Dec 3-Dec 11
The pan-Mexican XIPE Theater Collective brings their acclaimed movement-theater production of the play by Xavier Villanova. In ancient Greece, the Acheron River divided our world from the underworld, just as the Río Grande divides our US world from Mexico. A poetic, dramatic meditation on identity, migration, and the idea of “alien” at the Mexico-US border. Trailer here.
CW: Some material in this performance may affect audience members who are vulnerable to triggers. Email info@thecherry.org for more information.
Recommended for ages 15+
written by Xavier Villanova
directed by Martín Balmaceda
with Aline L. Bernal and Cinthia Pérez Navarro
Tickets
Performances
Sat Dec 3, 7:30 pm // Sun Dec 4, 2:00 pm
Fri Dec 9, 7:30 pm // Sat Dec 10, 7:30 pm // Sun Dec 11, 2:00 pm
in Spanish with English supertitles
Aquerón Cast Bios
Martin Balmaceda (Director) Martin is a theater director whose work focuses on contemporary plays and the adaptation of classic plays for today’s audiences, and has adapted and devised many of his own works. His theater making is developed through a process of working in collaboration with artists from different disciplines, exploring Latin-American playwrights, issues of migration, and the use of language through movement. In recent years he has directed productions of Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People at The Lee Strasberg Institute in NYC, Jean Anouilh’s Medea with immigrant artists living in Santiago Chile, and a contemporary play in Mexico City by Mexican playwright Javier Villanova’s Acheron: The River of Tragedy, a play that examines cultural identity and migration between the USA and Mexico. In addition, he participated at the 2018 Nuevo Siglo Drama Festival at The Chamizal National Memorial in El Paso, Texas, and the 2018 XXVI Festival Eraitzicutzio in Irapuato, Mexico with the play The Thread of Life by Haydn Diaz. Martin has worked at La MaMa, BAM, Dixon Place, The New Ohio Theater, INTAR Theater, Studio Theatre in the Row, Teatro IATI, The New School University, Repertorio Español, the Pan Asian Repertory Theater Company, The American Dance Institute in Washington D.C., Northwestern University in Evanston IL, Sarah Lawrence College and Universidad de las Americas Puebla, MX. His award-winning NYC production of Yoleros received awards for Best Director ATI Awards, Hola Award for Outstanding Ensemble, and a nomination as Best Director ACE Latin Awards. Martin is a full-time theater professor at Universidad de las Americas in Puebla, where he was the artistic director of the university’s Compañia de Teatro, and is a Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab alumnus and MFA recipient from Sarah Lawrence College.
Cinthia Pérez Navarro (Nicanor) Cinthia is a dancer, teacher, choreographer and independent artist, graduate from the BA in Dance at Universidad de las Américas Puebla, Cholula, Mexico, as well as a Somatic Movement Educator from the Body Mind Movement Mexico school. She is a member of the interdisciplinary binational collective Chicken Bank and has been awarded as best female performer and finalist in the V and VIII 4×4 Tj Night Choreography Contest. Since 2016 has collaborated with XIPE Colectivo Escénico as a performer and choreographer for dance-theater productions, like AQUERÓN: el río de la tragedia, having seasons in Cholula, Puebla, CDMX, El Paso, TX, Brooklyn, NYC and this 2022 as part of the ICE Factory Festival at the New Ohio Theater. Lately a beneficiary of the Programa de Estímulo a la Creación y Desarrollo Artístico (PECDA 2021-22) with the project ANCESTRAS: Legacy in Motion, facilitating bonding spaces and body agency for elderly people. She currently works at the Universidad Iberoamericana campus Puebla for the Artistic Workshops teaching contemporary dance and since 2012 she continues to coordinate the Contact Improv Puebla community with regular jams, workshops and intensives.
Aline Lemus Bernal (Leonardo) Aline is an interdisciplinary artist, focused mainly on theater, dance and music. Graduated with honors from the Universidad de las Américas Puebla. She is co-founder of XIPE Colectivo Escénico, where she works as a producer and actress. Their production Acheron, the river of tragedy has been performed in Puebla, Mexico City, El Paso, and New York City. She directed Cosmic, a project for young audiences selected for several presentations at the National School Theater Program. As a playwright, she has written Where do the dead go?, published by Paso de Gato Press in their anthology Contemporary Puebla Dramaturgy. She took part in a creative residency at the Camp-in festival with choreographer Vladimir Rodríguez in the piece Romerías. She has worked at Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes (Certain Inhabitants’ Theatre), one of the most prestigious interdisciplinary companies nationally and internationally, in formats of opera, symphonic oratory, site specific, and others.
Sydney Monroe Gaglio (Stage Manager) Syd is a theatre artist from the border town of El Paso, Texas. Aqueron is a very special project to them that they are honored to have been brought on for. Their most recent stage management credits include The Madeline Park Family Shakespeare Festival production of As You Like It and Teatro Neplanta’s 24Hr Play Festival. Syd will be stage managing The Motherfucker in the Hat (Teatro Neplanta) in 2023. Prior to their work in El Paso, they studied at Stony Brook University, where they created Within a Box, an audience-immersive story-telling experience exploring assumptions we make about each other every day.
Ana Florencia Lopez Ulloa (Supertitles) Mexican born and Ithaca based playwright and actress, Flor is so excited to help this fabulous production come to life.
Karen Rodriguez (Live Steam Designer) Karen is an Ithaca based filmmaker and cinematographer. She is the owner of WIND-UP PICTURES and the director of photography of the documentary ELIZABETH BISHOP AND THE ART OF LOSING. She recently designed the live-stream for hybrid productions at THE CHERRY Theatre in Ithaca, NY including AND WHAT HAPPENS IF I DON’T by Iva Brdar and THE WETSUITMAN by Freek Mariën and VOICES OF UKRAINE. Karen is a Fulbright Scholar (2017) holds an MFA in Film and Video Production from the University of Iowa Graduate College.
Greg Levins (Livestream) Greg graduated NYU with an emphasis in film directing, screenplay writing and video editing. Greg worked for a handful of casting houses in NYC, auditioning actors in countless commercials, industrials, music videos and films. He’s directed two indie features, wrote a handful of screenplays and dabbled in music video and commercial production. Since moving to Ithaca he’s made a number of promotional videos for Ecovillage and is currently filming/archiving a weekly Gayogohó:nǫ’ language class taught by one of the few remaining native speakers. He’s thrilled to be a part of Aquerón, helping to expand the audience to include viewers at home with a live stream feed.