‘Oh, the poor indian... what is he doing here?’ Colombia’s indigenous theatre: fifteen last years

Abstract

Colombian theatre shows a series of evolutionary periods with regard the rest of Latin

America, if one takes into account certain paratheatrical pre-Columbian expressions. During the second half of the

xxth century, an impressive change has been accepted with the Nuevo Teatro Colombiano (New Co lombian Theatre) and its collective creation. If one takes into account the dramatic art concerning indigenous themes, there have been a series of important novelties. Some authors which we have studied (Araque, Berbeo, Camargo, Díaz Vargas, García, Monsalve, Montaña, Moyano, Olaciregui, Parada, Peña, and the duos Gutiérrez and Torres, Cajamarca and Valderrama) are both theatre men and critics, and are known for works demanding indigenous actors and dialogues in autochthonous languages. They restore the rite, the mask, the myth. They add new theatrical forms coming from other cultures and from the Anthropological Theatre. They search for a more popular form which provokes a rupture with traditional theatrical spaces.