Atacama
Atacama, by Augusto Federico Amador, is a two-person play about a man and a woman who meet in the northern Chilean desert while searching for bone fragments of loved ones disappeared by the Pinochet regime and find a deep and unsettling connection that shakes their souls.
Although the play has had several staged readings around the country, the full production at Teatro Paraguas will be the world premiere. The performances will coincide with the 45th anniversary of the U.S.-backed coup d’etat in which the democratically elected socialist government of Salvador Allende was overthrown by the army under General Pinochet on September 11th, 1973.
Augusto Federico Amador was born and raised in the Silicon Valley and is the son of an accomplished Peruvian Jazz composer and an Austrian mother. His plays have been finalists for the Princess Grace Fellowship, Terrence Mcnally Award, BBC International Playwriting Competition, Metlife Nuestras Voces National Playwriting Competition, Arizona Theater Company's National Latino Playwriting Award (runner-up), four time semifinalist for the Eugene O'Neill Conference, Howlround's list of top "101 plays on Latinidad" and many others. His playwright fellowships include The Public Theater NYC, Humanitas Prize, Latino Theater Alliance/L.A. and Lincoln City Fellowship. Residencies include at the Arkansas Repertory Theater. His plays have been produced across the country and can be found at https://newplayexchange.org/users/1791/augusto-amador. Augusto is currently working on his latest play, The Sunset Room.
Atacama has been presented as staged readings at The Next Iteration Theater, Austin Latino New Play Festival, Skylight Theater, Theatre 80 St. Mark's NYC and UCLA Dept. of Theater.
Juliet Salazar directs the play at Teatro Paraguas, with Bernadette Peña starring as Ignacia and James Chavez as Diego.
The production runs September 7-23, 2018, with performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday matinees at 2:00pm.
interview with Richard Eeds on KTRC
Tickets are $20 general admission and $12 limited income, and may be purchased online at atacama.brownpapertickets.com. Please call 505-424-1601 to make reservations if you wish to purchase tickets at the door
This project made possible in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts, Santa Fe Arts Commission and the 1% Lodger’s Tax, and the Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry,