Destinos, 7th Chicago International Latino Theater Festival Reveals Two Upcoming Limited Engagements

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) and the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance (CLATA) will present two international limited engagements in partnership as part of Destinos, 7th Chicago International Latino Theater Festival, a cultural high point of our city's Latino Heritage Month showcasing Latine theater artists and companies from Chicago, the US, and Latin America. Azira'i from Brazil runs October 24-27 and La Memoria de los Sésiles from Chile runs October 31-November 3, both in the Upstairs Studio.

“It is a huge pleasure to be partnering with CLATA to bring these two beautiful and thought-provoking pieces of work to CST as part of this year's Destinos,” said CST's artistic director Edward Hall. “Hearing these voices in our city represents such an important part of experiencing the world from every standpoint possible through the power of live theater. We are proud to continue to be part of this joyful International Festival as Chicago begins a true celebration of Latino Theater.”

“CLATA is proud to partner with CST to bring you two equally beautiful and strikingly different musical productions, La Memoria de los Sésiles by Astillero Teatro from Chile and Azira'i by Sarau Cultura Brasileira from Brazil,” shared CLATA's executive director Jorge Valdivia. “While La Memoria de los Sésiles is visually stunning and makes us reflect on the environment in a way that families, adults, and children can appreciate, Azira'i makes us appreciate the strong women in our lives, Indigenous women, who defy the norms that men impose. We hope you'll join us and celebrate Latino history month with us.”

From Brazil's Sarau Cultura Brasileira, Azira'i, Um musical de memórias is a biographical play by Indigenous performer Zahy Tentehar. The play examines her relationship with her mother, Azira'i, the first female shaman from the Cana Brava reserve and supreme shaman of the Tentehar peoples. The relationship between mother and daughter takes place in a culture torn between preserving its ancestral values and absorbing the dynamics and ills of a globalized civilization system. As Zahy is chosen by her mother to inherit the gifts of shamanism, Azira'i unloads the frustrations of existing in an oppressive colonial environment. Azira'i is performed in Portuguese and Ze'eng eté with projected English translation.

From Chile's Astillero Teatro, La Memoria de los Sésiles takes place in a not too-distant future where all the trees have been cut down by an uncontrolled real estate expansion. Sacha, an old hermit, will embark on a journey deep underground in the face of the inevitable destruction of his home. Accompanied by Tujo, a rebellious young environmentalist, Sacha goes in search of the last living roots to make the forest emerge again. Created in the key of family theater through songs, light games, and an attractive staging, it reflects on the persistence of memory amid environmental destruction. Directed by Gabriel Contreras and written by Nicolás Cancino-Said, this is the second installment of the “Territorial Trilogy,” a series about the relationships between communities, the territories they inhabit, companies, and the socio-environmental conflicts that arise. La Memoria de los Sésiles is performed in Spanish with projected English translation, and in addition to the public performances, there will be one student matinee. 

Alongside these performances, CLATA is offering two free workshops as part of Intercambios, a new series of workshops and seminars as part of Destinos. “Navigating the Creative Process” will be facilitated by Azira'i's creative team on Saturday, October 26 from 1:30-3:00 p.m., and will explore all the stages of the show's creative and production process, from conceptualization, through the design and creation, to the artistic updates they continue to make to the work today. In “Building a Framework for the Development of Family Theater,” Astillero Teatro will explore the implementation and development of methodological strategies in the field of theatrical work based on the question, "How can we create family theater plays using contingency as a starting point?" This workshop seeks to propose new perspectives on what, how, and why to create in this type of language and will be held Saturday, November 2 from 12:00-2:00 p.m. Registration for these events is available at www.chicagoshakes.com. 

This year marks the fifth time Chicago Shakespeare has partnered with CLATA as part of Destinos—in 2017, the festival's inaugural year, CST presented Amarillo, from Mexico's Teatro Línea de Sombra; in 2018, Acéléré, from the celebrated Colombian circus troupe Circolombia; in 2019, Andares, from Makuyeika Colectivo Teatral, a company dedicated to creating original works centered on the narratives of Mexico's Indigenous peoples; and last year, Prieto, Yosimar Reyes' autobiographical one-man show about growing up queer and undocumented.

The press openings for Azira'i and La Memoria de los Sésiles are scheduled for Thursday, October 24 at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, October 31 at 7:30 p.m., respectively.

More information at www.chicagoshakes.com or on social media at @chicagoshakes.

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