![]() | |
| Joan Baez , May 1981 ©Julio Emilio Moliné |
![]() | |
| Joan Baez , May 1981 ©Julio Emilio Moliné |
The stage is barely lit. “Porque vas a venir” (Because you’re coming), a song by Carmen Guzmán and Mandy, sung by Susana Rinaldi, is played until the characters speak.
Dunia enters from the right side. She is excited and nervous. She sits down, stands up, walks from side to side. She is thrilled. She can barely hold her laughter.
Sandra appears on the left side. She is nervous and excited, but she moves slowly, in a controlled way. She stops at the large window, which is softly lit with a warm glow. She looks inside but sees no one: Dunia has left the stage at that point. She moves towards the proscenium. Dunia enters and does not see her. She goes to the proscenium.
Until indicated, Sandra and Dunia behave as if they were in a dream. They never touch or look at each other. When they speak, it seems like they are talking to themselves.
SUSANA RINALDI
“Because you’re coming my old house
unveils new flowers throughout the railing.
Because you're arriving, after so long,
I cannot tell if I'm crying or laughing.
I know you're coming, though you didn't say it,
but you'll arrive one morning.
There's a song in my voice, I'm not so sad,
and a ray of sunlight is coming through my window.
Because you're arriving, after a long journey,
there's a different hue, a different landscape.
Everything shines a different light and has changed its way,
because you're arriving after all.
Because you’re coming, from so far away,
I've looked at myself in the mirror once again.
And how will they see me, I asked myself,
the eyes of this day I was waiting for.
Because you're arriving I wait for you,
because you love me and I love you.
Because you're arriving I wait for you,
because you want it
and I want it too.”
SANDRA (As if she were alone, without noticing Dunia)
And then I thought, will she have changed much? Have I changed so much?
DUNIA (With the same attitude as Sandra)
I was waiting impatiently. I looked at myself in the mirrors and wondered what look you’d give to these wrinkles that have surrounded my eyes without yours. Would you recognize me with these gray hairs I didn't tell you about?
SANDRA
The street in front of your house seemed to be the same. The orange tree in the corner where the greengrocer's was, the paving stones at Don Giuseppe’s store - still broken -, the magnolia tree that would never bloom. But above all, the smell of the orange tree announcing your house was nearby. It all looked the same.
DUNIA
Your voice on the phone, cheerful and teasing, here and not there once again, the same old voice, and I swear I could have eaten up the receiver to eat your voice so that you’d never be gone again.
SANDRA (She turns her back on her)
I admit it - I was scared. The doorbell was there, tiny and glossy. It looks like a nipple, I thought, a nipple inviting the erotic—but no, this little nipple-doorbell was inviting me to the past and I was saying: should I touch it, should I not? I would stretch a finger and stroke it slowly, without pressing, in case I could excite it and make it ring. My finger was bringing you back to my memory.
DUNIA (She turns her back on her)
I looked at you through the peephole, which of us did I see? Years flashed by in the glass eye and did not let me see you.
SANDRA (She comes forward slowly with her back to Dunia)
My finger was still on the doorbell. A door was coughing weakly and I listened to it. The little moaning nipple would not need to be touched. I crossed the doorstep and rested my chest, my whole body, on the door.
DUNIA (She comes forward slowly with her back to Sandra)
I saw you and I pressed my body on the exact same place as you had placed yours. A door divided us and bound us. I was drowning and I thought: there’s no shore near here or any lifeguard in this place.
SANDRA
Your breathing in my ear was suffocating me, it didn't let me think. I was going crazy, I was fainting.
DUNIA
The air from your mouth made me warm, and I was getting filled with sweet old memories. The air from your mouth was burning me, immolating me.
SANDRA (Stands very close to Dunia’s back, without touching it)
Your fingers scratching the wood, scratching and moaning like a stray cat about to give birth to dead memories.
DUNIA
I felt you were sliding down the door to the floor and I reached out to stop you from hitting it.
SANDRA
Your back was sticking into mine, piercing me. I felt pain, I felt pleasure.
DUNIA
You were crying—and you never cried—in a way that was new to me.
SANDRA
You were crying and in your tears was the same old pain I always remembered.
DUNIA
I heard you say: you’re back at last.
SANDRA
And I heard you answer: at last I’ve returned.
(...)
A DOOR OPEN TO THE SEA by Viviana Marcela Iriart
Dr. Susana D. Castillo, University of San Diego, United States:
“…...the play explores the uprooting of its two characters on different levels. On one level, the play deals with the anxious reunion of two women separated for ten years…
Aptly, the initial encounter is choreographed as a slow dance in which the two women try to find each other—as if in a mist—while simultaneously suppressing the outward expression of their conflicting emotions… Thus, they will move—with caution and restraint—from reminiscence to laughter, from song to nostalgia, from distance…to the tango!...
(...) It is worth adding that Viviana Marcela Iriart—novelist and journalist—sought refuge in the Venezuelan Embassy at the age of 21, a period that marked the beginning of her exile, which would take her to various parts of the world before she settled in Venezuela…”
Available for sale on Amazon
Viviana Marcela Iriart (1958) is an Argentine-Venezuelan writer, playwright, and interviewer.
She has published "La Casa Lila" ( novel), "Interviews" (interviews with cultural figures, in English), and "¡Bravo, Carlos Giménez!" (biography). She compiled the free-to-read book "María Teresa Castillo-Carlos Giménez-Festival Internacional de Teatro de Caracas 1973-1992", a collaborative work with José Pulido, Rolando Peña, Karla Gómez, Carmen Carmona, and Roland Streuli.
"A DOOR OPEN TO THE SEA", as well as her forthcoming novel "Lejos de Casa", is based on her experiences with the Argentine dictatorsh
Play. Argentina, early 1990s. Sandra and Dunia, childhood friends who were detained and disappeared by the dictatorship in a concentration camp for being pacifists, reunite after Sandra's years in exile.
The emotional reunion gives way to the shocking realization of how the dictatorship managed to separate them and create two communities: one for those who stayed and one for those condemned to exile.
Suddenly, an abyss opens before their eyes, leaving them on opposite shores.
Can they build a bridge to unite them?
Dr. Susana D. Castillo, University of San Diego, United States:
“…...the play explores the uprooting of its two characters on different levels. On one level, the play deals with the anxious reunion of two women separated for ten years…
Aptly, the initial encounter is choreographed as a slow dance in which the two women try to find each other—as if in a mist—while simultaneously suppressing the outward expression of their conflicting emotions… Thus, they will move—with caution and restraint—from reminiscence to laughter, from song to nostalgia, from distance…to the tango!...
(...) It is worth adding that Viviana Marcela Iriart—novelist and journalist—sought refuge in the Venezuelan Embassy at the age of 21, a period that marked the beginning of her exile, which would take her to various parts of the world before she settled in Venezuela…”
Available for sale on Amazon
Viviana Marcela Iriart (1958) is an Argentine-Venezuelan writer, playwright, and interviewer.
She has published "La Casa Lila" ( novel), "Interviews" (interviews with cultural figures, in English), and "¡Bravo, Carlos Giménez!" (biography). She compiled the free-to-read book "María Teresa Castillo-Carlos Giménez-Festival Internacional de Teatro de Caracas 1973-1992", a collaborative work with José Pulido, Rolando Peña, Karla Gómez, Carmen Carmona, and Roland Streuli.
"A DOOR OPEN TO THE SEA", as well as her forthcoming novel "Lejos de Casa", is based on her experiences with the Argentine dictatorship and exile.
El libro María Teresa Castillo-Carlos Giménez-Festival Internacional de Teatro de Caracas 1973-1992, homenaje a los 50 años del primer FITC, a los 30 años de la muerte de Carlos Giménez y a los 11 años de la desaparición de María Teresa Castillo, esos seres mágicos que fueron quienes lo inventaron y lo dirigieron durante 20 años, es el resultado de la unión de un equipo de personas maravillosas que se unieron para hacerlo posible, donando su arte, su tiempo y su dinero: el poeta José Pulido (prólogo); el artista multimedia Rolando Peña y la directora de arte Karla Gómez (portada); la gerente cultural Carmen Carmona (producción general); el fotógrafo Roland Streuli (fotografías) y la escritora Viviana Marcela Iriart, en idea, edición, entrevistas y producción general.
El poeta José Pulido, en una parte de su magnífico prólogo, nos cuenta:
“María Teresa parecía un terremoto de entusiasmos. Nada era imposible para su voluntad de generar actividades que semejaran siempre una siembra fundamental. Ella se desvivía por demostrar la espiritualidad del país, la inteligencia del país, la fertilidad intelectual del país.
Es de imaginar lo que ocurrió cuando ella y Carlos Giménez se conocieron y se juntaron en torno a un objetivo, amando el destino del arte.
Porque Carlos Giménez era un terremoto de entusiasmos: nada era imposible para su voluntad de generar actividades. Él la miró y le dijo: “Hagamos buen teatro, señora María Teresa”. Y ella también lo miró y de una vez le dijo: “hagamos eso, muchacho querido”.
ABOUT TO TAKE OFF...
During the filming of the first movie in which I had the pleasure of
participating, I experienced a very, very improbable episode, but I assure you
it is true.
We were filming on the outskirts of Maracaibo, it was a Wednesday, and I
was performing in a play in Caracas, which was the final week of the season.
The clauses in my contract stated that I could film until noon that day, as I
had to fly to Caracas to do the performance that night, and starting the
following Monday, they could use my time as they saw fit since I would no
longer have theater performances.
Up to that point, everything was going very well. The detail was that it
was almost 3 PM, the last flight to Caracas left at 4, and we were on the
outskirts of the capital. To top it off, the scene we were filming was none
other than the death of my character, a terrible hitman, who, to the delight of
the cinema audience, would be killed with many shots and there would be a lot
of blood. Well, in reality, blood flowed throughout the movie since they killed
the entire cast; it was not for nothing that it was called "The Slaughter
of Santa Bárbara."
Well, a Spanish special effects makeup artist was in charge of my
terrible appearance. Among all the things he did to me, he carefully introduced
a product similar to gel into my scalp. It was more like a black gum that would
melt with heat and give a very natural blood-like appearance that would run
down my temples, my eyes, my neck, etc. Finally, we filmed the scene. The
assistants were ready with towels, water, and my clothes to remove and clean
any trace of my character. There, in the middle of the street and as quickly as
I could, I took off my makeup and hopped into a taxi heading to "La
Chinita" airport to catch my flight back to Caracas.
We were going over 120 km on those roads; it seemed like we would never
arrive. I felt like Cinderella rushing home before the clock struck twelve and
the magic was gone.
Finally, we arrived. I jumped out of the taxi and headed to the airline
counter, where I encountered an employee who looked terrified and informed me
that the flight was about to take off.
I wondered: what’s wrong with this guy? I wanted to die; I had to catch
that flight no matter what! I asked him which way to the runway, and he pointed
to some ramps. I looked like a figure skater flying down those ramps, and at
the end, I encountered some national guards who obviously stopped me and looked
at me in horror. I said to them:
·
Excuse me, but I have to
catch that flight; it’s a matter of life or death... The guard looked at his
partner, who nodded, and he communicated with the control tower via radio to
stop the plane. Again, they both looked at me almost with pity. I thought: everyone
here is crazy. The official said: Run! Run, the plane is waiting for you!
I don’t know if you know that those small planes have a rear entrance or
exit, yes, like from the back of the plane. As I was running, I saw a door
opening, but no stairs came down. When I arrived and looked up, the terrified
flight attendant told me:
·
Get on, get on... and I
wondered: How the heck? Finally, a small ladder of about two steps came down,
and it was still very high. Like a primate, I climbed up the steps and sat in a
random seat. The flight attendant told me: - Don’t move; we are about to take
off. Of course, all the passengers' eyes were on me, and I thought, why are
they looking at me in horror? Finally, the plane took off, and the flight
attendant kindly asked me:
·
Would you like something, a
sedative? You look very pale, and I replied:
·
Well, water or something to
drink, if you don’t mind.
They assigned me my seat, and the guy sitting next to me almost yelled
and said:
·
Sir, what happened to you,
for God’s sake!!! I didn’t understand anything. But when I went to wipe the
sweat off my face, what I wiped was "blood." The famous product did
its job, and of course, they hadn’t removed everything they had put on my
scalp, so it did its function. I was bleeding quite naturally.
The incredible thing about this story, which I have always wondered, is
how they let a person who was supposedly injured get on a plane? They never
asked me my name, nor did they ask for my ticket... nothing. The important
thing is that I was able to arrive in time for my performance... Oh! And that
scene that took so much effort was useless. We repeated it a few weeks later in
Calabozo, and with all the calm and tranquility, I enjoyed the death of my
character.
By the way, the guy who traveled next to me… yes, the one who yelled,
was none other than Amílcar Boscán, the soloist of the well-known group
"Guaco."
Once upon a time... There was a very beautiful young woman named Snow White. Although her name referred to her skin as pale as snow, her true beauty lay in her kindness and curiosity about the world. Snow White lived in a big city, where social media was a daily staple and everyone was connected through their devices.
One day, while browsing on her phone, Snow White came across a group of seven friends who shared their lives through a video channel called “The Digital Dwarfs.”
These seven friends were very different from each other, but they all shared a passion for technology and creativity. They spent their time singing and uploading many things on social media.
So strong was their passion that they took on some very original names. These were "ROMY," for ROM Memory, who was always taking selfies and sharing photography tips; "SOFTY" for software, an expert in programming who always had a new gadget to showcase; "DATA" for the data used, who made comedy videos and always managed to bring smiles; "HARDY" for the hard drive, who was always sleepy but liked to record relaxing nature sounds; "BLOGY" for the blogs published on social media, who was always in a bad mood and gave video game reviews; "GADGY" for the use of gadgets, the sweetest of them all, who did crafts; and "NET," obviously for the network, who dedicated himself to teaching how to make the most of social media.
Snow White began to follow them and was immediately drawn to their content and the beautiful and contagious songs and videos they uploaded, and soon became one of their most loyal followers. Through their videos, she learned about the importance of friendship, creativity, and, above all, authenticity. However, not everything was rosy.
There was a famous influencer known as the Evil Queen, who was beautiful and talented but also very jealous. Every day, she checked her statistics and became furious if someone got more “likes” or “followers” than she did.
When she saw that Snow White was starting to gain popularity through her interactions with the seven dwarfs, she became envious and decided to use her magic to get rid of Snow White.
So, one day, she posted a viral video full of malicious rumors about her, claiming that Snow White was stealing ideas and followers from others. The video went viral, and soon, Snow White’s reputation was in jeopardy. People began to unfollow her and criticize her without knowing the truth.
Desperate and sad, Snow White decided to step away from social media. She locked herself in her room, feeling lonely and lost. It was then that she received an unexpected message from the Seven Dwarfs. They reminded her how special she was and offered their unconditional support. —Don't let the Evil Queen get to you —said RE—. Authenticity will always shine brighter than any rumor. —We can help bring the truth to light —proposed SOL—. Let’s make a video together!
With the support of her friends, Snow White decided to return to social media, and together they created a heartfelt video where they shared their experiences, talked about the importance of friendship and truth, and exposed the manipulation behind the Evil Queen's video. With their charisma and authenticity, the video went viral for the right reasons, and quickly, her followers began to return.
The Evil Queen, seeing that her plan had failed, felt even more jealous and frustrated, so in an attempt to bring Snow White down, she decided she had to act more cunningly and created a fake profile to sow discord among them and began to harass her followers.
But Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs were not intimidated. They used their platform to speak about online harassment and how to confront it. With each post, their community grew stronger and more united.
They shared stories of support and friendship and began receiving messages of thanks from people who had gone through similar experiences.
In the end, the Evil Queen realized that her magic could not compete with authenticity and kindness. One day, while reviewing the comments on her latest video, she realized that Snow White's community had grown so much that she felt part of something special.
For the first time in a long time, the Evil Queen felt a glimmer of hope and a desire to change, so she decided to make a video in which she apologized to Snow White and acknowledged that she had been wrong.
At first, Snow White's followers were skeptical, but Snow White, with her big heart, accepted the apology and extended a friendly hand. —We all make mistakes —said Snow White in her video—. What’s important is learning from them and growing together.
The community came together to support the Evil Queen on her path to redemption. Thus, from unity and understanding, a new friendship emerged. Over time, the Evil Queen also became an ally and began working alongside Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on projects that promoted ideas to improve the community online.
And so, in a world where social media could be a battlefield, Snow White and the Digital Dwarfs proved that true magic lies in friendship, authenticity, and mutual support.
Joan Baez , M ay 1981 © Julio Emilio Moliné After that historical tour in which Joan Baez terrified dictators from Argentina, Chil...