Guillermo Calderón: Mateluna

“He lets it rip and shows us his mettle. As a writer, Calderón is as interested in power as fact and illusion as the legendary Jean Genet and María Irene Fornés.”
—Hilton Als, The New Yorker

“Reminds us just how powerful a work of art can be.”
—Magazine Artez

“Starkly elegant … Calderón’s drama is Chekhovian in the best sense.”—Village Voice

U.S. Premiere
Mercurial Chilean playwright and director Guillermo Calderón, who is described as “an authentic genius of the theater” by The New Yorker, confronts urgent questions about the complex relationship between artists, truth and reality in this new work having its U.S. premiere at REDCAT. In Mateluna, a perceived act of injustice raises questions about how artistic activity relates to political violence, and what guilt and justice might mean in a post-Pinochet era. While creating his acclaimed production Escuela, Calderón consulted closely with Jorge Mateluna–a former guerrillero in the Chilean FPMR, who spent 14 years in jail for his activities. During the run of those performances, Mateluna was jailed again, and is serving 16 years for his alleged participation in a bank robbery that he says he had nothing to do with. The Supreme Court is being urged to determine if he is a political prisoner.

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El dramaturgo y director chileno Guillermo Calderón, “un auténtico genio del teatro” según el New Yorker, cuestiona las complejas relaciones entre artistas, la verdad y la realidad, en esta nueva obra que se estrena por primera vez para el público estadounidense en el REDCAT. En Mateluna, un acto injusto genera una serie de preguntas sobre el vínculo entre el quehacer artístico y la violencia política, y cómo los sentimientos de culpabilidad y búsqueda de justicia pueden pensarse después de la dictadura de Pinochet. Durante la producción de su aclamada obra Escuela, Calderón trabajó estrechamente con Jorge Mateluna – un ex guerrillero del FPMR chileno que pasó 14 años en la cárcel por sus actividades. Durante la presentación de la obra, Mateluna fue encarcelado de nuevo, y condenado a 16 años de prisión por su presunta participación en un atraco bancario, hecho del que se declaraba inocente. La Corte Suprema ha sido instigada a determinar si Mateluna es un prisionero político.