Teatro Paraguas Presents VIOLENCE AND LOVE IN LATIN AMERICA: Stories And Poems

Teatro Paraguas presents an evening of stories and poems by Abelardo Cabal, a storyteller and poet from Columbia. The 20 stories and poems range in style from the political and social justice to rustic folktales to magical realism, with such titles La Mulata de Córdoba (The Mulatto Girl from Córdoba), El Origen del mundo (The Origin of the World), and Itaca (Ithaca). While some of the stories are original, Abelardo presents works by other authors, such as the Greek poet Constantine Cavafy, and the Cuban poet José Marti.

Abelardo Cabal Escobar was born in the valley of Cauca, Colombia, and received a degree in economics at the National University. As an actor he has participated in the Ibero-American Festival of Theater of Bogotá and in several university festivals nationwide. As an oral narrator he participated in university festivals, he founded "La hora del cuento (Story Hour) which lasted for more than ten years at the Pedagogical and Technological University of Bogotá (U.P.T.C). In 2003, he won the departmental stimulus scholarship with his work Voces silenciadas, (Silenced Voices). In 2006 he won the First Oral Narrative Department Contest. He was coordinator of cultural activities of the Universidad Antonio Nariño, instructor of theater, corporal expression, oral narration, formal and street theater at the U.P.T.C. He is currently taking classes of unicycle, clown and juggling at Wise Fool.

Abelardo presents the stories and poems in Spanish, and English translations by Luis Fernandez-Zavala and James Stake will be projected simultaneously. Paola Martini directs the production.

An excerpt from The Origin of the World:

Some time later, Josep Verdura, the son of this accursed worker, told me the story. He had been a desperate child who wanted to save his father from eternal damnation, and the ever atheistic and stubborn fellow wouldn't listen to reason.

"But papá," Josep said to him, weeping. "If God doesn't exist, who made the world?"

"Dummy," said the worker, lowering his head as if to impart a secret. "Dummy. We made the world, we bricklayers."

The performance takes place on Sunday, May 20 at 5:30 pm. Admission is free, with donations to the theatre gratefully accepted. For more information, please visit teatroparaguas.org. Reservations may be made by calling 505-424-1601