Political Cabaret

In this workshop Jesusa Rodríguez and Liliana Felipe examined the key elements of "cabaret" genre where politics, music and humor combine to render a peculiar vision of reality. The workshop did not intend to give a recipe of how to do a political cabaret but to elucidate some of its basic features, and to reflect about the ethical limits of comedy, through the question (that is linked to Rodriguez' s and Felipe' s latest show ‘New War, New War’): is it possible to create humor in times of crisis/ tragedy?

 

Biography

Jesusa Rodríguez is an actress and director. She was born in Mexico in 1955. She was awarded Best Actress for El Concilio de Amor at the Montreal's Festival de Las Americas in 1989. In 1990, she was awarded with a Guggenheim grant. In 1994-1997, she received an Arts ad Humanities grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. Along with Liliana Felipe, she renovated the Teatro la Capilla and founded the cabaret El Habito in which she has acted and directed more than 320 productions in ten years (1990-2000). In 1996, she directed a video version of Mozart's opera Cosí Fan Tutte and Da Ponte. In 1997, she directed a version for the opera Primero Sueño de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz's first dream). In 1998 and 1999, she acted in "Las Horas de Belén" in Mexico and New York. In 2000, she presented José Ramón Enríquez's El Fuego (The Fire). Renato Leduc's Prometeo Sifilítico (Prometeus stricken with syphilis) and adapted Esquilo's Prometeo Encadenado (Prometeus in chains). In 2000, along with Liliana Felipe, she was awarded with an OBIE from New York's The Village Voice.

Liliana Felipe is a composer, singer, pianist, tango player, gardener and poet. She is from Cordoba, Argentina and a descendant of Comechingones. Liliana Felipe's music is eminently cinematographic and theatrical. Her songs have a quality of being both irreverent and profound. In 1990, along with Jesusa Rodriguez, Felipe opened - without any kind of fellowship - the Teatro Bar El Hábito and the Teatro de La Capilla, two spaces for independent culture where self-censorship is prohibited. In 2000, along with Jesusa Rodriguez, she received an OBIE award by New York's the Village Voice. In 2000, San Francisco's Teatro Brava was opened to the public with Felipe and Rodriguez's play Belén. In 2001, she presented her music at La Tratienda at the PROA Foundation in Buenos Aires, and at the Teatro Real, Cordoba, Argentina.