ArtsEmerson Will Welcome the Return of Teatrocinema With PLATA QUEMADA

ArtsEmerson will present the return of Chilé's TEATROCINEMA with Plata Quemada. This heart-pounding noir tale of bandits, betrayals and blowouts will play six performances only from March 11 - 15, 2020 at the Emerson Paramount Center.

The Chiléan company's groundbreaking storytelling intertwines live-action performances with eye-popping illustration and animation, creating a hyper-stylized graphic novel that comes to life right in front of audiences' eyes. Plata Quemada tells the tale of an infamous bank heist that took place in Buenos Aires in 1965. Ricardo Piglia's prize-winning novel about these real-life events, Plata Quemada, has been adapted for the stage, employing TEATROCINEMA's distinctive melding of projections and live action that has elicited awe and amazement in audiences around the world.

Plata Quemada represents ArtsEmerson's fifth of five commissions in its 10th Anniversary Season which includes ten productions through May 2020 as well as a special summer engagement of Dumfolk in July. ArtsEmerson continues its valued relationship with TEATROCINEMA having presented the company's Historia de Amor in 2016.

TEATROCINEMA has been making work at the intersection of film and live performance for decades. Their signature style has involved the use of a front projection surface and a rear projection surface, with the actors performing between the two images. The two screens, and the precise use of light, has, in previous productions, kept hidden from view their techniques for creating shifting perspectives and "camera angles". For Plata Quemada, the company made the startling decision to remove the front projection screen and reveal these techniques with the telling of the story. Having opened up the physical playing space, director Zagal has taken the additional step of revealing the actual process of staging the work inside the telling of the story.

Plata Quemada is performed in Spanish with English surtitles.

Tickets for Plata Quemada may be purchased at ArtsEmerson.org, by phone at 617.824.8400 or in person at the central ticket office for ArtsEmerson, located at the Emerson Paramount Center.

Groups of 10+ attending any performance save between 20%-30%, and ArtsEmerson Package Holders save between 15%-20%, depending on their package plan. For more information and best availability, contact the box office at Tickets@ArtsEmerson.org or 617.824.8400.

Plata Quemada is a TEATROCINEMA, Teatro a Mil Foundation, Chilean Chamber of Construction and Chilean Chamber of Construction Cultural Corporation co-production, with support from a Fondart 2018 grant from the Ministry of Culture, the Arts and Heritage.

"When we commissioned this piece more than a year ago, and even when it opened in Santiago last summer, Chilé was not yet in the state of upheaval it is now in," says ArtsEmerson Artistic Director David Dower. "But artists anticipate cultural events as often as they follow them, and in this case TEATROCINEMA could clearly hear it on the wind. Plata Quemada has that hyper-masculine feel of a Tarantino film, but the intimate focus on the individuals here makes it both a love story and a warning shot. Langston Hughes wondered what happens to a dream deferred. TEATROCINEMA leaves no doubt: it explodes. The piece is ferocious, virtuosic, and gripping. And, sitting in the audience in Santiago in January, though based on a novel from 1997, it was evident it was ripped from tomorrow's headlines."

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