Teatro Paraguas Presents The World Premiere Of ATACAMA

Atacama, by Augusto Federico Amador, is a two-person play about a man and a woman who meet in the northern Chilean desert while searching for bone fragments of loved ones disappeared by the Pinochet regime, and find a deep and unsettling connection that shakes their souls.

Although the play has had several staged readings around the country, the full production at Teatro Paraguas will be the world premiere. The performances will coincide with the 45th anniversary of the U.S.-backed coup d'etat in which the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende was overthrown by the army under General Pinochet on September 11th, 1973.

Augusto Federico Amador was born and raised in the Silicon Valley and is the son of an accomplished Peruvian jazz composer and an Austrian mother who is a master chef. Mr. Amador has recently been awarded the prestigious Lincoln City Fellowship from Speranza Foundation for playwriting. Atacama placed in 50 Playwright Project's 2017 list of best un-produced Latino plays, as well as a runner up for the 2017 National Latino Playwriting Award from the Arizona Theater Company, and a finalist at the Austin Latino New Play Festival. His plays have been finalists or semi-finalists for several awards, including the Eugene O'Neill Conference, Princess Grace Award, Terrence McNally Award, Metlife Foundation National Latino Playwright Award, New Works Labs at Stratford, and the Lee Strasberg Theater, among others.

Atacama has been presented as staged readings at The Next Iteration Theater, Austin Latino New Play Festival, Skylight Theater, Theatre 80 St. Mark's NYC and UCLA Dept. of Theater.

Atacama marks Juliet Marie Salazar's directorial debut at Teatro Paraguas. First appearing on Teatro's stage in a 2012 production of Fortunato, Juliet has acted in several Teatro Paraguas productions including Enfrascada and Sotto Voce and served as assistant director for Daphne's Dive. Originally from El Paso Texas, Juliet has worked with El Paso Association of Performing Arts' Shakespeare-on-the-Rocks and UTEP's Union Dinner Theatre as a performer. Her directorial experience includes John Guare's Cop-Out, Paula Vogel's Desdemona: A Play About a Handkerchief, and The Laramie Project. For Juliet, Augusto Amador's script, Atacama, provides an opportunity to explore meaning within our current social and political circumstances by listening to voices of the past.

The production runs September 7-23, 2018, with performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday matinees at 2:00pm.

A gala reception takes place on Saturday, September 8 at 7:30 pm with the playwright in attendance.

Tickets are $20 general admission and $12 limited income, and may be purchased online at atacama.brownpapertickets.com. Please call 505-424-1601 to make reservations if you wish to purchase tickets at the door.

This project made possible in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts, Santa Fe Arts Commission and the 1% Lodger's Tax, and the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry.

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