What challenges and lessons might come from living alongside people experiencing homelessness? Chilean playwright Pablo Manzi tries to answer that question with the comedy Estampida Humana, as part of the fifty-fifth edition of the Festival de Teatro Internacional of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (ICP), which, in addition to Chile, included productions from countries such as Cuba, Spain and Uruguay.
In an interview with Platea, Manzi noted that the work by theater company Bonobo reminds us that the stage can sometimes be a mirror of society. "It's a group of neighbors in a building who believe in democratic values, who believe in progressive values, and a group of people living on the street sets up in the plaza of their barrio. Those people essentially become their new neighbors, and they don't know what to do," he explained.
The play will run Nov. 20-23 at Teatro Francisco Arriví, produced by Pública Espacio and producer Naíma Rodríguez, with support from Chile's Ministerio de las Culturas, las Artes y el Patrimonio.
Opening in Puerto Rico
This is the first time a Bonobo production has come to Puerto Rico, and it arrives with the hope that its dialogue will resonate with local audiences. "Theater is always a place where you can hear other kinds of opinions. And I think there are many things I'd be more interested in knowing whether they can resonate," Manzi said.
It is a neighborhood struggle: encounters between social classes, ideologies and perspectives that represent, in turn, an inner conflict as intimate as it is universal. "The stampede is a moment in the present where we feel we are together, but there is also a very strong need to save oneself. And the question is always whether we save ourselves collectively or individually."
"Latin America is going through a process of change. And certain ideas about rebellion are shifting. Certain ideas about how we think about the collective, the mass, are also shifting. (…) I have the feeling, the intuition, maybe I'm wrong, but that it could resonate throughout Latin America and especially among the youth of Latin America," the playwright added.
There are six actors in the play, which runs an hour and a half. The production represents a meaningful opportunity for the performers, among them Gabriel Cañas, who takes on three characters in the piece.
"The arts in Chile, and I think in all the countries of Latin America and Central America, are quite precarious, and having the opportunity to travel with your work, to get to know other countries, other cultures, other climates, other landscapes, is a very great gift that theater gives us," Cañas said.
Where can you get tickets?
Tickets are available through TicketCel. And for theater lovers, there is an additional event: "We have a free panel discussion on Friday the 21st at 1:00 p.m. at the theater itself to talk about processes, how theater is made in Chile and their whole experience," said Naíma Rodríguez, the production's producer.
International presence at the Festival
Estampida Humana is the second-to-last event of the Festival de Teatro, which will close Dec. 12 with a master acting class taught by noted Mexican actress Adriana Barraza. With more than 50 years in the entertainment industry, Barraza is considered one of the most respected Latin figures in film and television, having been nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy.
A distinctive feature of this edition of the Festival de Teatro Internacional is that it coincided with the ICP's 70th anniversary commemoration and is dedicated to Dr. Rosalina Perales Osorio, a noted researcher and international theater critic.
As part of the effort to bring international theater to the Island, productions included Radojka by Fernando Schmidt & Christian Ibarzabal. Also presented were El pequeño poni by Paco Bezerra, which addresses school bullying, Nerium Park by Josep María Miró, centered on the housing crisis, and Manteca by Alberto Pedro, a dramatic comedy about three siblings holding out through confinement in times of hunger and despair.
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
