Serenata.
Collective theater creation by Peruvian Grupo Cultural Yuyahckani, based on texts by Latin American and Peruvian writers who have written poetically about love and human relationshipssuch as Rafael Cárdenas (Venezuela), Eduardo Galeano (Uruguay), and Manuel Scorza (Peru). The play is weaved around two words: Love and Utopia--be it the Utopia of Love or the Love for Utopia. A long-time couple kills time by putting themselves in extreme situations in order to overcome boredom and safeguard their love. They leave home and wander from run-down hotel to run-down hotel, confronting every day as if it was their very first. This piece is an exploration on the world of romantic couples, an investigation on love, encounters and disencounters, communication and miscommunication, presence and absence. Far from portraying a linear storyline, it shows a broad spectrum of sensations and relationships for and with the spectators, so that it is them who ultimately piece together the elements at play through the lens of their own experiences and references regarding love, human relations, solitude, solidarity, disenchantment and hope. Perus most important theater collective, Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani (www.yuyachkani.org) has been working since 1971 at the forefront of theatrical experimentation, political performance, and collective creation. Yuyachkani is a Quechua word that means I am thinking, I am remembering; under this name, the theater group has devoted itself to the collective exploration of embodied social memory, particularly in relation to questions of ethnicity, violence, and memory in Peru. The group is comprised of seven actors (Augusto Casafranca, Amiel Cayo, Ana Correa, Débora Correa, Rebeca Ralli, Teresa Ralli, and Julián Vargas), a technical designer (Fidel Melquíades), and an artistic director (Miguel Rubio), who have made a commitment to collective creation as a mode of theatrical production and to group theater as a life style. Their work has been among the most important in Latin Americas so called New Popular Theater, with a strong commitment to grass-roots community issues, mobilization, and advocacy. Yuyachkani won Perus National Human Rights Award in 2000. Known for its creative embrace of both indigenous performance forms as well as cosmopolitan theatrical forms, Yuyachkani offers insight into Peruvian and Latin American theater, and to broader issues of postcolonial social aesthetics. Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics