Guadalupe años sin cuenta.

A folklore band tells the story of Guadalupe Salcedo's murder, one of the first Colombian 'guerrilleros' of the Liberal party. The band works as a Greek Chorus. Through the intervention of this Chorus and other narrative strategies (like a trial and a press conference), the play reconstructs the social and political context of this ominous murder, part of the endless string of violent deaths caused by political violence in Colombia. La Candelaria goes back to the historical origin of this violence (the fight between Liberals and Conservatives for national supremacy and its disastrous effects for the rural poor) in order to offer an interpretation of its persistence. Guadalupe Salcedo was one of the first victims of political violence in Colombia. The play ends, as it begins, with his murder. Likewise, political violence in Colombia seems cyclical and never ending. The play explicitly connects the 50s to the present. La Candelaria (www.teatrolacandelaria.org.co) was founded in 1966 by a group of independent artists and intellectuals who came from experimental theater and the broader Colombian cultural movement. Directed by Santiago García, La Candelaria is one of Colombian theater's most innovative agents, modernizing national drama while addressing popular audiences. By means of an ongoing exploration of national folklore, situations and characters, they have created some of Colombia's most compelling plays, some of them through the method of 'creación colectiva' ('collective creation'), addressing the acute social and political problems of their society. At the same time, they fostered the creation of Corporación Colombiana del Teatro and have developed a number of theoretical works that reflect upon dramatic creation, its methods and languages. Still nowadays, La Candelaria is committed to repertoire, experimentation, and discussion as fundamental elements to artistic creation. Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics