Dispatches from Mexico

From Internationalists Co-Founding Members Tamilla Woodard and Ana Margineanu,

For the last 10 days we have been investigating the theatrical climate of 2 major cities in Mexico: Mexico City and Querétaro. Although the scene in Mexico is obviously vibrant we found ourselves not able to see as much as we desired because the theatre season doesn't restart until late January. In spite of that, we have managed to meet amazing artists, see incredible performance on stage and in rehearsals and to conduct a series of interviews with performing artists of many genres that explore the perspective of the local artists in the international scene. This is a sneak preview of an initiative we will launch in March highlighting the most interesting artists we've meet with clips of performance and interviews. Special thanks to Dann Cazes our new friend who acted as both guide and translator for most of our visit.

AND NOW...We are proud to present Circo Teatro, a social circus in Querétaro, Mexico.

"It is our first day in Querétaro. We are having our first walk through one of many beautiful plazas filled with people enjoying the warm winter evening. We can not help but to notice two individuals towering over the others in the plaza by more than 6 feet. They are on stilts and between spectacular moves, approach us and invite us to follow them to a performance just down the street, around the corner and in the forth house on the right. We decide to ignore our instincts telling us to not follow tall dark strangers into unknown houses at night. However, we were...intrigued and since they were performing just for tips we thought this might be a great chance to get the nights entertainment for cheap (fully recognizing, of course that we might be taking a chance at being the nights entertainment, ourselves). When we arrive we find a circus tent in the middle of a house already filled with audience. Despite the hour, there are young children, grown women, old men all tightly packed onto raisers, cheerfully chatting, eating and drinking. I must say, we fully expected an amature performance. However, we were in for 2 glorious hours of daring, funny, stupid and virtuosic performance from company performers as young as 15 years old. We LAUGHED. We WOWED. We CHEERED and we felt transported into a beautiful past time when theatre was meant for everybody. "- tamilla and Ana.

Here is a short clip of one of CIRCO TEATRO'S acts followed by an excerpt from the interview we did with the company the next day. Stay tuned for a posting of the entire interview and more performance clips in March.

Circo Teatro Lyra and Stilts from Tamilla Woodard on Vimeo.

Circo Teatro, January '11 interview excerpt-Collaboration from Tamilla Woodard on Vimeo.

Mexico: IV Performing Arts Encounter

Mexico: IV Performing Arts Encounter will take place in Mexico City, March 11th to March 15th 2009. During this encounter, there will be 52 showcases, talks and conferences, and there will be meeting points between artists and presenters. Mexico: IV Performing Arts Encounter will reunite artists and Mexican groups of dancing, theatre, music and interdisciplinary works, as well as promoters, presenters, producers and festival directors from all around the world. Its main goal is to create a guide to the Mexican contemporary scenery, to bring together the professionals and the performing artists, to allow the exchange of ideas and to promote the performing arts on a global level, through strategies based on tours, circuits, residences and common projects."

Around the World in 24 Hours

Malkovich Directs In Mexico

John Malkovich will direct a Spanish-language version of Zach Helm’s play, The Good Canary in Mexico. Malkovich previously directed a French version in Paris. El Buen Canario will play ten-weeks at Teatro de Los Insurgentes in Mexico City beginning Nov. 26. Mexican actor Diego Luna will head the cast. Luna is best known for the films "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and "The Terminal”. Luna will be joined onstage by Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Bruno Bichir, Irene Azuela and Yuriria del Valle. According to the press release, El Buen Canario "follows a frustrated writer struggling with his wife's addiction to amphetamines." Zach Helm also wrote the screenplay for "Stranger Than Fiction."

EU-Mexico Cultural Exchange

This program aims to promote cultural cooperation between the EU and Mexico, through the implementation of cultural exchanges between both regions, leading to participation of artists from EU Member states (and eligible countries) in cultural festivals in Mexico as well as other meetings and cultural policy dialogue between cultural operators in EU and Mexico. The deadline for the submission of projects is June 1. Applications must be made by the Mexican nationality partner. See guidelines (in Spanish only) for all details.