Teatro Latino de Asheville

Teatro Latino de Asheville showcases play with timely topic.

Telash, Asheville’s Spanish-language theatre company, will stage the Argentinean play “Lejos de aqui” November 10-12 in Highsmith University Union on the campus of UNC Asheville. The group is a collaboration between UNC Asheville and the local Latino community, and the performance will be presented entirely in Spanish. The event is free and open to the public.

“Lejos de aquí” is written by Roberto Cossa and Mauricio Kartun and directed by Dr. Greta Trautmann, UNC Asheville associate professor of Spanish. Trautmann says she selected this play because of its clever text, and because of its profound, universal and timely theme: immigration.



“We
are all immigrants,” she says. “Immigration news is a focus not only in
North America, but in Central America, South America, Europe and
beyond. Furthermore, in an academic and political environment intent on
multiculturalizing everything – sometimes in a very artificial way – I
find this text’s ironic underlining of those attempts very pertinent.”


The play centers
on five characters – two Argentinean, two Spanish, and a Colombian
pretending to be Mexican – living and working together in a modest
restaurant on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain. The audience witnesses
each character struggle to move beyond both national and personal
frontiers through a series of adventures, misadventures and other
manifestations of dysfunctional relationships.

“This show
touches on the existential state of exile and our human drive to
categorize individuals by nationality – even ourselves,” says
Trautmann. “It addresses our shared immigrant experiences and our
attempts to reclaim a past via memories that often never really
existed.”


The cast of
“Lejos de aquí” is comprised of actors who have relocated to Asheville
from Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico. Behind the scenes, the
show is produced by an international crew of UNCA administrators and
students, as well as an extensive network of people from throughout
Western North Carolina.


Teatro Latino de
Asheville produced its first play – “Entre Pancho Villa y una mujer
desnuda,” by Mexican playwright Sabina Berman – in 2004. Last year, the
group produced “La diva,” by Spain’s Jerónimo López Mozo. The latter
show was taken on the road to the University of Georgia and to a
conference at the University of Louisville (Kentucky), where it was
performed for the playwright.

Trautmann says
that the response to each production has been progressively stronger,
and the greatest reward has been feedback from the diverse communities
represented in the public as well as on the stage.


“The more people
hear of us and return to shows or participate in them, the more we are
extending our roots and connecting UNCA, the local arts community and
the region’s Latino population, “she says. “As we showcase more plays,
we want to continue making our productions accessible to everyone, even
those with limited Spanish experience. But our greatest hope is that
this multicultural undertaking is a legacy of UNCA and Asheville.”


Curtain for
“Lejos de aquí” is at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10, and Saturday, Nov. 11,
with a performance at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 12. Ticket reservations are
strongly advised. For more information or to reserve a free ticket,
call 828/251-6195 or e-mail [email protected].


Media Contacts:

•    Dr. Greta Trautmann, UNC Asheville Associate Professor of Spanish, 828/251-6195

•    Sandra Brown, Producer,

828/301-8588


Telash was
created as a forum for the UNC Asheville and local Latino communities
to produce contemporary Spanish and Latin American plays. The theater
company’s goal is to bridge the gaps between diverse Asheville
communities through exploration and presentation of theater arts in
Spanish. The group is sponsored by the student organization HOLA
(Hispanic Outreach for Learning Awareness) and UNC Asheville’s Foreign
Languages Department.