ZOO
May 2013Centro Cultural Estación Mapocho
Santiago, Chile
Produced by
Teatro de Chile
Coproduced byFundación Teatro a Mil
Festival Internacional de Buenos Aires (FIBA)
@TeatrodeChile
At the end of the 19th century, individuals and entire families were displayed behind bars at the Jardin d'Acclimatation in Paris. This is not a science fiction image; human zoos were a common occurrence during French and English colonialism. Visiting the Garden was a family recreational activity for Europeans, who thus had the opportunity to come into contact with the savagery of these "exotic specimens." These spectacles ended in the 1930s—after years of financial success for their creators—partly because it became increasingly difficult to find participants sufficiently "primitive" to fit the prevailing stereotypes. But the most significant problem was the dizzying speed with which these "primitives" adapted to European ways of dressing, speaking, commerce, and social customs. After only a few months in major European cities, they were no longer considered "savage" enough. This "curious" capacity for adaptation—then a problem for the human zoo spectacle—constitutes the discursive axis of "Zoo."
Drawing on Darwin's observations in his travel journal to Tierra del Fuego, we have developed a theatrical piece that replicates this experience in a contemporary setting. A group of scientists has discovered the last remaining members of an ethnic group they believed to be extinct. They are obsessed with preserving them. However, with a race whose method of survival is not struggle—as we typically understand it in a more Darwinian model of evolution—but rather disappearance understood as a form of adaptation, the idea of preservation becomes not only a paradox, but a nightmare.
Credits
Dramaturgy
Manuela Infante and Teatro de Chile.
Direction
Manuela Infante.
Cast
Cristián Carvajal, Ariel Hermosilla, Héctor Morales, and Juan Pablo Peragallo.
Acting Coach
María José Parga.
Manuela Infante and Teatro de Chile.
Direction
Manuela Infante.
Cast
Cristián Carvajal, Ariel Hermosilla, Héctor Morales, and Juan Pablo Peragallo.
Acting Coach
María José Parga.
Visuals
Nicole Senerman.
Set, Light, and Costume Design
Claudia Yolin and Rocío Hernández Marchant.
Sound Design and Original Music
Diego Noguera.
Production
Katy Cabezas
Graphic Design
Javier Pañella.
Nicole Senerman.
Set, Light, and Costume Design
Claudia Yolin and Rocío Hernández Marchant.
Sound Design and Original Music
Diego Noguera.
Production
Katy Cabezas
Graphic Design
Javier Pañella.
Production
Teatro de Chile.
Coproduction
Teatro a Mil Foundation, and the 9th Buenos Aires International Film Festival (FIBA)
Teatro de Chile.
Coproduction
Teatro a Mil Foundation, and the 9th Buenos Aires International Film Festival (FIBA)
Trailer