MARGO LEE SHERMAN WRITES ABOUT THE 3RD INTERNATIONAL THEATER WITHOUT BORDERS FESTIVAL

The 3rd International Theater Without Borders Festival was an incredible experience, filled with remarkable people. We were there for a week, from September 4–11, 2018. I performed four times (September 6–9) and led my workshop on September 10.

The festival is a project of Teatro Telón de Arena (Sand Backdrop Theater), founded in 2002 by the dynamic Perla de la Rosa and her theater comrades. Perla is the Artistic Director and a professor at the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez. (Ciudad means “City,” like in New York City.)

Perla de la Rosa describes Telón de Arena as one of the strongest theater companies in northern Mexico. Their work is deeply shaped by the region’s stark realities—marked by the ever-present border with the United States, symbolized by the massive ‘X’ at the crossing point between the two countries. (You can see it from the plane when landing: to the right, sprawling industrial warehouses and manufacturing plants—automotive, electronics, and household appliances; to the left, El Paso, Texas, with its wide green spaces and quiet neighborhoods. Between them, the Río Grande, a thin green line separating the U.S. from Mexico.)

"We exist at a dangerous crossroads, a passage for those fleeing violence and poverty—not just from Mexico, but from across Central and South America—in search of a better, safer life. Given these circumstances, and in the midst of one of the greatest humanitarian migration crises, we are working to build a theater without borders. Our goal is to stand in solidarity with displaced persons and migrants. We believe in the symbolic power of art to make a difference.