The stage of the Melico Salazar Popular Theater will host the theatrical show “Si nosotras fuéramos ellos” (“If we were them”), a production that comes on stage with the performance of 43 young people from vulnerable areas of the country.
The show is a version by French playwright Serge Sándor, is inspired by the play “La Cruz”, by Costa Rican Fernando Rodríguez, which narrates the crime in the mountains of Alajuelita, where seven women were murdered in 1986.
It is the result of the “Theater and society behind the scenes of life” project, which uses the performing arts as a vehicle for social inclusion. The initiative seeks that, through theater, those who participate in the project can express themselves and see their social skills stimulated, such as the exercise of sustained attention, the improvement of school and sports performance and the reduction of social and family violence.
The execution of this project is possible thanks to the joint efforts of the Ministry of Justice and Peace, the Ministry of Culture and Youth and the French Embassy in Costa Rica.
In addition, Melico Salazar Popular Theater, La Libertad Park, the National University, the Compagnie du Labyrinthe, Rebond’Art, the United Nations Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders and the Juvenile Criminal Court of Appeal of the Judiciary of Costa Rica collaborated to make this happen.
According to the Ministry of Justice and Peace, Ministry of Culture and Youth, the young people participating in the production were part of theater workshops with Sándor at the Civic Centers for Peace in La Capri-Desamparados and Pococí-Guápiles; in addition, eight acrobats and dancers from the School of Dance, Theater and Circus of Parque La Libertad are also taking part; there are four performers from the Theater Workshop of the Artistic Culture Project of the Zurquí Youth Training Center; and eight advanced students or graduates from the School of Performing Arts of the UNA.
“This tragedy goes far beyond this massacre, it is universal and questions the role of women in our society and especially in the case of ‘If we were them’, the story of adolescents that is built day by day in minefields. The distant places between the different groups of actors, led me to write a play like a puzzle, which come together finely in the theater scene,” said the French dramaturge.
To the original text, fragments of classics by the French playwright, actor and poet Molière are added, as well as some testimonies of women.
The show “Si nosotras fuéramos ellos” (If we were them), rated for ages 12 and older, will be presented on Friday, June 10, at 8 p.m.; Saturday, June 11, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 12 at 6 p.m., at the Melico Salazar Popular Theater.
General admission costs ¢8,000 colones; students and golden citizens, ¢4,000 colones. Tickets on sale at boletería.teatromelico.go.cr.
