El Quijote.

The tape shows bits of 'El Quijote', theater piece by Colombia's Teatro La Candelaria; it also presents Santiago García explaining his perspective on the work and his own staging. Speaking about his creative process, García tells how he read the book over and over in search of dramatic parts, trying to find events and adventures in the play that were not well-known to the public. He found twelve scenes that interested him and started elaborating on them, working closely and experimentally with the actors. He also comments on the work of Pedro Alcántara, the person in charge of the visual aspects of the play, to which Santiago García gives a lot of importance. After García's intervention, the tape shows different scenes of the play. Humorous skits, the excerpts evidence how costumes, puppets and choreography play a crucial part in La Calendaria's staging of 'El Quijote'. Santiago García then explains what the figure of El Quijote means to him: he sees great powers of vision in Quijote's madness. 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