Fragment of the play New York versus ‘El Zapotito’ Mother: I’ve come from the other side of the river because I’ve heard its chant and its crying at the same time. Because I’ve heard my people’s singing, because I’ve heard my sister’s chant, my mother’s, my daughter’s, everyone’s chant, within the depths of the ocean and because it has been heard here in my womb. Because these sorrows didn’t allow me to be. I’ve heard continuous sorrow and I’ve come. I’ve also heard the joys, I’ve seen it all. I am one, and I am thousands, and I’m an ancient woman, and I can yell, and I can cry. I can do everything at the same time. Keep quiet while the world’s sleeping! And nahuales are unleashed, they’re free. Men… men leave flying, my daughter. You can barely notice. Keep quiet for the queens of the night are awake. Keep quiet because the werewolfesses are close. Because the healers, the witches, are praying as they always do along with these places when night gets tough and you need to hide, because I’ve seen everything, and if I told you, no one would believe me.

Playwright, scriptwriter, teacher, and stage director. She has studied a BFA in Drama & Theater in the Philosophy and Letters Faculty. She has won a scholarship for dramaturgy studies with José Sanchis Sinisterra in Barcelona, Spain. Her most recent studies were: a Diploma with Adel Hakim, french stage director; Diploma of London’s Royal Court, and studies with Rodolfo Obregón: reality practices in the scene. I’ve started my theater career since I was young. At 18 I knew I would dedicate my life to theater, at first as an actress, then, after a professional crisis, I landed in dramaturgy. I began to write 30 years ago, in a course with Pablo Mandoki in 1993, due to that course my first play was born: Signos Vitales (Vital Signs). After that, I’ve taken courses with teachers such as Hugo Argüelles, and Juan Tovar. The encounter with José Sanchis Sinisterra in 1996 was a milestone in my life and dramaturgy. There, I’ve become a writer and redefined all of my work and my poetics, which I’d been developing all of those years. In recent years, my encounter with Adel Hakim and the Royal Court teachers defined my present-day stances.

I could talk about a search between ancient traditions and the contemporary world. A comparison between fantastic and real. I belong to an active playwrights generation, drama writers who have been educated in the scene, from the scene. There’s a duality in my work: the plays that are related to memory, my ancestors, my grandparent’s stories, Oaxaca, the fairytales; and the completely urban ones, located in any city in the world, love, couples. Now I’m writing an autobiographical play about insomniacs, almost a documentary. I think the autobiography concept is increasingly present among creators. I’ve done everything: acting, stage directing, and finally writing. Now I produce my plays too. I’ve produced almost 80% of my work. I have been a writer for 30 years, and after all those years, I feel more vulnerable, as if I were in the abyss. Now, after many years I feel that knowledge is not enough, you can never reach what you want, but that feeling is what makes me write. Writing for me is a faith act.