Un estreno mundial de un eco drama bilingüe

Al filo del mundo, Shamanes Mapuches, una eco feminista y un leñador en busca de su alma se encuentran en un devastado bosque en la isla de los molinos de viento en la Patagonia. Allí, la naturaleza espera por su destino mientras la poderosa lucha entre la cultura, la ecología y la ambición determinan su futuro. ¿Qué se gana y qué se pierde cuando estos individuos intentan reconciliar su ideología personal con el futuro del planeta?

Kalani, un maderero asociado con la Trillium Corporation, adquiere una pequeña isla en la Patagonia donde intenta desarrollar una comunidad maderera sustentable. A su llegada es atacado por los espíritus Mapuches del bosque, y luego Solen, una vieja enemiga de las guerras por el medio ambiente llega para salvar a los Mapuches de esta invasión. El resultado es un choque cultural que desafía la integridad de todos los personajes en su búsqueda por la utopía.
El Último se presenta durante dos semanas en enero en el Milagro Theatre en Portland antes de iniciar la gira nacional hacia otros estados tales como California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado y Rhode Island entre otros. El Último forma parte de programa de aprendizaje integral de arte llamado The Art of Science que intenta compartir la construcción de comunidades sustentables y técnicas vitales a través del arte. Se podrán apreciar ejemplos de este proyecto en el folleto para educadores que estará disponible durante la feria sobre el medioambiente el sábado 17 de enero de 3:30-4:30 p.m. en El Centro Milagro (525 SE Stark St., Portland)

The Art of Science

Building on the success of the PUENTES and BEAT programs, Teatro Milagro has developed partnerships with science teachers, natural resource programs and environmental stewardship organizations to share, through the arts, the importance of sustainability. Teachers and students alike can work collaboratively, through BEAT in-services and PUENTES residencies, to design, present and demonstrate sustainable communities that embrace diversity. By presenting science and social studies activities through a language and visual arts lens, “The Art of Science” offers the educator an integrated program that engages students in several subject areas. Through this process students will engage in real-life global issues as they conceptualize their experience.
For the 2009 year El Ultimo, Teatro Milagro’s tale of the power struggle to save the trees on a wind swept island in the Patagonia raises awareness about environmental injustice. After school rehearsals will engage students in a crossover of ideas shared from PUENTES classroom activities. “The Art of Science” workshop projects include discussion and dialog on governmental structure, alternative energy design and visual arts projects focused on recycling. Social justice theatre exercises will use the environment as a focal point.

Art of Science Project Ideas:
Make paper from newspapers and found flora of leaves and flowers.
Write an environmental stewardship statement and/or poem on the hand made paper.
Interact with nature (i.e. hug a tree!) and take a photo. Display photos and environmental commitments on a student created webpage such as facebook or myspace.
Create environmental posters.
Create clothing accessories, such as reusable shopping bags.
Stage dramas with an environmental message in environmental areas, like parks, school playgrounds or on buses, then videotape the scenes and post on student created websites.
Create a topical model or diorama of a sustainable city, with solar, wind and geothermal power.

El Ultimo - a bilingual ecodrama

“Father, creator of the sky, Mother, creator of the earth … Take me over the earth and let me ride on your horses. They lift my heart and give me power. Here I am, the child of ancient people, take hold of me, my breath and my body and help me to heal with your knowledge of the universe.” — Mapuche shaman prayer
At the edge of the world, Mapuche Shamans, an eco-feminist and a soul-searching logger converge at a lone stand of trees on a windswept island in Patagonia. There, nature awaits its destiny as the power struggle of culture, ecology and greed determines their future. What is gained, and what is lost as these individuals attempt to reconcile their personal ideology with the future of the planet?
“Everything is dual, everything has poles, everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled.”
Kalani, a timberman associated with the Trillium Corporation, acquires a small island in the Patagonia that he plans to develop into a sustainable logging community. Upon his arrival he is attacked by Mapuche forest spirits, and then Solen, an old enemy from their environmental wars, arrives to “save” the Mapuches from his invasion. What results is a culture clash that challenges each player’s integrity in their quest for utopia.
El Ultimo is directed by CarlosAlexis Cruz and is co-written by CarlosAlexis and Dañel Malán. Kalani, the timberman, is played by Matt Haynes and Solen, the environmentalist, by Sylvia Malán-González. Longko Marcelino, one of two Mapuches is played by Omar Vargas and the other, Machi Hortensia, by Dañel Malán.
El Ultimo will open at El Centro Milagro on January 9th, 2009 and perform for two weeks in the Milagro theatre. In February the troupe begins a national tour that is planned for California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Rhode Island.
The play El Ultimo is also part of an integrated-arts learning program entitled “The Art of Science”, aimed to share sustainable community building and living techniques through the arts.