This is the second edition of DramaFest, and since they say that second parts are not as good, we decided to challenge this almost cosmic proverb by inviting a country whose theater is one of the most solid from every possible perspective: Germany.

But what can come out of the merge of two such opposite countries? Goethe says that the spirit tends to seek its opposite and bond with it in an endearing way. He calls it “elective affinity”, squeezing poetry out of an expression typical of the chemistry field. Regardless, this DramaFest is a laboratory of the absurd, an ode to social decomposition and a “labyrinth of loneliness”. Paz will agree with me that we are not the only culture that feels lonely. Our first coincidence: heartbreak. We look at each other in melancholy and drown our sorrows with beer. We both meet in art and lose ourselves in frustration. We both have jungles (Black Forest and Selva Lacandona), and perhaps because of that, a strange need to enter the dark world of fiction. I must confess that of all our meeting points, the only thing that does disturb me a bit are the eagles on our shields. I understand that they are the graphic reminder of our dissimilar imperial times, but they are still hostile animals. In reality, we only disagree on the form, on the protocols and of course on the infrastructure. Is this enough to talk about “the other”? I don’t know.

Moreover, if we really want to take a new step, if we want to know what happens to the other, if we are really interested in the other, DramaFest must be a live (and risky) exercise instead of an emblematic “encounter of two cultures”. This is not a talent show but a dare to mix, to put the ingredients together even with the risk that the experiment could end in an explosion. In fact, I hope it ends in an explosion (cathartic, creative, provocative).

To sum up, thanks to the collaboration of the institutions, (which on this occasion have had to combat the change six-year vertigo (change of mandate), the summer vacations and the bureaucratic violence), DramaFest has grown. Thanks to the creativity, and especially to the commitment of the participants of this edition (Mexicans, Poblanos and Germans), DramaFest has been strengthened. And thanks to you who share this experience you’re your seats, there are “young foolish hearts” who insist on doing theater in Mexico.

.

AURORA CANO.