Puente, bridge, passerelle…. the word that’s been in our minds for some time… and the inevitable question immediately pops up… Why?… And when we try to answer… only these words come to mind as an immediate response: share, exchange, barter, collaborate, exchange…

This is not a study of vocabulary or semiotics… these are simply the actions required by decisions taken after deep reflection… because several years ago we decided that we had to leave our stage and see what was out there beyond the stalls…

And so now, for the fifth time, we travel to the old continent to cross bridges that have already been built, or to keep building new ones, in our search for horizontal cooperation possibilities…

We defined the final proposal for a three year project called “Hand Up!” between Acteurs de l’Ombre (Liege-Belgium) and Pasmi (Santiago-Chile); a project that will involve Belgian and Chilean prisons… a project that will involve three international community theatre festivals: Festival International de Théâtre Action FITA (Belgium), International Community Theatre Festival-ENTEPOLA (Chile) and Festival International de Théâtre Forum (Senegal).

In this project we will mount two productions devised and performed by prisoners in the two countries, on the theme of “violence” (in all its forms, and particularly violence against women). Subsequently a professional production will be created and performed by Acteurs de l’Ombre and Pasmi, on the issue of gender violence, and toured in the three continents, and to the above-mentioned festivals.

How could we not think of the word bridge… when in essence that’s what we are building… a bridge built on truly horizontal relationships, real cooperation, a bridge where we meet and share…

We had a first meeting with the visually disabled theatre company Contando Hormigas (Counting Ants) from Madrid, to intertwine “visions and gazes”… and to plan future work meetings and exchange “points of view”…

How could we not think of the word bridge… if we can close the gap between continents, if we can unite artists, if we can bring people together…
Puente, bridge, passerelle… we’d be happy to wake up with that word every day…

Between June and August, Xris Reardon, Director of Third Way Theatre (Melbourne), spent five weeks with PASMI. We met Xris in March 2009, when we gave a talk about PASMI at the Centre for Ideas (Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne University) where Xris is doing a Masters in Community Cultural Development.

In that first meeting, Xris approached us and expressed her interest in getting to know more about our community theatre methodology, and how we instigate social change through theatre, since her work aspires to the same goal, using a range of methodologies (Theatre of the Oppressed, etc).

We wrote emails and, in the end, were able to arrange Xris’ visit and our mutual desire to exchange ideas and practice. Xris’ program was:

• Colina 1 Prison: Xris ran five sessions of theatrical exercises with the ILUSIONES Company, based on issues proposed by the participants, as well as observing the group process of the FÉNIX Company. She attended the performance of Gabriel Jiménez Espinoza’s children’s play “Trial in the great forest”, inside the prison.
• Pudahuel Adolescent Day Hospital: Xris ran a theatre workshop, and was interviewed by the young people for the in-house radio program “Voice of the Moon”. She was also able to observe the group process of this workshop.
• Participation in 4 formal sessions of Theoretical Exchange about PASMI’s Community Theatre Practice: Themes – Community, Activism, Constructivist Theory, Confrontational Pedagogy.
• Final activities of the “+M-M” project: the Final Meeting-Evaluation in El Bosque and the performances of “The lady from the sea” in the Santiago Women’s Prison.

This first formal international exchange allowed us to:

• compare our practice with others’:
• express our work methodology in a more structured way (methodology based on the systematisation of our practice combined with theoretical research). In the formal exchange sessions we were able to share this methodology with other artists and social science workers; and
• project future possibilities of exchange with Xris in Australia and/or Chile.

Thanks for your visit Xris, your openness and commitment allowed you to observe PASMI from the heart.

The second stage of +M-M, ACTION days against gender violence, has begun….raising awareness and denouncing, in peripheral and marginalised Santiago communities, during May and June.

In the first three ACTION days, we sensed the urgent need to publicly expose this issue and, together with the community organisers and other locals, the Muralist collective Las Kallejeras painted murals inciting women to organise in solidarity, and demand the right to a life without violence. The lady from the sea was performed in streets and squares, followed by generous and emotive debates with the audiences.

More theatre and murals in the second stage of +M-M:
- Saturday 16 May: Cerro Navia – Mural painting in Plaza Dalmacia; “The lady from the sea” in Plaza Yugoslavia, two adjoining sectors of the suburb.
See the PHOTOS…
- Saturday 13 June: Quinta Normal – Población Simón Bolivar
2.00 pm – Mural painting, with community participation…8.00 pm – Performance “The lady from the sea”, followed by open debate.
See the PHOTOS…
- Saturday 20 June: El Bosque – Meeting-Exchange between all the community organisers and collaborators of +M-M
See the PHOTOS…
- Thursday 25 June: Santiago Women’s Prison. Two performances of “The lady from the sea” plus open debate
Watch the short doco about the “+M-M” project…

Community organisations that are collaborating in +M-M Part Two:
- Cerro Navia: “Mujer, tú vales” Programme, “Esfera” Theatre Group & “Poniente Unido” Cultural Centre
- Quinta Normal: “QuHerida Mujer Valórate” Women’s group
- Villa El Tattersall Neighbourhood Committee, El Bosque

+M-M is financed by the Spanish Cultural Centre in Chile.
more about PASMI’s work with women…
+M-M in facebook…

The first stage of Pasmi’s newest ACTION against gender violence has begun. Building on past actions and community collaborations, we are coordinating awareness days in three peripheral sectors of Santiago in April and May.

In +M-M, we use the ancestral art of theatre to denounce and raise awareness about the unacceptable level of gender violence in Chile. Crude, daily violence – aggression against women “simply because they are women”: in relationships, in the street, in the treatment women receive in hospitals and other services, in the poverty they have to manage to raise their children, etc. In +M-M, PASMI is collaborating once more with the feminist Mural Collective Las Kallejeras, so that there are “more women, less murders”.

The first three awareness actions combine theatre and murals:

- Saturday 18 April: Plaza Dávila, Población Dávila, Pedro Aguirre Cerda
See the PHOTOS…
- Saturday 25 April: Plaza Víctor Jara, Población Lo Hermida, Peñalolén
See the PHOTOS…
- Saturday 09 May: Villa El Tattersall, El Bosque
See the PHOTOS…

3 pm – Mural painting, with community participation.
8 pm – Performance of The lady from the sea, followed by open discussion.

Community organisations collaborating in the organisation of +M-M, 1st stage:
- Pedro Aguirre Cerda: Lídice Cultural Centre, Neighbourhood Committee Nº 1 Dávila, Los Deskarrilados Collective
- Peñalolén: Las Kallejeras Collective, Neighbourhood Committee Nº 17 Lo Hermida, Family Foundation
- El Bosque: Neighbourhood Committee “Villa El Tattersall”, “Jasmines of the Forest” Women’s Group

+M-M is financed by the Spanish Cultural Centre in Chile.
more about PASMI’s work with women…
+M-M in facebook…

PASMI hosted the first Chilean visit of “Locos por el teatro” (Crazy for theatre), in Jan-Feb 2009. Director Alberto Celdrán and photographer David Sardaña worked with the theatre companies in the Colina 1 and San Miguel prisons, at the Pudahuel Day Hospital, and also participated in the 23rd ENTEPOLA.

The visit allowed them to get a fuller understanding and experience of many aspects of PASMI’s community theatre work. Alberto gave workshops in the Colina 1 prison and the Pudahuel Day Hospital, where he and David were also interviewed by the internal radio “The voice of the moon”. Alberto and David were present at the premiere of “What we all know, but don’t recognise” in the San Miguel prison, and also in the group’s evaluation a week later. They also participated in the evaluation of the FÉNIX and ILUSIONES performance at ENTEPOLA. David documented all activities with photos and video.

This is an important step in further developing our collaboration, initiated in 2007. From a first tentative contact via internet, we then shared several experiences in 2008:

- PASMI’s Iván Iparraguirre workshop for “Locos…” actors – Alicante, Spain – March 2008. read more…
- “Locos…” organised “Theatre and Diversity”, a public conference on PASMI´s work – Alicante, Spain – October 2008. read more…
- “Locos…”, PASMI and “Acteurs de l’Ombre” joint workshop for people with psychiatric difficulties, International Theatre Action Festival FITA – Liège, Belgium – October 2008. read more…

Now we enter a new phase in our collaboration: we are developing ideas for a “parallel” theatre production; once mounted the two productions would tour in both Chile and Spain.

more about PASMI’s work with theatre and mental health…

For the third time in a row, FÉNIX & ILUSIONES performed at ENTEPOLA, the International Community Theatre Festival, in its 23rd version. For the first time, the Prison Ministry authorised the participation of all cast and crew of the two companies in this important event.

This year, the companies’ production of “Once upon a time there was a king” by Chilean playwright Oscar Castro, was selected to represent the theatre work developed inside the Colina 1 prison, with PASMI’s direction. It was an emotional night, the Pudahuel Amphitheatre was full with at least 3.000 spectators, who thoroughly enjoyed the performances, as well as Castro’s satirical text which denounces the abuse of power, an all too relevant and endemic problem, observable on a daily basis, of which many people are either party to or victims. After the play, the companies presented a small sketch dramatising the way we start our weekly sessions. Then, three theatre directors – Tulio Guimaraes (Brazil), Kike Castañeda (Colombia) and Alberto Celdrán (Spain) – along with ENTEPOLA directors David Musa and Rubi Figueroa, gave critical feedback to the actors in a mini POPULTEATRO in the dressing room. Their comments help us to develop and improve our art, thank you for that….

Yet again, PASMI collaborated with ENTEPOLA by coordinating POPULTEATRO, the daily criticism and exchange forums between the festival’s participants. Audio recordings of the 10 POPULTEATRO sessions can be requested from La Carreta Theatre Company/ENTEPOLA. Also, PASMI’s Claudio Cancino took on the role of technical director of the Amphitheatre stage for the second year, coordinating a team of volunteers and constructing a massive truss structure for the festival´s lighting system, following our motto that “if it’s for the community it has to be the best”.

more about our theatre work in prisons…
FÉNIX & ILUSIONES in ENTEPOLA 2008…
The PASMI-La Carreta collaboration…