From: Milta Ortiz [mailto:miltaortiz@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2015 11:38 AM
Subject: Borderlands Theater presents ABSENCE/EL AUSENTE
BORDERLANDS THEATER PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Milta Ortiz 1/05/2015
(510) 853-1199 mobile
(520) 826-8607 office
Borderlands Theater To Reach New Audiences
In Spanish And English Performances.
"ABSENCE/EL AUSENTE" by Victor Hugo Rascòn Banda. February 12-22 @ ZUZI'S THEATER and February 27-28 @ CENTER FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE.
Borderlands Theater presents ABSENCE/EL AUSENTE by Victor Hugo Rascòn Banda, presented in Caridad Svich's stunning English translation. Near the end of his life in 2008, Banda was inducted as a member of the Academia Mexicana de la Lengua. Borderlands Associate Artistic Director, Eva Tessler, directs.
For this production, Borderlands has added two Pay What You Can Spanish language performances at the Global Justice Center (GJC) in South Tucson. "Though the Global Justice Center is not a theatre venue, Borderlands is thrilled to bring this Mexican play to a location that is familiar to the immigrant community of Tucson," said producing director, Marc David Pinate. Except for pared down lighting, the show's staging and superb performances will remain intact at the GJC, which is home to Derechos Humanos and Pan Left Productions, organizations tied to the immigration reform movement.
ABSENCE/EL AUSENTE continues Borderlands' tradition of bi-lingual productions through collaborations with Mexican and U.S. theatre artists. This follows Borderlands' ENCUENTRO Festival last season - featuring plays from Mexican and U.S. playwrights. Two Spanish language performances are also scheduled during the initial two-week run at Zuzi Theatre. Banda's work of 50 plays include the Borderlands Theater productions of THE WOMAN WHO FELL FROM THE SKY, a story of a Raramuri woman confined to a psychiatric hospital in Kansas, and DESIRE a play in English and Spanish about the conflict between a mature American woman, and her young Colombian lover.
THE PLAY:
ABSENCE/ EL AUSENTE focuses on a family in Mexico City, though it could be any large city in Latin America. Pablo migrates to the USA leaving his elderly parents to care for his wife and two children. Following his departure the family structure and dynamics change for the worst, propelling the plot to a surprising end. ABSENCE/EL AUSENTE uses humor, an approach seldom used in plays about migration, to explore the question of what happens to those left behind.
Borderlands is no stranger to plays about immigration issues. ABSENCE/EL AUSENTE takes a markedly different spin. While stories of deportations and the consequent break up of families fill today's headlines, less consideration goes to the other side of that equation - the broken family structure left behind when migrants leave home. The universal story of leaving family and home in search of something better is often found in the familiar stories of the "hero's journey," an outward journey of the physical world. But Rascòn Banda's depiction of the interior, psychological journey of those left behind is well worth telling… and watching.
THE PLAYWRIGHT:
Víctor Hugo Rascón Banda is one of Mexico's most prolific playwrights. Born in Chihuahua, he was also a prominent lawyer and teacher. In 1979 he wrote his first play Voces en el umbral, about the parallel lives of a German woman and a Raramuri woman in a mining town.
Rascon Banda received many national and international awards such as Ramón López Velarde Award 1979, Teatro Nuestra América 1981, Juan Ruiz de Alarcón 1993, Rodolfo Usigli 1993. He was the president of SOGEM, the union of Mexican writers, advisor to the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, treasurer for the Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas,
THE DIRECTOR:
EVA TESSLER is a native of Mexico City, a performer / director / choreographer and teacher, and holds an MFA in Theatre Arts and an MA in Anthropology from the University of Arizona. During the 80's Tessler danced, acted, choreographed and taught in Brazil at the Universidad Estadual de Campinas in São Paulo As Borderlands' Associate Artistic Director, she choreographs, acts and directs. She was a co-founding member of the Latina Dance Theater Project, an international company (Brazil and USA) whose mission is to present a contemporary voice in Latina dance/theater (2002). She has toured with LDTP throughout the US, Europe and Brazil. Tessler is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and English and she has translated several works including a bilingual version of El Deseo/Desire by Victor Hugo Rascon Banda, the play Arizona: No Roosters in the Desertby Kara Hartzler, Who Will Speak for Me by Rascon Banda, Walking Home by Elaine Romero, and Slumber of Reason by the Latina Dance Theater Project. Tessler was honored with the LULAC "Albert Soto" Award for Individual Artist (2008) and the Tucson Pima Arts Council "Lumie" Life Time Achievement Award in 2009.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE AND TICKET INFORMATION
ZUZI'S THEATER - 738 N. 5TH AVE. Tickets: $12-$24 with various discounts.
Performances are in English except for 2/14, 2/22 and Student Matinee on 2/19
2/12- Preview- 7:30 pm (HALF OFF All tickets $12)!
2/13- Opening Night Celebration. With postres plus meet and greet the actors. 7:30 pm
2/14- Spanish performance. 7:30 pm
2/15- Matinee. 2 pm
2/19- Student Matinee. 10am Spanish Performance
2/19- Regular Performance. 7:30 pm
2/20- Regular Performance. 7:30 pm
2/21- Regular Performance. 7:30 pm
2/22- Spanish performance. 2 pm
CENTER FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE- 225 E 26th St. Donations Accepted
2/27 & 2/28 SPANISH PERFORMANCES. 7:30 pm.
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO PURCHASE ADVANCE TICKETS:
PLEASE CONTACT BORDERLANDS THEATER AT (520) 882-7406.
In person at 4O W.BROADWAY.
ORDER TICKETS ON LINE: www.borderlandstheater.org
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