 Bienvenidos. Hello. Hello. I am not Abigail Vega So hello and welcome to the third large group session of the 2017 Latinx theater commons international convening So what is it soon? Just go up one to 75.35 Namas Medio Punto Isles quita all the static I get in here Preguntas No, and if you're listening in English you listening to one you have no problem figure that out, okay? Oh Privilege So here we go This is our first session together So we want to begin by acknowledging and thanking the original caretakers of the land. We are standing on The ancestors that came before us we acknowledge that we are on the traditional territory We want to start by recognizing and thanking Don't go out wrong channel Very interesting. It was the ancestors speaking to us traditional territory of the Don't go out Gabriela, you know much and the ancestors that preceded us We recognize that we are in the traditional territory of the people of Tonga Gabriela Massey and by Muchos otros para quienes estas tierras in an espacio de reunión communal. I Don't know what to do. Were you able to understand both languages? Okay, let's keep it like that Thank you. Okay. So today today we've asked Drs. Chantal Rodriguez to moderate a panel with the Encuentro artists that were available for this more formal conversations Dr. Rodriguez is the associate dean of who saw culture clash just now So she's the associate dean of Yale school of drama From 2009 to 2016 she worked as a programming director and literary manager of the Latino theater company here at the LATC She She is a member of the LTC steering committee and was part of the selection committee for this Encuentro, so she knows these people and these people's work Aesthetics is the guide for this conversation, but we will not try to define aesthetics But to speak about the work and creative methodologies Creative methodologies as you hear the artist respond to dr. Rodriguez's questions keep in mind the place you've seen and the place you make and Think about the common ground they share and how it intersects with the way you create Before we begin. I want to point out that in addition to our note takers interpreters and live streamers We also are lucky to have Jorjina Escobar somewhere in the house Right here doodling this session never done this before so now we're gonna do it So welcome. Thank you. Chantel. Hi everybody Before we begin, I just have to say it's a really deep honor for me to be back home I consider myself a daughter of the LTC. That's the Latino theater company So I'm just really happy to be back back at home. It means a lot He turned me into a cry baby I also just want to express on behalf of us all a thank you to the staff of the LATC Are doing incredible work a lot of work that you don't see but that is going on And a special shout out to the technical crew who's the best crew in the in the nation So the format of this event this panel is going to be I have a list of questions And I will read the questions in English and in Spanish, but I will be speaking primarily in English I'll ask certain panelists certain questions Because we don't have enough time for every panelist to answer every question And then about when we have about 30 minutes left We'll have Q&A from the audience and there will be a mic right down here So once we get to that place if you have questions in particular if you've seen some of these artists work already in the festival and you want to ask about their methodology or What informed their work? We invite you to think about those kinds of questions and to come down and you'd ask it from the microphone there great, so we're gonna get started and I would like to pose a question We'll start with the artistic director of this company of this theater. Jose Luis Valenzuela, and I will also pose this question To Rocío Carrillo Reyes, but before we do that I forgot I need to ask everyone to introduce themselves So we're gonna go down the line and I'm gonna ask each each artist to introduce themselves their company and a very brief You know a bit about who your company is and what they do and once we do that. We'll get in we'll get into the question Gracias Chantal, Rosalba Rolón, artistic director of Pregones, Puerto Rican Traveling Ensemble-based company with theater in the Bronx and in Manhattan I'm from San Antonio, Texas here with the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center And I'll just read our mission statement the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center cultivates promotes and preserves traditional contemporary Chicano Latino and Native American arts and culture through multidisciplinary programming My name is David Lozano, and I'm with Caramia Theater Company from Dallas, Texas And We create plays that speak to the urgent needs of Latinos living in the United States My name is Jose Luis Valenzuela, and I'm the artistic director of the LATC and the Latino Theater Company and our company We create plays that speak about Essentially Mexicans in the United States really and then we have this building and we program Multicultural People of color Jose Rocío Carrillo soy la directora de organización secreta teatro la compañía que presenta quemar las naves el viaje de Emma Bueno en síntesis yo diría que algo que Particulariza el trabajo de organización secreta teatro es la búsqueda en la experimentación permanente de otras formas de narrar Historias que tienen que ver en el caso de Emma y de otras obras con el uso de la interdisciplina y De una manera alternativa de contar que no usa la palabra My name is Carmen Aguirre. I'm from Santiago, Chile, but I live in Vancouver, Canada I'm here at the festival as an independent theater artist. I'm a playwright actor director and author of books I'm here with a play called broken tailbone, which more than a play It's an event that simultaneously is accessible and confrontational It's not scripted, but it is scored and It is directed and dramaturged and produced by Night Swimming Theater Who is run by Brian Court Thanks karma Hi, everyone. My name is Brian Court. I'm the artistic director of night swimming and I'm also the director of the Banff Center Playwrights lab where Carmen's show broken tailbone was also developed in part Night swimming for those of you who are not familiar with us is commissioning company we commission new works of theater and music and dance from Artists that we are passionate about such as Carmen whose work we admire when we commission a piece We commit to it for the life of the piece for as long as it takes to get it on stage in whatever way is most appropriate We design the process for the show in consultation with and with the artist to ensure that the artists that we commissioned are able to commit to and complete a dream project that they couldn't commit Complete or work on in any other context and we're really thrilled to have the night swimming here team here at the festival. Thank you In my name is Carlos El Drán. I'm from Havana, Cuba Directed by the company Argos de Teatro that brings the production of 10 million Here at the festival in terms of The poetic aesthetic of ours Can be summarized a little in the search for a complex behavior For the Cuban being today how to capture our reality in a contemporary dramatic way escaping from the clichés and the topics of That Cuban and good to make a theater on the island inside the island with a universal production I am Jorge Cabo, Cuban born, born in Colombia I am here with the National Society of Arts I am the director of the mariposas jump into the void The No La compañía es una joven compañía teatral con egresados del teatro Libre de Bogotá que es una agrupación inmensa de muchos años de tradición en Bogotá La compañía de la ciudad de las artes tiene dos vertientes una vertiente que tiene que ver con la formación de nuevos públicos Estamos dirigiendo todo un teatro muy elaborado para los niños y un teatro para adultos Haciendo énfasis en la familia y en la situación Que como la familia va a influir todo este proceso del post conflicto que estamos viviendo en Colombia eso como para empezar Muchas gracias Bienvenida Los siento Disculpen la La tardanza bueno quienes habla mi nombre es alice olivares Yo soy directora de ebano teatro ebano teatro es una compañía Bueno es una productora en recién nueva hace dos años que impulsa el teatro con actores afro descendientes Es y estamos aquí así que el con hemos venido con la obra ropa íntima de De la autora afroamericana Lignotash Y bajo la dirección de Miguel pastor que debe estar por ahí también está Miguel pastor que es el director de la obra Gracias por esta oportunidad ya ha sido presentada Thank you. Okay, so we're gonna get started with some questions And I'll pose them to specific panelists, but please other panelists if you want to jump in We're gonna be very flexible here with our dialogue So first I'd like to ask Jose Luis, Rocio and Alicia Does your company have a specific aesthetic or does it change with each show tiene su compañía una estética específica o cambia con cada obra? No, si Jose Luis puede empezar Y yo creo que si para nosotros en los últimos quizás 15 años estábamos en una búsqueda Hacemos un teatro muy específico especialmente para La clase media chicana Que es muy es muy diferente no no ha no hacemos obras Yo no es para el grupo el público que trabajamos Y quizás esto viene la idea de que nunca somos representados Yo no soy yo soy mexicano, pero casi chicano Pero nunca vemos la comunidad chicana o mexicana por lo menos es nuestra idea representada en una forma mucho más Inclusive de inclusive a de lo que somos nosotros mismo yo soy profesor y la gente en la compañía todos son profesionales Entonces siempre el discurso estético Pensamos nosotros lleva que casi es esa idea Solitude Solitude en adaptación de la laberinto de la soledad o premeditación que le llamamos chicano noir Y tomamos mucho yo también estamos en los estados unidos en los ángeles Somos una compañía que hemos estado juntos por 32 años los mismos miembros Dos se nos murieron uno se salió Y y pues ya nos conozco muy bien pero esa búsqueda es es es es parte de de como Y y trabajamos mucho con con Con el silencio que es muy raro para nosotros pero en en en en cuestión de que no es You know they're not Loud in that way y tenemos y tenemos los actores y abelina Fernández es la escritora Aunque empezamos con una compañía de creación colectiva luego nos desarrollamos aquella escribiera los guiones y yo digiera Pero eso es lo que hacemos bueno No quizás con el tiempo quizás con la compañía se formó hace más de 20 años aunque son miembros algunos que tienen ese tiempo y El elenco que ustedes vieron pues son los los más los más recientes más jóvenes Y con los que vengo trabajando desde hace alrededor de siete ocho años Digamos que si podría pudiera yo hablar de una estética que se que define al grupo tendría que ser algo que no fue en en un inicio una intención Artística si no que más bien es un resultado de la experimentación Que marlas naves es la segunda obra que hacemos sin palabra Hemos tenido otros procesos donde hay un Producto híbrido no hay una palabra hay palabra pero la palabra no siempre es la que estructura la obra no siempre está señida una estructura Dramática so the world is not in a dramatic structure or I Character híbrido de la poste en escena donde está presente a veces la palabra la imagen El sonido Como diseño sonoro pero también como música en vivo formando una especie de dramaturgia Puesto que puntualiza las acciones Físicas Marca Movimiento lo delimita como si fuera una partitura escénica Lo que quizás es una constante es el trabajo con la imagen que lleva un largo proceso porque Lo que buscamos es una imagen que esté habitada por las emociones del actor por su Gestualidad por su movimiento Yo no No Puedo definir el trabajo que hacemos con un teatro de imágenes yo creo Pues no me atrobo definirlo de ninguna manera este atro Palabra Estas alturas ya cuando se habla de un teatro pos dramático Hablamos de una enorme cantidad de Divertientes y diversificación y los lenguajes escénicos C. Nick Y Alicia si quieres responder que Tiene su compañía una estética específica o cambia con cada obra Hola Bueno Evan no hace dos años que nació De teatro que y se la producción fue Fences de August Wilson Fue la primera obra teatral con el enco de actores Negros en Perú Nunca antes había producido una obra Porque el pretexto siempre los directores y los productores es no hay no hay actores negros Entonces Yo como actriz Egresada de una escuela de arte dramático al terminal escuela Viendo este vacío que hay No en mi país y por lo que estoy aquí el encuentro creo que en el mundo Esta necesidad de que el actor afro latino Encuentre un espacio una voz Dentro del medio artístico Creo que es eso es importante y me motiva a mí porque yo pensaba que era algo que sería solo en mi país Pero cuando te encuentras con otras realidades Te identificas más y digo entonces vamos por buen camino Entonces creo que es para mí es importante Fences Los actores Tuvimos esta plataforma En octubre el año pasado Produce ropa íntima Artes eratriz, soy gestora y productora Entonces para mí la estética del teatro En cada obra Yo podría decir que Yo me inclino más por las obras de texto I tend towards Oras que transmiten Que tengan algo importante que decir That have something important to say Que trans que trascienda y que tras que choquen el corazón Oras que hablan del amor The heart that speak about De identidad Creo que por ahí va lo que yo busco como actriz Y que el publico vaya a ver una obra Y cuando el publico viene a ver Salga con el corazón roto I hope that the audience is like fully heartbroken So I'd like to pose a question to Nicolás About his artistic process So Nicolás Who are your artistic ancestors And how do they influence your approach to your work? ¿Quiénes son sus influencias artísticas? Y cómo influyen sus métodos artísticos? Claro, thank you So in San Antonio and Texas We have a long history of teatro That goes back to the carpas That were started in the latter part of the 18th century And proliferated probably around the 19th century To the 20s and 30s For those of you that aren't familiar with the carpas These were traveling tent shows That were sold mostly in Spanish They traveled freely across the border And based loosely on the sort of Comedia de arte They were acrobatics involved They were music Oftentimes they would take the lyrics of popular songs And change them to provide some comedy But also some social commentary There was comicos They didn't like to be called payasos They were comicos As well as actos And that It was actually a big fire In one of the major circus acts And several hundred people died in this accident So there was no regulations that were enforced On the carpa and the materials that they used And they couldn't afford it So that carpa tradition sort of began to die out That was replaced by These Sort of vaudeville They called them as they I'm trying to think of the word here But they were basically vaudeville acts In these houses That That did a lot of the same work In these actos and musical acts They called them teatro variedad And there were several in San Antonio That existed for a long time Teatro Nacional, Teatro Zaragoza As well as the Alameda And those were extremely popular They were based on one side of town The actos were on the other side For the American English-speaking audiences So of course we were always Marginalized historically Then when film came out Those houses became movie houses And there was I think a lull And the production of that kind of work Up until after of course Teatro Campesino Reinvigorated the Chicano community To start doing actos The Guadalupe was founded by a group of actors Who came out of that same school And started producing work there At the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center In about the early 80s, 81, 82 And so that same aesthetic Was continued Though I will say that Our aesthetic continues to be defined By the resources available to us And really the lack of resources The Teatro Rascuache Happened because that's all They had to make their own props and costumes Even the Carpa tradition They sewed the tents themselves They made all their own props and costumes And they would set it up themselves And they would often sleep on the stage They had nowhere else to go So that tradition continues At the Guadalupe and the kind of work That we continue to do The Guadalupe is a cultural arts center So we're not just a theater There's music programs There's a literary program A dance program, a film program And so it's a big monster And of course it's had It's lulls over the years And several people have commented on that But there's a resurgence again happening in San Antonio And at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center And I'm really happy to be part Of this new movement of Teatro I am a product of the Guadalupe's program And I started teaching I started taking accordion classes there When I was eight years old I was a member of the resident youth theater company At 13 And to have that experience To be empowered to speak in our own voice And for people to encourage us to do that Has really informed the way That I continue to do work And combining the musical elements Poetry elements And of course the Teatro That continues to provide some historical context For us as Tejanos We've been really stripped Of our history Through the politics And through the school systems And so it's really important for a lot of the work That we do is based on historical figures And historical moments Because so much of that has been erased And taken away from us And so my show, Cojota Blues Really aims to do that And bring attention back to The development of the Mexican-American community Here in the United States Thank you So next I'd like to pose a question To three panelists, to Rosalba, Carlos And David What is your process in creating a show? Do you begin with a text, an idea A song, maybe a historical Document or a political issue What is your process to create a Teatro? Do you begin with a text, an idea A song, a historical document Or a political issue? Maybe Rosalba can start Thank you It is All of the above In many ways We were created We began Our work in the Seventies as Teatro Popular With Teatro Popular as an inspiration It was just Teatro de la Calle This is what we were doing Going to places Performing everywhere we could find Space to perform it I always like to remind ourselves That our first Stay shredded to place in a friend's apartment That fitted Accommodated like eleven people And ten were sitting One was standing so I always say That we have standing room only for our first reading Which was true But Because it is an ensemble based And because we approach it as A Creación Colectiva from the beginning There has been always multiple voices In how we shape A project More and more as we We have new generations of ensemble members Then Right now there are for example I am RTC director but we also have For him I said as Associate RTC Director Alvan as Associate RTC Director And each one of us bring ideas And bring projects to the table And for example El Apagón For those of you who have seen it El Apagón de Blackout Which would be performing at the encuentro Alvan came one day and said I am in love with this short story Why basically because Most of our repertoire is based In non-dramatic texts Adapted to the theater We just get So Such an urge whenever we see something Whether it's a grandmother's recipe Turned into a song It doesn't matter If it's not theater we will want To turn it into theater And create something new out of it And that's why we have So many historical pieces But also A large variety of Works so when we begin the process We immediately involve Our main composer Musical director Des Margevara Who you saw also in El Apagón The pianist And he comes in With his own vision of the project And he comes in to Many times challenge the idea And say this is what I see This is what I don't see And we have always used Life music but we have always Strive to strike A balance between form and content So that One thing doesn't overshadow The other And our work is very rooted In Puerto Rican Experience in the United States Or in Puerto Rico But also you know We don't Only approach Ethnic identity Or politics as the main thing We want to have the freedom Internally to approach As many themes as possible So we have Alvin Space Which is about the last man in space Based on a story From 140 years ago He envisioned the last astronaut That's going to be in space And the last woman as a result So So it's just a very Broad range of themes Because it involves many people Bringing ideas Bringing thoughts Bringing aesthetic approaches But we do share a common aesthetic core And that helps us launch the idea And begin to need All that information Into what will become a dramatic text What will become lyrics What will become music And imagery Thank you And Carlos What is your process To start a theater Well We always take off from Something with a reality that we Do not interest us Something close And So we always start looking For ways So Interesting to the audience And to us Because that connection We don't only do My job is about representing Or always on the border Always on the border Always on the border Either resenting or worried That's what we're saying Those Not only as actors or as theater actors But as people we live in Not only as a person Not only as artists but also as persons We live in a society So we always We have so many works that interest us But Are not the ones that we Are able to work on with that moment So we're always looking For text So we always take off From text To virtual addresses To your problems So we transform it or rewrite it So the sources are many To do a general topic That will be in that project So is the process So we're looking for a way Of authentic being From the reality that we're living And tell a particular story From our particular point of view David, can you speak To this question a little bit? Sure. We have Different processes For each project And what comes to mind Is our two plays Are two plays Are two plays One is A play Called Gosh, what is it? To Diego To Diego in Leaves By Frida Kahlo So it's a devised piece We created it so long ago I forgot what it was called But to Diego in Leaves By Frida Kahlo So we actually Created paintings And we created Movement sequences based on the paintings And then we read as many books as possible And so We were drawn to Images in the In the biographies So for example there was A story of when she was Bedridden as a child in polio And she would draw A door on Her window That had mist And she would imagine walking through that door And experiencing a dream world Of a ballerina And so that was a very vivid image And then The image of course of the trolley accident And while we're looking through All of this biographical information We're looking at the paintings And I remember looking at a painting Called Moses That she had painted Which was fantasmagoric with These historical figures And I just happened to be At the bookstore when we still had Bookstores in Dallas Had a boarder's bookstore And I walked down the aisle And by the way The painting was inspired by a book By Sigmund Freud So I just happened to be walking in the bookstore Not looking for it and I saw the book And I just started reading it And the thesis Is that Our heroes are usually Injured The theories that Our mythical heroes are usually injured at a young age And then they gain powers That are able to Allow them to transcend Their circumstances So the trolley accident became A fantasmagoria in the play That that became One of her injuries That she was able to gain more strength And so we had the trolley accident That was broken up into several We would break up the Time sequence of the trolley accident And intervene historical scenes In between different segments Of the sequence And when the accident took place She had this dreamlike experience That recalled that initial fantasy While she was bedridden And so all of this Was brought together by the ensemble By looking at Everyone was reading different books And we were all looking at different paintings And we did this None of us had full-time jobs So we were working Like about eight hours a day For about eight weeks So we were able to put that together And so that was always a very memorable experience That we had done for the first time So that informed our work for several years For deferred action So we kind of Took this process into The studio with this Co-production with the Dallas Theatre Center At the Lord Theatre in Dallas And we started working on her feet In similar ways We were always looking for that impulse That comes from the performer From the heartbeat And the impulse of the performer And how we can bring that to the stage Rather than just a calculated Technical process And so we started Actually creating improvisations With Five company members from both companies And we started discovering characters And for example Dale Jenkins was Developed by the impulses of an actor In a split second So that is one of the main characters In our current production And Since it was a union house We weren't actually able to spend that many hours Working on that kind of process Really delving into that So we had about two weeks of that kind of process Because we couldn't afford it And then so Myself and the director of new play Development from the theater center Went off to write the play And at that point I just read the newspaper Religiously In multiple newspapers every day And I started seeing Dynamics as we were Heading into the primaries For example Hillary Clinton Would be protested by documented Immigration reform And then two weeks later She would hire a documented Youth to become the director Of Latino outreach So we were looking at these kinds of Patterns and then soon We saw Jeb Bush Announced that he was going In his campaign He wanted to deliver a path For full citizenship For all 11 million Undocumented immigrants So we found our play In the newspapers And that was the problem Of the play And that's what we carried through And so then it became Kind of a process Of dramaturgy with text Thank you Okay so before we go to Q&A I have a two part question For Jorge, Carmen and Brian So Let's have a question For Carmen and Brian How do your collaborators influence The aesthetics of your work And how does your artistic practice Intersect with your community How do you influence your Collaborators in the aesthetics Of a work or company And how do you cross your artistic Practice with your community I don't know if you want to start Jorge, maybe? Thank you I come from a long tradition Of an influence in Europe And that in some way The great creators Of the last 60, 70 years Of the theater in Cuba They began translating All of those European works And convert them Into international theater In Colombia As well as in Moscow And Colombia As well as in Moscow They told me How they translated How they translate Into our own way I began to direct So I began to be an actress I had to be a theater I had done my living in Telvis county And then two years And then four years ago I met a group of young Creators que venían del Teatro Libre con la formación del Teatro Libre, que además quería independizarse y empezar a hacer ellos y hacer un teatro consecuente con lo que piensan y con el mundo que viven y encontrar sus propias maneras. Eso para mí fue muy revitalizador porque ellos son muy jóvenes, son casi los hijos, los hijos y hasta los nietos. My children are reading grandchildren, so then they asked me for a job play. I really didn't know what to do. I proposed a couple of songs from there. The mariposa salta en el vacío de un dramaturgo cubano José Milián. Yo dinamité todo la estructura de Milián, quité las cosas específicas y particulares de la Cuba en los últimos 50 años y dejé el hecho de lo humano y lo trascendental y lo universal. Con ellos traté de que teníamos que darnos en un género dramático no sin jugar, digamos, desde la farsa trágica a pasar por la comedia musical o cualquier cosa y ir probando cómo eran capaces de expresarse de diferentes maneras los actores. Y en ese proceso es la mariposa. En la actualidad la compañía además de todo el trabajo de formación de futuras generaciones con el teatro infantil y juvenil, estamos muy enfracados en la parte que me corresponde a mí en un trabajo de investigación con relación a la familia partiendo de los grandes textos clásicos del siglo XIX pero adaptado por dos jóvenes escritores de la compañía. O sea, la compañía tiene dos directores y dos escritores. Eso nos permite una movilidad tremenda porque una de las grandes carencias que yo siento que tiene el teatro latinoamericano que está en una dramaturgia sustanciosa, realmente, que pueda competir a nivel mundial con lo que se hace en el teatro en cualquier parte y que sea íntimamente nuestra. Y en esa batalla estamos, el año pasado, estrenamos una versión del peliculo de streamer. Eso va a ser una trilogía. Voy a trabajar la noche de los asesinos para tratar. O sea, tratamos a streamer el tema, la familia, a partir de la madre. Ahora vamos a tratar el tema de la familia a partir de los hijos. Para ellos partimos de un texto de Pepe Triana que se llama La Noche de los Asesinos con una adaptación de Alejandro Bueno. Y después volveríamos a streamer con el padre. Entonces ahí yo le dirijo, me dirige Nelson. Y así hablan de los roles. We are following us and we are in the process. Carmen and Brian. I'll speak to collaboration because we're a dramaturgical company and our key collaboration is between the company and the commission artist. For example, Carmen in this case or another show that's running in Canada right now by Anita Majumdar, a South Asian artist. We've been here more than a decade in both cases. And the nature of the process that we design in collaboration with them is different and unique and special to the project that we are commissioning with them. So with Carmen is our second show, the process in both cases for both shows has been related but again different because of the subject matter because of the aesthetic interest that we had because of the content because of where we're at in our time, our lives, our careers. Our projects at Night Swimming. Everything is designed in collaboration with both the central artists that we commission so that the process that is used to enact their desires, their dreams, the show they want to make comes out of their specific needs. We often and usually invite designers into the process as early as possible when it's appropriate, which again has been the case with this project. It's been a design consultant for us. Designers are part of workshops from as near the beginning of the process at Night Swimming as possible. We do a lot of workshops from first drafts or pre-first drafts. We bring actors in as early as possible to read all of the works. The information that all of those artists contribute to the growing knowledge about the world of the piece that we're making, whether it's theater or dance or music related is fed back in and filtered between myself as dramaturge and the central artist and redesigned and reshaped to continue the process as we move forward. And I know Carmen will talk about community, but one thing I just wanted to mention because we're not a producing company, even though we're producing this tour, we don't really have a company that doesn't have a community in a traditional theater sense. We have a community of audiences is how we think of it. And one of them is online. And I wanted to mention that we have online websites for all of our shows. And brokentailbone.ca we commissioned a theater artist to create a site for this show. So if you're seeing the show this weekend, I invite you to go to brokentailbone.ca if you're not able to see the show for any reason. I still invite you to go to brokentailbone.ca because you can dance with and hear some of the stories that Carmen is telling. Thank you. So I'll talk about the community part. Not about brokentailbone, but just about my work in general. So I'm a Chilean refugee. I arrived in Canada in 1974 as a child with my parents who were fleeing the Pinochet dictatorship and had suffered extreme violence. Everything I do in my artistic practice is in relation to that experience and to that community which is as you can imagine a very marginalized community in Canada. All of my work is unabashedly left wing, unabashedly political. And it speaks to the refugee experience in opposition to the immigrant experience. So the refugee experience is one of the triumphs that return to the homeland. That's the state of mind of the refugee. And the immigrant experience is about reinventing yourself in a new land. So they really are in opposition to each other. I was raised with the belief that I need to put my skill set at the service of the community. And the community that I put my skill set at the service of is not only the Chilean refugee community, but the Latinx refugee community in Canada and refugee communities in general in Canada. So for example, the first one person show that I wrote in 1995 was called Chile con carne and it was the first time in the history of Canadian theater that a play had been written by a refugee about the refugee experience from the point of view of a child. Because the main character is an eight year old refugee. And I knew that that subject matter and that that play would talk to the Chilean refugee community in Vancouver and that they would come to the show and that they would identify with it. I never foresaw that it would tour for years and years and years that it would receive many different productions. And that refugee communities from all over the world living in Canada would identify with it to the point that they did. Not to mention other communities as well. But basically that is those are the communities that I feel our responsibility towards. Those are the communities that I'm writing about and that I'm writing for. And constantly fighting in Canada against completely racial invisibility. You know, we only have one Latinx theater company in the entire country of Canada. And I could really relate to what Alicia was saying. Alicia, you can identify with all the things you were saying. We are constantly being told by the theater community at large that we don't exist. That there are no Latinx actors that there are no Latinx designers, directors, writers. So it's a constant struggle. So we are, I think we have so much history and artistry on this stage. It's really tough. But we've heard from everyone. And now I'd like to open it up to you all. We have about 25 minutes for Q&A from the audience. So vamos a tener 25 minutos. Si quieres hacer una pregunta, por favor, baja. So we have 25 minutes for questions. If you have a question, please come down this set of stairs and there is a microphone there. Y podemos empezar. I see someone's coming down now. Let's welcome Herbert Siguenza from Culture Clash. Impressive panel. Impressive panel. 100,000 years of experience. And this is my criticism. My criticism is about observation and observation. I think we should have at least two panelists under 30. I'm feeling a generational gap. And I think these are students, but they're not students any longer. They should be on the panel. Thank you. Excuse me. I just want to give Alicia the shout out that she is under 30. I just want to give Alicia the shout out that she is under 30. I just want to give Alicia the shout out that she is under 30. I just want to give Alicia a shout out that she is under 30. Thank you. Just a question. The piece of mariposas? It's a specific question, so I hope this is okay. But in the middle of the piece represents the same event. It's typically Mexican, it's typically Colombian, it's typically Cuban. I understand the piece and I really loved it. But in that moment I didn't understand. Is it okay to ask a specific question about a moment that I just didn't get? Why did we suddenly flip into... Oh, now we're doing the same moment, but we're doing it in these three different cultures or dialects. Is that okay? It was a game. What a precision, now I'm going to sing a song. The situation with the kid is funny. It's far too common. This is an image that we all know because we don't have much to do in our folk or go to the movies, but in every corner we have a TV and we have cameras. So it's the same. It's the same center. Right after that, the two protagonists come to an agreement to... So this is like a metaphorical moment cultural moment that shares this... It's play with that, right? But it's also... Thank you, I was going to encounter all of you. Other questions or comments? Thank you. I was very excited to see Afro-Pervanos. For me it was incredible the way that you possessed those words was phenomenal. I don't like to read the blurbs I want the artist to take me on a journey. So what I thought at the beginning was, wow, this is going to be Afro-Perovian. I started to listen to the text and I said, okay. She didn't do the translation. And I was like, what's going on? Because I didn't read the blurb on the show. But it was amazing. It was incredible. You're making work, you're making work, you're making work from the community, from the Afro-Pervano, do you do work that has to do with marginalization of Afro-Pervano and cultural and cultural. And the culture that also marginalizes that of indigenous people. Thank you very much, that was a very big question. Someone approached me and I thought about if I had thought about the possibility of having an adaptation of the art and the cultural culture that I would identify as Afro-Vietnamese, with a theme of black theater, we don't have a black theater group that works with Afro-Peruvian music and dance with text. So that's why I need other authors to provide text to begin work. So that's why I need other authors to provide text to begin work. So that's why I need others to provide text to begin work. So I would like to come to the global and go into our story that was that would have been written especially by us. So that is yes, that is our goals. So we would love that don't have to do with a black theater that has actors that are black that have actors that are black that have actors that are black that have actors that are black that are actually actors maybe form a black theater that would represent black theater. And with Eye footsteps, I'm very grateful to be here for me And I would like to thank you very much for taking the opportunity to take the rest of the show. Thank you very much. We have Rose Cano coming down. Rose Cano is coming up. Hello. Don't you take this? Okay. Hello. I wanted to give a little bit of context. If you could provide a little bit of context for me, what you did, what you did with this production without this production, without changing your name. Wow. What you did in my head I was named after you and I have to admit that those that were for me, you were telling me this separation of castes, separation of color, separation of color. For me it's not necessary to talk specifically about the history of the world, and for me in a Peruvian context where almost all the black theater is based within the context of this big little black theater is based on the repercussion to see all this, and they don't have to sing, they don't have to wear a mask, they don't have to wear a mask, they don't have to wear a mask. Yeah, it's just so interesting. So I see this as a little bit of a renaissance with it. This also narrates and narrates, so it also, it's a super important one reality over the other. It's a perspective. Yeah, so we have the luxury of doing whatever we want and so I congratulate you, Alicia. Other questions about these companies' works or aesthetics? I didn't know I had to raise my hand so I just came down. Hi. I'm Gabriela Artea. I'm from Dominican Republic, but now here in LA. Congratulations, everyone. It's been a wonderful two weekends. I have a question for, I mean everyone kind of like whoever feels inclined to jump in, because I have a solo show right now and that's easy to put in a bag and travel, especially because it's not like that many shebang right now. But I'm wondering when you're doing a lot of these places or ensemble pieces, like aside from budgeting, like how many compromises did you have to do when you're thinking about touring? Did you think about touring before? Like did you envision touring before putting these places up? How kind of, where does your mind go technically when you're putting these shows and thinking of a future outside of your hometown? The question in Spanish is, what compromises did you have to do for the companies to take the work on tour or to take it to another theater? Or how are you thinking about the work if it's to take it to another place? And it's for anyone. Because we began as a touring company before we had a roof over our heads, we had been traveling for eight, maybe seven years, eight years. Everything that we did was designed to be light on its feet and travel. But we also appreciate the hand over the sign and now that we have the theaters and the luxury of having all these things. But I think impulsively when you grow up that way, everything we do has not only a local, we like to say we have deep roots and very, very broad wings. So if we want to feel that whatever we do is able also to go places, which is what we have. For example, an international project with partners around the world because we can travel to each other's homes. Now with the La Pagó, for example, when at home we have a bar, an actual barra, y unas paredes y unas cosas, y aquí teníamos la pared de nuestro roommate, del Teatro 3, Caravilla. Entonces, ¿cómo lo hacemos? And then you sit down and you redesign and you envision. But I think it's all good. Your piece is your piece. You're creating what you really must have and want to have. And you know, it will happen. Claro, está. There is an understanding of our field is very complex. There is us. There is also some of us are presenters. There's a whole complicated presenting field, as we know. And so presenters have very specific things that they require from a guest audience. And so that means you can do it on my venue. And these are the things that you cannot do in my venue. So those are conversations that will come. You know, I would encourage you to just fly with your imagination and do what you must do to make your work happen. And you'll see that those other things are things that can be dealt with. Y que todas las cosas uno puede tratar de ellas. Well, I just wanted to talk a little about the economics of it as well. I think if you are responsible as the producer of a tour, I think that you have to really assume the authority of the budget. And that if you overspend on your tour, it may come out of your organization later. So I think touring is something that one should be very I think frugal and careful about. And financially speaking, not necessarily or not artistically. And so that you will stay on budget, because someone somewhere will have to pay for it. And hopefully it won't be your nonprofit organization or your own personal account. Or your own account. If someone from Latin America can talk about how to take a work to the United States or in Gira, there were some compromises that you had to make. How do you think you can do this? If some of you want to talk about this? I think it's very difficult. It's already difficult to create a piece in our own space and have the budget as common. And create it with the minimum budget. And that may have repercussions on this whole budget. So once you're talking about touring, I realize that I never really had thought about that. I am a creator. Somebody else takes care of the finances. And there I have a great problem. I have a great problem. How do we get here in this world because of the invitation of Jose Luis and the effort by the company? We had to do a lot of shows and different moments. We did a function of the mariposas and all our friends came. But that shouldn't be the way... I'm seeing new ways here that I think I'm liking a lot. I like it. I like it very much in the sense that... I'm kind of concerned about the time, so is it okay? I see something that I'm liking very much. The interrelationships that we share. Among us, we can play dead by each other. So it would be great to have it be between actors. We saw the international project and we should begin to think about that. I love it. I signed up. Okay. She signed up. I tell you my experience and getting here is the first time is the first time that I went out there and I go outside of New York. It took me months to grab a few more like the lots of notes. I had to go to the minister of culture to do the private phone. I did everything possible. I believe that each of us have a country and your country has the obligation to support us. We're not beggars of the arts. Our country has the responsibility to support us. So I must recognize the public ministry and the minister of culture who are here. I also want to talk about a piece by Mario Vargas Llosa. This work, that piece was also directed by Mario Vargas Llosa. This work, that piece was also directed by Mario Vargas Llosa. That piece would travel to or throughout the country. And we took two places where people had never seen theater and all the functions were financed or supported. And that is never free. So it is free. So we took the piece and we took the money to get the floor and have that piece be free for the audience. So we took the piece and we took it throughout the country and we took it to places and the audience came for free. So it is possible to have a floor and I'm very surprised how many Latinos are very likely to have to get financed to not tour. So we can reach audiences that are not that don't have the means to see these pieces. And as César Vallejo said, brothers are a lot to be done. I think in Mexico there are a lot of tours and companies do a lot of touring. The official companies do a lot of touring. They do a lot of touring throughout Mexico. Okay, so I guess it's only a company National de Teatro is the one that tours. In the United States it's very difficult to tour. It's very difficult. It's not only due to the technical aspect, but it's for our company. Our company is all union so the actors cannot work unless they're paid for union wages if they go on tour. They're salary doubles. So you have to give them double selling and you have to give them food, you have to pay their travel, you have to pay them a production. To tour means you're going to lose money even though you get paid because in reality you're not paid for the workshops, but we're paid only for the functions. You automatically have a ministerial culture. Can I work with somebody to give me a tour to pay for our trips? We don't have that. We don't have any natural support. In the city I have this theater and what they give me is $7,500 per year. It doesn't even pay for one month of electricity. It's very interesting. It's very, very much more practical than the United States. When I was young, I paid $150 a month but we toured all over the place and put the work on and we didn't even charge. What happens when you grow up? Let's go on tour and I have to pay them. That's very important to discuss because, for example, you all in Latin America have Iber-America and they don't consider us as part of America. So even though we're Latino in the United States, we cannot apply to a particular funding source. We have had many, many discussions with them because we are Latinos. So next week we're going to have a discussion about the financing of theater. This will be our last comment and then we're going to have to wrap it up, I'd like to talk about the importance of collaborations in one of our collaborations of Roadside Theater for many years and many many years as we've gone back and forth collaborating and getting money together, raising money together. We've been doing this for many years. Maybe part of that would be interesting to have in the conversation how together we can make these inter-exchanges that we have in the United States and in the United States and in the United States and in the United States and in the United States and we can make these inter-exchanges viable in these collaborations. Yeah, and most of the exchanges have been through university connections that provide those opportunities to create those collaborations and tour. So let's not forget about other organizations and resources that are available out there as well. Well, thank you so much. I want to give a big round of applause to our panelists. Un aplauso para todos los panelistas. And I encourage you to continue this dialogue with them and the lobby que siguimos el diálogo aquí en el lobby después de la obra. I want to invite Abigail Vega with some logistics.