Thread: Telash Theatre Company Stages Spanish-Language Play on Immig

Public Information Office
310 Owen Hall, Campus PO 1820
Asheville, NC 28804-8507
828/251-6526 - FAX: 828/251-6677
web: http://www.unca.edu/news
e-mail: pubinfo@unca.edu

For Immediate Release
November 1, 2006

Telash Theatre Company Stages Spanish-Language Play on Immigration at UNC Asheville

Telash, Asheville’s Spanish-language theatre company, will stage the Argentinean play “Lejos de aquí” at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 10-11, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 12, in UNC Asheville’s Highsmith University Union Cafe. The group is a collaboration between UNC Asheville and the local Latino community. The performance will be presented entirely in Spanish. The event is free and open to the public. Ticket reservations are strongly advised.

“Lejos de aquí” is written by Roberto Cossa and Mauricio Kartun and directed by Greta Trautmann, UNC Asheville associate professor of Spanish. Trautmann said she selected the play because of its clever text, and because of its profound, universal and timely theme: immigration.

“We are all immigrants,” she said. “Immigration news is a focus not only in North America, but in Central America, South America, Europe and beyond. Furthermore, in an academic and political environment intent on multiculturalizing everything – sometimes in a very artificial way – I find this text’s ironic underlining of those attempts very pertinent.”

The play centers on five characters - two Argentineans, two Spaniards and a Columbian pretending to be Mexican - living and working together in a modest restaurant on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain. The audience witnesses each character struggle to move beyond national and personal frontiers through a series of adventures, misadventures and other manifestations of dysfunctional relationships.

“The show touches on the existential state of exile and our human drive to categorize individuals by nationality – even ourselves,” said Trautmann. “It addresses our shared immigrant experiences and our attempts to reclaim a past via memories that often never really existed.”

The cast of “Lejos de aquí” is made up of actors who have relocated to Asheville from Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico. Behind the scenes, the show is produced by an international crew of UNC Asheville administrators and students, as well as an extensive network of people from throughout Western North Carolina.

Teatro Latino de Asheville has produced two previous plays. Trautmann said the positive response to each production has grown, and the greatest reward has been feedback from the diverse communities represented in the public as well as on the stage.

“The more people hear of us and return to shows or participate in them, the more we are extending our roots and connecting UNC Asheville, the local arts community and the region’s Latino population,” she said. “As we showcase more plays, we want to continue making our production accessible to everyone, even those with limited Spanish experience. But our greatest hope is that this multicultural undertaking will become a legacy of the partnership between UNC Asheville and the Latino community.”

Telash was created as a forum for the UNC Asheville and local Latino communities to produce contemporary Spanish and Latin American plays. The theater company’s goal is to bridge the gaps between diverse Asheville communities through exploration and presentation of theater arts in Spanish. The group is sponsored by the student organization HOLA (Hispanic Outreach for Learning Awareness) and UNC Asheville’s Foreign Languages Department.

For more information or to reserve a free ticket, call Trautmann at 828/251-6195 or e-mail telash@unca.edu.

Media Contacts:

* Dr. Greta Trautmann, UNC Asheville Associate Professor of Spanish, 828/251-6195
* Jill Yarnall, UNC Asheville Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526

http://www.unca.edu/news/releases/2006/Telash.html

I might not be on the board tonight. I rink I found a great place to hand out some ALIPAC fliers.

Good for you jp!

“The more people hear of us and return to shows or participate in them, the more we are extending our roots and connecting UNC Asheville, the local arts community and the region’s Latino population,” she said.

Why do you need to connect to the regions Latino community? I thought the point of this play was that we are all just people?

I quote: “The show touches on the existential state of exile and our human drive to categorize individuals by nationality labeling"

In typical OBL hypocrisy what you advocate for others doesn't apply to you!

Originally Posted by AlturaCt

Good for you jp!

“The more people hear of us and return to shows or participate in them, the more we are extending our roots and connecting UNC Asheville, the local arts community and the region’s Latino population,” she said.

Why do you need to connect to the regions Latino community? I thought the point of this play was that we are all just people?

I quote: “The show touches on the existential state of exile and our human drive to categorize individuals by nationality labeling"

In typical OBL hypocrisy what you advocate for others doesn't apply to you!

AlturaCt,
Well Said.