An art that leaves a mark, that transcends time, that remains alive in memory and connects with and from emotions is that of the Community Theater puppets. This is a project created for the little ones, but without a doubt it is a delight for any age.
They are actors of cloth and cardboard, of paper and wood, capable of interpreting magical beings, tyrant kings and revolutionary princesses who want to change the story. They do not get old, they sing and dance to the beat of the drum, they recite stories and they make the imagination fly. These characters will be left without a home and, after 30 years of ups and downs, the shelves of a dark cellar will be their home. The puppets and puppeteers of Teatro Comunidad, as a consequence of a disastrous year for culture and the performing arts, announce the closure of the Casa de los Títeres de Bogotá, a space for creation and training that houses more than 300 dolls, the result of work uninterrupted by Esmeralda Quintana and Javier Montoya.
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It seems that everything vanishes when losing the venue, but the work of these two artists and their team goes further. Quintana and Montoya began to coincide on different projects since 1988, and it was puppets, love and art that brought them together. At that time they were dedicated to street theater and, like several Colombian companies, they toured Peru and Ecuador. After his return to the country, the proposal arose to merge her music and his puppets in sung recitals, a hallmark of the company. Quintana remembers that in Manizales they were asked to present a work. The main challenge at that time was the audience: children from a kindergarten and adults from a geriatric home. “Regardless of age, people connect with the same things, with the same emotions,” he says.
At that time an investigation began that, to date and under the question of how to narrate for early childhood, continues. They discovered that the best tools for communicating with the youngest (children between one and five years old) are histrionics, theater, puppets and music. Thus they began to weave languages and build stories. “In a performance of our play Macondo, the tale that the wind carried away, at the Gilberto Álzate Avendaño Foundation, a mother and her son (about four years old) approached us at the end of the performance. She was carrying it loaded, but upon reaching the stage he walked. I had the character of Úrsula Iguarán in my hand and the boy addressed the puppet. I spoke to him and greeted him. He introduced himself and started talking. The lady told us that her son was autistic and that she did not speak to anyone, that what had just happened was very important to her, “says Quintana.
Over the years their works have conquered more spaces not only in the circulation scene, but in schools where they perform special functions, although they confess that convincing teachers and parents has been hard work, since for a long time it was thought that early childhood was not the best audience for this type of show (because they cry or do not hold their attention for a long time). “When a child encounters an artistic event live and direct, he refines his attention, his senses are in function of that work of art and he conspires with the whole universe that one is proposing to him. We create a common language, we feed your imagination. They acquire new elements for their games, for their language, for their motor development. They perceive in a different way. Our bet is that the children participate, and we always end up in a party ”.
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The dramaturgies seek to rescue our memory, as well as our traditions and sounds. “In recitals we have realized that children do not know songs like Los pollos de mi cazuela, because advertising and songs from foreign series are occupying that place. That has been of great interest to us: we sing those songs, but we also propose new readings, ”Quintana clarifies. A clear example of this is the play The Princess Filomena and the Pirate. In this version she casts off all her suitors, including the pirate, but sings and reads. Thus he discovers that there are other worlds and possible futures. “In each act that we propose we want to say something important, because there are messages that are unforgettable for children”, concludes the artist.
The work of Teatro Comunidad depends on an invisible thread, a deep and powerful connection that is maintained over time. Although the puppets do not wrinkle, while the puppeteers do, the dream of having their own headquarters, a home for their dolls, a space for their audience remains alive.
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