Guanajuato, Gto., August 16, 2018.- With the staging of the play "Instructions to hug the air", by the Argentinian dramaturge Aristides Vargas, students of the University of Guanajuato (UG) obtained the medal for the Best Artistic Direction, during the International Festival of the University Theatre (FITUC) of Casablanca, Morocco 2018.
We're writing about Jaciel Alejandro Licea and Ana Lidia Naranjo Pérez, both studying the fifth semester of the bachelor's degree in Scenic Arts, and Andrea Rivera Aguirre, a graduate from the same bachelor taught at the Division of Architecture, Art and Design (DAAD) of Campus Guanajuato.
Andrea Rivera oversaw the Scenic Direction, while the outstanding students played different characters in this play that tells, under the style of magic realism, the tragedy of the real life of Chicha Mariani, "missing" during the military dictatorship in Argentina.
In an interview, Andrea Rivera Aguirre revealed that they heard about the summon thanks to M. Eugenia Cano, who proposed to participate, and they just gathered the funds as soon as possible, since they had a small-time window to do so. Once they were approved by the International Festival of University Theatre of Casablanca, they negotiated the resources for the trip, some financed by UG, and some by the state program Educafín.
The group of college students reminded, they were confirmed from the class of Scenic Direction and from there on they continued working the play to participate in the summon, as a matter of fact, their final class assignment was to generate this play, conceptualize it, produce it and present it.
She mentioned that in FITUC 2018, they participated with groups from Germany, Tunisia, Morocco, France, Italy, among others, while they were the only Mexican group.
The college students, agreed on, that sadly, the main topic of the presented play matches the reality that our country is going through right now, as it talks about forced disappearances, so it was a perfect opportunity to address the topic that hunts and hurts our country.
As for stage and wardrobe, Andrea explained that the plastic conceptualization of the play could use materials such as newspapers, cardboard, that allude to the story, since Chicha's son published in newspapers that said what really happened in the dictatorship but was hidden with a pickled rabbits' business. So, they also presented many origami rabbits made with newspaper.
All the plays were presented through a week, she mentioned, with different styles and formats from clown, performance and others, at the end, seven awards were given, such as for best troupes, best themes, better actress, and it is case, best artistic direction.
Jaciel Alejandro mentioned that he played different characters, among them, an old man, a cook and a neighbor, in a gratifying experience by itself, which is added to his resume, and necessary to move forward in his career as an actor.
Ana Lidia plays the character of "Chicha Mariani", but also the old woman, the cooks, imaginary entities that tell the story and the neighbor who is also a witness of this story.
For both young students, this experience, besides all the good it brought for them, it will favor their deepening credits system, thanks to the new curricular plan.
Besides participating in the FITUC 2018, the Ambassador of Mexico in Morocco, María Angélica Arce Mora, negotiated a function of the play in Rabat for a local university, in which they had a warm welcome, and despite the limitations of the language, the shock was clear, by the strength of the topic, difficult to talk about, but with great emotional richness.
Finally, they agreed that despite the ideological differences and a bit of hostility at the beginning, once they get in touch with people, it was a grateful experience because they are warm people and having had the opportunity to show their effort and work was extraordinary.
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