El Paso.

In this collectively created play, La Candelaria wanted to address the problem of social and political violence in Colombia through an exploration of both verbal and non-verbal languages (the latter given special emphasis). 'El Paso' looks like a road bar, a place where people go to rest or have something to eat while traveling across the country. The truth is it is a kind of no-place surrounded by violence and social conflicts. The characters constantly refer to issues from the outside as if political violence and other danger exist only outside, and the bar was a haven. However, violence makes its way into the bar: two shady characters irrupt in the bar's status quo, forcefully involving the patrons, employees and passers-by in their shady business. The people at the bar need to negotiate their complicity or resistance to the illegal activities performed by the two newcomers, who with their guns and money set an atmosphere of fear and violence in an otherwise uneventful crossroad's 'cantina'.

La Candelaria 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 (www.teatrolacandelaria.org.co) 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.