ARTicles vol.4 i.1b: Welcome

Dear Friends:

In the spring of 2004 I attended an international arts festival in Bogotá, Colombia. The festival presents music, dance, and theatre from Europe and the Americas, as well as work from a strong contingent of Colombian artists. Its aim is to break down the narrow frame through which Colombia is viewed by the rest of the world, drawing extraordinary artists and huge audiences to provocative performances that create social and political dialogue in an atmosphere of celebration.

In an intimate theatre down a narrow street in the oldest part of the city, I saw a drama that featured a single actress. It was called Con el Corazón Abierto (With an Open Heart). The stage lights illuminated a haze from the smoke of fire and incense, and a potent performance that captured the room. When I returned to Cambridge my colleagues and I invited the production’s director, Nicolás Montero, to mount the English-language premiere of Con el Corazón Abierto– retitled The Keening– at the A.R.T.

While preparing the Colombian version of The Keening, Nicolás and the writer Humberto Dorado firmly believed that the play should reach an audience beyond the mountains of their native country. Through one woman’s story they wanted to tell the world about the forces that shape the daily lives of their countrymen in Colombia. We hope you share our pride in welcoming Nicolás, Humberto, and this remarkable play to Cambridge.

Best wishes,

Robert Woodruff
Artistic Director4-12