Teatro Visión
SAN JOSÉ, CA – On June 18, 2019 Teatro Visión announced that its latest new work creation project – Raíces: El libro de los caminos / Roots: The Book of Journeys – has been awarded a grant from the MAP Fund. 42 projects from across the United States received funding from the MAP Fund this year, from a pool of over 1,000 applications.
Raíces: El libro de los caminos / Roots: The Book of Journeys will be a new work that explores migration as a boundless human practice, created by Teatro Visión in partnership with Mexico City street theater ensemble La Quinta Teatro, led by director Salomón Santiago. This new work will combine Teatro Visión’s deep commitment to community-based participatory theater with La Quinta Teatro’s playful, colorful, large-scale work designed for both indoor and outdoor settings. Local composer Dr. Russell C. Rodríguez will create original music for the project.
Teatro Visión’s Artistic Director, Rodrigo García, explains, “In indigenous culture, ‘sharing and reciprocity’ is a foundational social and spiritual principle that defines how a community exists in mutual benefit. The project Raíces emanates from this principle and strives to create an enriching bond of mutual learning and understanding in the context of migration among the communities living in San José, CA and those living in Mexico.”
Throughout the creation process, communities in the Bay Area and Mexico City will be invited to join the artists for participatory workshops. Community members will also share personal stories of migration as it pertains to individuals and families, as well as to ideas, traditions, history, art, and spirit. The artists will weave these stories into the structure of Raíces. Public workshops and interviews will be held in San José and in Mexico City beginning in late summer 2019. The finished piece will premiere in the theater and the outdoor courtyard at the School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San José in 2021.
Read about all of the 2019 MAP Fund grantees at https://mapfundblog.org/2019/06/18/the-map-fund-announces-42-visionary-projects-to-receive-funding-in-2019/
Raíces is also supported by a Hewlett Foundation 50 Arts Commission and a grant from the City of San José.
