By Nora LeRoux, Teatro del Pueblo

This March, in collaboration with Pangea World Theater, Teatro del Pueblo will bring the Twin Cities theater community, Outside the Circle, a new play by Andrea Assaf and Samuel Valdez, examining the nature of love, and what happens to love when we internalize society’s phobias.  In the story a straight man with cerebral palsy and a queer woman recount their adventures, and share their woes, of unrequited love, and unsuccessful attempts to seduce (straight) women. Their lives on both sides of the border intersect one night when they meet at a Tijuana bar, and become entwined in each other’s stories.  Their parallel and interweaving tales reveal the illusions of normalcy, and the liberation possible when choosing life … outside the circle.

This new movement theater work, directed by Dora Arreola, looks at queerness in multiple ways, from lesbian sexuality to the non-normative experience of living with a disability, and offers a rare and extraordinary opportunity to bring people together across identities and communities.  A funny, heart-breaking, experimental piece about the trials and tribulations of love – one that illuminates the limits of social constructs and opens the question of liberation in new ways – Outside the Circle- will also look at what happens when people who experience different kinds of oppression realize they haven’t necessarily supported each other’s struggles.  It will explore how these characters resolve their contradictions of racial/cultural identity, sexual/gender identity, and the identities we develop related to physical ability.

Teatro del Pueblo is supporting a wide array of residency activites inspired by themes from Outside the Circle. Residencies include: community-based student/artist workshops in play writing, script development, text and movement, and ensemble process, community-focused dialogues and workshops with Latinos, disabled, and/or GLBTQ community members, masters classes in dance-theater, and lectures on the U.S-Mexico border and cross-border collaborations.

Teatro del Pueblo is excited to further the conversation on the complex issues of the nature of life and love by including voices not traditionally heard. Involving the stories of communities who have been forced to exist on the fringes is an integral part of Teatro’s identity and mission as a non-traditional theater and advocacy organization.