Discovering latitudes through their letters, landscapes through metaphors, ideas that carry affections, and stances, urgencies, and possible solutions. Two vast countries, like founding turtles of worlds, neighboring and dialoguing mythologies; two nations with vibrant ethnicities and urgent demands on a collapsing planet.

This year, the Light-Footed will welcome the Deer Women, in the most intimate conversation that theater people can summon. Spoken words on stage mean placing the body in the listening and gaze of another. The simplicity of this exchange is a delicate telluric weave, deep to the bone, vibrating with the breath of the word—in that pact that only theater knows how to make. That which only theater knows is the most ancestral gesture of humanity: seeing oneself through another.

Canada and Chihuahua intertwine, gently crossing borders to reclaim ancestral routes of exchange, in a crucible where vital and urgent words reverberate, weaving threads and letters that cry out loud.

The selection process unfolded over more than a year and a half, with the privileged wonder of bringing Canadian and Mexican dramaturgy into dialogue. Judy Harquail from CAPACOA and Franco Boni as her counterpart in curatorial dialogue ensured that the Canadian works proposed for DramaFest offered a broad panorama of expressions that could interlace the poetics of both countries.

Aurora Cano and Nicolás Alvarado founded DramaFest as a daring meeting point for contemporary dramaturgy. Contemporary in the sense of invoking critical thought—that inherent quality of theatrical art when it is alive. Uncommon, like a mythological bird in the Mexican theater landscape, DramaFest convenes, produces, and connects current dramaturgies locally, nationally, and internationally with generosity, care, and tenacity. The flame DramaFest has ignited has endured, even now, in the most critical moments of national culture. The 2023 edition has been carefully forged for you, and I’ve had the honor of being invited to lead its artistic direction.

To make this edition possible, the support of the Embassy of Canada in Mexico, the General Delegation of Quebec in Mexico, the Ministry of Culture through Profest, the steadfast backing of INBAL, and Teatro UNAM has been invaluable. We are especially grateful to our hosts at the Ministry of Culture of Chihuahua.

None of this would be possible without the creative teams behind each production, the administrative teams of every institution, the technical crews of the theaters, and of course, the festival’s organizing team.

Long live DramaFest!

Raquel Araujo

“This program is public and unaffiliated with any political party. Its use for purposes other than those established in the program is strictly prohibited.”