, members include performance artists Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Violeta Luna, Michelle Ceballos, and Roberto Sifuentes; curators Gabriela Salgado and Orlando Britto; and over thirty associates worldwide in countries such as Mexico, Spain, the UK, and Australia. Projects range from performance solos and duets to large-scale performance installations including video, photography, audio, and cyber-art. La Pocha collaborates across national borders, race, gender and generations. Their collaborative model functions both as an act of citizen diplomacy and as a means to create ephemeral communities of like-minded rebels. The basic premise of these collaborations is founded on an ideal: If we learn to cross borders on stage, we may learn how to do so in larger social spheres. La Pocha strives to eradicate myths of purity and dissolve borders surrounding culture, ethnicity, gender, language, and métier. These are radical acts.
Otra tempestad(
visu
)
3
editions published
between
1997
and
1998
in
Spanish
and held by
2
libraries
worldwide
Adaptation written by Raquel Carrió and Flora Lauten, based on texts by Shakespeare, Carpentier, Paz, Martí, and Caribbean folktales, rituals and songs from Yoruban and Araran cultures. An exploration of the conflicting and syncretic coordinates of "cubanidad", Otra Tempestad tells the story of the labyrinthical encounters (dreamt or imagined) between well-known Shakespearean characters and key figures of Afro-Caribbean mythology. Fifteen "cuadros", constantly cycling from death to utopia to death, examine archetypal behavior, investigating the space where worlds collide, the confluence of old and new world orders. Teatro Buendía, formed in 1986 by graduates from the Higher Institute of Arts, Havana, and directed by Flora Lauten, is Cuba's most celebrated theater company. Since its foundation, they have developed two parallel lines of work: the production of theater spectacles, and a permanent research center investigating Latin American and Caribbean cultural traditions, the expressive possibilities of the actor, and the renewal of scenic languages. The study of the possible relations between music, dance, and interpretation, as well as the formulation of new forms of scenic writing and dramaturgy of the spectacle, has consolidated Teatro Buendía's international prestige as a company that has presented their repertoire in the most demanding festivals and venues of Latin America, Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Australia, all to critical acclaim. They also tour internationally giving workshops, seminars and conferences on their cultural investigations and creative methods.
Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani Antígona(
visu
)
3
editions published
between
2000
and
2006
in
Spanish
and held by
2
libraries
worldwide
In this rendition of the classic Greek tragedy, La Candelaria addresses once again the horrors of political and social violence in Colombian society. When Patricia Ariza visited Urabá, a region in Colombia, she talked to a group of women who could not bury their dead husbands, killed in the civil war. She connected this awful situation to the myth of Antigone and read it to the collective. This version of La Candelaria involves a series of transformations to the original myth. At the beginning, we see Tiresias walking around an empty space; taking the place of the chorus, he gives the audience the historical context, recounting background events that are important for a proper understanding of the play. The play presents three Antigones and two Ismenes who discuss the possibility of violating Creonte's rules in order to bury their brothers according to tradition. The discussion is thus polyphonic. La Candelaria was founded in 1966 by a group of independent artists and intellectuals who came from experimental theater and the broader Colombian cultural movement. Directed by Santiago García, La Candelaria (www.teatrolacandelaria.org.co) is one of Colombian theater's most innovative agents, modernizing national drama while addressing popular audiences. By means of an ongoing exploration of national folklore, situations and characters, they have created some of Colombia's most compelling plays, some of them through the method of 'creación colectiva' ('collective creation'), addressing the acute social and political problems of their society. At the same time, they fostered the creation of Corporación Colombiana del Teatro and have developed a number of theoretical works that reflect upon dramatic creation, its methods and languages. Still nowadays, La Candelaria is committed to repertoire, experimentation, and discussion as fundamental elements to artistic creation.
Donde el viento hace buñuelos(
visu
)
2
editions published
in
2004
in
Spanish
and held by
2
libraries
worldwide
'Donde el viento hace buñuelos' crystallizes an ongoing artistic collaboration Teatro Malayerba (Ecuador) and Rosa Luisa Márquez (Puerto Rico), produced under the name Suda/k/ribe. Collaboratively created through improvisations by actresses María del Rosario 'Charo' Francés and Rosa Luisa Márquez, the directorial and dramaturgical vision of Arístides Vargas, and the visual and spatial transformations by Puerto Rican artist Antonio Martorell, the play portrays the close relationship between two friends, developed in multiple encounters through time and space in the slippery territory of memory. The characters share the encounters and disencounters experienced while living in countries traversed by borders, incommunication, censorship, indifference and violence. Between life and death, memories and games, Catalina and Miranda weave their relationship, turning friendship into a community of affect, a virtual homeland of solidarity where to live amidst political and spiritual exile. Music by Puerto Rican artist María Pilar Aponte (who performs an enigmatic character, an Angel of Death of sorts) complements their journey between exile and memory, uprootedness and solidarity. The Grupo de Teatro Malayerba (teatromalayerba.org) was founded in Quito in 1979 by Arístides Vargas, Susana Pautasso and María del Rosario 'Charo' Francés, immigrant actors originally from Argentina and Spain. From the start, Malayerba included actors with various backgrounds and nationalities, invested in the exploration of the rich cultural diversity and complex history of Ecuador, as well as issues of migration, exile, political violence and individual and collective memory. With over 25 years of ongoing theater practice and more than 20 plays performed locally and internationally for a diverse audience, Malayerba is committed to theater pedagogy and experimentation, artistic collaboration, and community building. They have represented Ecuador in national and international theater festivals; they have also collaborated with theater groups within Ecuador and in other countries, and performed for both film and television, while engaging in community work in Quito. In 1989 the group created the Laboratorio Malayerba, committed to the training of generations of young Ecuadorian actors and to an ongoing investigation of theories and practices of experimental theater. In 2001 Malayerba launched the theater journal 'Hoja de Teatro,' conceived as a forum for the theorization, criticism and dissemination of Ecuadorian theater practices. The group also runs a theater house, the Casa Malayerba, which houses the Laboratory as well as a theater with seating capacity for seventy people. Malayerba approaches theater making as an artistic, ethical and technical realm where to engage in meaningful creative experiences through which to understand, assume and confront current sociopolitical processes. In working together, actors with various backgrounds and nationalities have shown that a multicultural blend is not only possible but also enriching, as differences lead to new identities, embodiments of dreams, memories, absences and pains that are at once local and universal.
Chicomoztoc-mimixcoa : cloud serpents(
visu
)
2
editions published
between
1996
and
2000
in
English
and held by
2
libraries
worldwide
Coatlicue Theaters Chicumoztoc Mimixcoa - Cloud Serpents was first performed as a work in progress in 1996 at the New World Theater in Amherst, MA as part of a summer program titled New Works for a New World. This video was filmed during the American Indian Community Houses (AICH) 2000 Indian Summer season and captures the first time the completed work was performed in New York. Elvira and Hortensia Colorado explain the piece as being a journey through dreams, stories, time and memory, across mountains and deserts, retracing the footsteps of the ancestors, traveling back to Chicumoztoc (the place of our origin), searching, digging up and gathering stories that have been buried through centuries of shame and denial in our family, but which connect us to our past and identity. Some stories/secrets remain buried, and they are also part of who we are. We honor all those who struggled with their shame and denial. This is an offering to all of our relations. Elvira and Hortensia Colorado, Chichimec Otomi storytellers, playwrights, performers and community activists are founding members of Coatlicue Theatre Company (www.coatlicue.com). They are also members of Danza Mexica Cetiliztli, New York Zapatistas and the American Indian Community House. The company's plays address social, political, cultural and identity issues that impact their lives and their community. Their work is based on stories they weave together which educate as well as entertain, while reaffirming their survival as urban Native American women. They have conducted storytelling/ theatre workshops. They are recipients of the Ingrid Washinawatok Community Activism Award. The American Indian Community House (AICH) is an urban Indian center that services the needs of the Native people living in New York City and welcomes Native visitors to the city. AICH was founded in 1969 and has become a de facto neighborhood serving as a meeting place for the diverse Native community of the New York City area. The Community House offers a variety of services ranging from substance abuse and HIV counseling, to career assistance. It is also home to the only Indian owned and operated art gallery in New York City. The AICHs Performing Arts Department has become an important resource for Native visual and performance artists. Through its programming, performance has become an important educational vehicle, both for the Native and non-Native NY community. The Badger's Corner, initiated in the 1980s, is an education-via-entertainment vehicle for the AICHs visual and performing arts department programs. Taking its name from the Pueblo legend of the four-legged creature who led the Pueblo people out of the underworld after the great flood, the intent of its programming is to inform and challenge people to rethink their concept(s) of Native American people and customs. All performances at AICH are presented under the auspices of the Badgers Corner. Indian Summer is an annual event at AICH and an occasion for artists to present their latest works to the community and the general public. All performers, whether new to the field or veteran practitioners, are encouraged to present their work.
La razón blindada(
visu
)
2
editions published
between
2005
and
2006
in
Spanish
and held by
2
libraries
worldwide
'La razón blindada' is based on the classic novel 'El Quijote' by Miguel de Cervantes, Franz Kafka's 'The Truth about Sancho Panza,' and testimonies by Chicho Vargas and other political prisoners held in the 1970's at the Rawson Prison during Argentina's dictatorship. In the play, two political prisoners, oppressed by physical and emotional abuse, find solace in meeting every Sunday at dusk to tell the story of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Their storytelling unravels amidst the extreme limitations imposed by their condition of inmates in a maximum security prison. It is fueled by the vital need to tell each other a story that could save them, that could transport them to a human adventure situated in the realm of imagination, where hardship and fear can't reach them, where the most intense pain can be mitigated by the act of imagining a different reality. In this way, they continuously reinvent Don Quixote, the knight-errant who constantly takes windmills for giants, withered women for maidens, and prisons for paradises, a character who exiles himself in insanity, that strange state of harmless straggle, an oblique strategy for survival. The Grupo de Teatro Malayerba (teatromalayerba.org) was founded in Quito in 1979 by Arístides Vargas, Susana Pautasso and María del Rosario 'Charo' Francés, immigrant actors originally from Argentina and Spain. From the start, Malayerba included actors with various backgrounds and nationalities, invested in the exploration of the rich cultural diversity and complex history of Ecuador, as well as issues of migration, exile, political violence and individual and collective memory. With over 25 years of ongoing theater practice and more than 20 plays performed locally and internationally for a diverse audience, Malayerba is committed to theater pedagogy and experimentation, artistic collaboration, and community building. They have represented Ecuador in national and international theater festivals; they have also collaborated with theater groups within Ecuador and in other countries, and performed for both film and television, while engaging in community work in Quito. In 1989 the group created the Laboratorio Malayerba, committed to the training of generations of young Ecuadorian actors and to an ongoing investigation of theories and practices of experimental theater. In 2001 Malayerba launched the theater journal 'Hoja de Teatro,' conceived as a forum for the theorization, criticism and dissemination of Ecuadorian theater practices. The group also runs a theater house, the Casa Malayerba, which houses the Laboratory as well as a theater with seating capacity for seventy people. Malayerba approaches theater making as an artistic, ethical and technical realm where to engage in meaningful creative experiences through which to understand, assume and confront current sociopolitical processes. In working together, actors with various backgrounds and nationalities have shown that a multicultural blend is not only possible but also enriching, as differences lead to new identities, embodiments of dreams, memories, absences and pains that are at once local and universal.
Beauty and the beast(
visu
)
2
editions published
between
1983
and
1986
in
English
and held by
2
libraries
worldwide
Since 1981, the Split Britches Company (founded by Lois Weaver, Peggy Shaw, and Deb Margolin, www.splitbritches.com) has written and performed in trio, duet, and solo, as well as collaborated and performed with other artists. They describe their work in this way: 'Our work is rooted in popular culture, but positioned against it. It relies on moments rather than plot, relationships rather than story. It depends on the surprise of transformation rather than the logic of psychological narrative. It straddles the line between performance and theater, exploiting theatricality while exposing the pretense. It is about a community of outsiders, queers, eccentrics. It is feminist because it encourages the imaginative potential in everyone and lesbian because it takes the presence of lesbian on stage as a given.' Their vaudevillian satirical gender-bending performances have received numerous awards, including a Jane Chamber award and four Village Voice OBIE awards. Their collection of scripts, Split Britches Feminist Performance/Lesbian Practice, edited by Sue Ellen Case, won the 1997 Lambda Literary Award for Drama. This video documents the first version of their show Beauty and the Beast. Based on the classic fairy tale, influenced by the long rule of republican politics and informed by the Christian agenda that dominates the US scene up till the present, it is the personal journey of a Salvation Army woman who plays the good and beautiful daughter who secretly wants to be bad, a Rabbi in pink toe shoes who is relegated to the role of the father and longs to be a stand-up comic, and an 86-year-old lesbian vaudeville freak who embraces the role of the Beast and comments on politics by forgetting which play she is in.
Split Britches(
visu
)
2
editions published
between
1980
and
1984
in
English
and held by
2
libraries
worldwide
Since 1981, the Split Britches Company (founded by Lois Weaver, Peggy Shaw, and Deb Margolin, www.splitbritches.com) has written and performed in trio, duet, and solo, as well as collaborated and performed with other artists. They describe their work in this way: 'Our work is rooted in popular culture, but positioned against it. It relies on moments rather than plot, relationships rather than story. It depends on the surprise of transformation rather than the logic of psychological narrative. It straddles the line between performance and theater, exploiting theatricality while exposing the pretense. It is about a community of outsiders, queers, eccentrics. It is feminist because it encourages the imaginative potential in everyone and lesbian because it takes the presence of lesbian on stage as a given.' Their vaudevillian satirical gender-bending performances have received numerous awards, including a Jane Chamber award and four Village Voice OBIE awards. Their collection of scripts, Split Britches Feminist Performance/Lesbian Practice, edited by Sue Ellen Case, won the 1997 Lambda Literary Award for Drama. This video documents their show Split Britches- The True Story, which marks the initial collaboration of the trio and is the show from which they got their name. Conceived and directed by Lois Weaver, its a show based on true stories of three members of Weavers family in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, United States. It also marks the beginning of the companys aesthetic: weaving multiple true stories in one, trusting the details of the everyday and relying on relation rather than action. The Christian Science Monitor called this play a tiny masterpiece.
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