Inspiration from Bolivia

Andrew here.

Been attending the Under The Radar Festival here in NY for the past couple of days. Sort of a food-for-the-soul way to gear up for the (potentiallly) impersonal madness of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters conference, the largest arts market in the world, where we will have a booth. Under The Radar is held primarily at the Public Theater down in the East Village and is a pretty amazing collection of like-minded artists and producers from around the country and a few from around the world.

Llysa had the foresight to get us signed up for the amazing symposium/day we had on Thursday. Four performances, a symposium, breakfast, lunch and a boozy champagne reception thrown by the British Council...all under one roof.

Truly the thing that is sticking to my brain most is this remarkable (and I am remarking on it) troupe from Bolivia, Theatro de los Andes, and their haunting earthquake docudrama, En Un Sol Amarillo. Using the simplest of theatrical conventions (no wonder we loved them) they created the most memorable imagery I have experienced in the theater in a long time. I'm still putting together in my head how to describe it without doing it an injustice. Here goes.

Lights up on a stage filled with floating furniture and a man in a poncho sitting on a chair. Yes, suspended by thick ropes on pulleys are a table, a window shutter and a picture frame. They sway as the man introduces the play. Suddenly, a rope and pulley that are attached to the chair he sits on is yanked violently and the chair flies out from under him and into the air. The rope is also (miraculously!) attached to his poncho and break-away pants, that also fly into the air, leaving the man shivering in his underwear while the world violently sways around him.

That's the first two minutes!!!! And it just goes on from there. Crazy and so very good.

Suffice it to say, it is a work that has remained in the forefront of my brain for several days now.

Oh. And it's completely in Spanish with subtitles.