The Theater Takes San Miguel
Interview by Daniel Kandell Zamudio

The theater invades San Miguel de Allende, and that’s reason enough to celebrate. For the second year, the Escena Theater Festival will take place From May 11th–15th in this city. La Jerga met with the director of the event, Lucila Saravia, to learn more about the festival, which assembles some of the most important progressive theater in the country. It’s not just any event: this year plays shall be ripped off the stages and brought out to the streets and other non-conventional settings. It’s an alternative approach of appreciating the dramatic arts, which are lacking venues, especially for the most contemporary proposals.

La Jerga: Can you please tell us about the origin of the Escena project? And why you decided to start this festival in San Miguel de Allende?

Lucila Saravia: Above all, for the geographic location. I believe that San Miguel combines a great amount of national and international tourism, with the North American and foreign communities, as well as the national and local community. It unites these communities, which in the state of Guanajuato, represent the greatest consumers of art.

            Last year, we had a very good response from the public; the San Miguel community will pay for ticket to see theater, and even fill a theater, something that doesn’t even happen in Mexico City. As a matter of fact, the majority of the nation’s theater is concentrated in Mexico City, and a hundred plays premiere each day, and the houses are largely empty. In San Miguel, there are more festivals than days in the year, and the public loves to support cultural events. We have a great number of sponsors and that demonstrates that the community likes to have these types of events and also supports them.

            San Miguel is a beautiful city and, by its own virtue, a perfect setting. This edition we propose a little bit of what Juan José Gurrola taught in his class “Throw the orchestra seats to the trash”, and that’s the foundation for Escena 2: to bring the national and international vanguard, and present the plays in non-conventional spaces, throwing the orchestra seats to the trash and taking the theater out of the theater, and use whichever place in San Miguel—a monument, a bar, restaurant, café, to places as unusual as the bullring at the Hotel Real de Minas. And that’s what it’s all about, taking a chance on new proposals that take risks and that are at the forefront of the art. Professor Gurrola commented in his press conference that we must show the public that the theater has evolved. You don’t always need the orchestra seats.

LJ: Were all these plays specifically written with this concept in mind? LS: The works are adapted to this theme, and obviously it’s the charge of the director to find the venue and adapt himself to the environment. And there’s the challenge for the artistic troupe, to change their proposal, for example, from a theater to Mama Mia’s bar. LJ: What are the venues? LS: The esplanade of the jardín, the basketball court in Parque Juárez, the Real de Minas bullring, the Chocolate Bar, the Santa Ana theater, the Viejo Topo bar, the Angela Peralta theater and the Puente de las Monjas…

LJ: What’s the major difference between this year and the previous year?

LS: The major difference is that last year we had six plays and this year we have fifteen.

LJ: And what kind of programming can we expect?

LS: There’s a diversity of proposals from young creators. These are young people whose plays are not so known, who are not necessarily the darlings of the established institutions, and who may not receive that much support, but who have grand projects, such as the one from Mónica Hoth, who is from San Miguel de Allende, and will be presenting Martín y los Hombres Pájaro (Martin and the Bird Men); La Bulla will present Réquiem por un Payacho (Requiem for a Clown), which is street theater; the production Simplemente Complicado (Simply Complicated) by Juan José Gurrola; Carlos Corona’s Peer Gynt, which will be the inaugural play in the Angela Peralta theater; Elena Guiochins’ Tercia de Reinas which will be presented in Mama Mía’s and at the Cultural Institutes of Salamanca and León.

LJ: Which theater companies will be participating?

LS: Some of the actors are in companies, others are not, such as Rodrigo Vásquez who is one of the best actors in Mexico; Joaquín Cossío, another great actor of 75 years, who will interpret a play by Juan José Gurrola.

LJ: Is there a play designed to be staged in a specific area, such as the jardín?

LS: Yes, Tercia de Reinas is play designed to be presented in cafés and restaurants; Comparsa La Bulla is a street play, just as Romeo and Juliet. We’re also going to have a traveling wardrobe showcase by Adriana Olivera, who is a great Mexican wardrobe designer, and is going to pick wardrobes from the plays she has worked on over the last 20 years of her career. Local actors will be wearing the clothes throughout San Miguel and there’s also going to be a checkpoint, which I can’t tell you more about because I’ll give it away, but soon you’ll find out…

LJ: I notice that it’s now an international festival… LS: Yes, we’ve invited the Lucidity Suitcase company, directly from Times Square, New York City, who will present Henry V, which is a soliloquy, in the esplanade of the jardín during the closing ceremonies, which is interpreted by a three-card Monty dealer who tries people’s luck while he expounds on the U.S. war in Iraq and sarcastically poses, “Why don’t we take out France while we’re at it?” It’s a very edgy performance, and he does Henry V with dolls, shadows and shadow puppets, its great.

LJ: How long does this show last?

LS: 75 minutes, his proposal is very interesting. And then there’s The cost of living by Dv8, a group of performance artists from England whose show incorporates performance, physical body work, dance theater and video.

LJ: And these two plays are in English?

LS: Yes, because the American community is very important here, and we also look for the participation of English plays.

LJ: And apart from plays, will there be other activities such as conferences and workshops?

LS: Escena proposes, apart from the festival, to generate theater activities all-year-round ranging from conferences to workshops. So we’re dedicating each week in October to conferences, meetings and workshops related to the dramatic arts.

LJ: Can you please tell us about the improvisation night?

Wendy Ortega: Well, one of the objectives of the festival is to strengthen the level of theater in the state and then the country. To that end, we are creating a special mixer, where the actors and directors of theater of the most important cities of the region can get to know one another. We’re going to invite them to participate during our improvisation night on May 12th, and any of these artistic groups can perform a sketch or small play with certain characteristics. As improvisation is one of the branches of theater.

LJ: And how does it work? Do you give them a theme?

WO: No, each one arrives with a proposal, a comedy, or maybe something more tragic or for children, whatever they want to present. It’s an opportunity to give these talented people from the region a chance to perform and have an alternative space within the festival, outside of the official programming.

LJ: What are the dates of the festival?

LS: From May 11th to 15th. All the events are free, except for the Angela Peralta, where the prices will be $60, $80 and $100 pesos. So we’ll be waiting for you there and many thanks to La Jerga for its support!

So there you have it, the theater will take over San Miguel in an event which will be truly worth the price of admission! Consult the complete program on page 19. And for more information, visit www.festivalescena.com, or call (415) 154-9714 to reserve your tickets today!