Staging Equality: “Journey to Mapu”
Staging Equality is a collaborative and creative research project that explores ways in which theatre engages with issues of race, diversity, and inclusion.
STAGED READING:
Journey to Mapu by Lina de Guevara
Saturday, September 25 at 8pm
Chief Dan George Theatre
Journey to Mapu is a play from the founder of Puente Theatre, a company that has since 1988 created theatre in Victoria by, for, and about immigrant communities.
Inspired by the stories and poems by Elikura Chihuailif (translated from the Spanish), the play centres the story of Tato, a young Chilean refugee, who comes to Canada with his parents and brothers as a teenager in 1973 to escape from the violent dictatorship of General Pinochet (a regime which was supported by the USA government). Staging the challenges Tato faces upon arrival in Canada, as well as the friendship and understanding encountered from Indigenous communities in what he considers his new home, the play explores how building cultural bridges enables justice for all cultures and the preservation of Mapu (Mother Earth in Mapuzugun, language of the Mapuche people of Southern Chile and Argentina).
This reading will be directed by Lina de Guevara, with a talkback about the developmental process following the performance.
For more information on Lina de Guevera’s artistic work and impact, visit: www.puentetheatre.ca/founder or linadeguevara.ca
Register by emailing stagingequality@uvic.ca
Staging Equality is a collaborative and creative research project that explores ways in which theatre engages with issues of race, diversity, and inclusion.
The project is created and delivered in partnership with faculties and departments from across the University of Victoria alongside local BIPOC artists, students, and community partners. Principle project partners include: Yasmine Kandil (co-lead, UVIC Dept. of Theatre), Sasha Kovacs (co-lead, UVIC Dept. of Theatre), Maureen Bradley (UVIC Dept. of Writing), Sheila Rabillard (UVIC Dept. of English), Catherine Costigan (UVIC Dept. of Psychology), Monica Prendergast (UVIC Dept. of Education), waaseyaa’sin Christine Sy (UVIC Dept. of Gender Studies), Carey Newman (UVIC Dept. of Visual Arts), Krystal Cook, (Kwakwaka’wakw artist from the Namgis First Nation of Alert Bay, B.C.), Lina De Guevara (founder of Puente Theatre), Paulina Grainger (Intercultural Association of Greater Victoria), Karla Point (UVIC Faculty of Fine Arts Indigenous Resurgence Coordinator). Student researchers involved in the project include: Drexler Ortiz (Dept. of Psychology), Francis Matheu, Brayden Cook and Louey Sumners (Dept. of Theatre). This project is funded by the University of Victoria’s Strategic Framework Impact Fund with support from the UVIC Department of Theatre, Faculty of Fine Arts and Faculty of Humanities.
Watch for more in this series of staged readings and workshops this year.
Free and open to the public. Advanced registration required. As per BC Public Health orders, indoor mask mandates and proof of vaccination will be required. See further information about COVID protocols at the Phoenix Theatre. Please contact the department at 250-721-7991 if you have any questions.