Aluna Theatre is thrilled to announce the programming line-up and dates for the SIXTH edition of the RUTAS International Performing Arts Festival running this year from September 26 to October 6. This year’s festival invites audiences to experience brave and deeply personal creations and to collectively dream possibilities for a better world. For two weeks, RUTAS will present an array of theatre and dance performances, installations, workshops, and a three day gathering in partnership with Factory Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, York University, Hemispheric Encounters, and the Canadian Latinx Theatre Artist Coalition (CALTAC).

The 2024 edition of RUTAS showcases an exciting lineup of interdisciplinary talent from across the Americas, including work by: Mariana Blanco and Alicia Laguna (Uruguay & Mexico); Itzhel Razo (Mexico); Malicho Vaca Valenzuela(Chile); Carlos Rivera (Mexico/Canada); Rihkee Strapp (Northern Ontario); Lorena Torres Loaiza (Colombia/Canada).

Programming is connected around the theme of Personal Cartographies. In these inspiring performances, national and international artists chart their own paths through stories of family, displacement, privilege, racism, women’s labour, and the body as a map of resistance

“We are inspired by the concept of cartography. Rather than thinking of it as a mapping of a geographical area, personal cartographies are a way of tracing our personal experiences within the historical and socio-political contexts we inhabit. Where the archives of our histories meet our repertoire of experiences, we find the tools to begin imagining better futures.” - Beatriz Pizano, Artistic Director of Aluna Theatre

In their thought-provoking work, the presenting artists ask: What is the cost behind that which we consume? What do we gain and what do we lose in our journey to achieve freedom? How do we mark the world that shapes us, and what will happen to the traces we leave when we are no longer here? Can we afford to ignore the hurricane of social devastation created by racism, discrimination and classism? Offering a diversity of perspectives, the power of the stories, artists, partnerships, and the belief that what we do matters, makes this 6th edition of the festival a powerful and engaging offering for all.

“With these works, the festival continues to build on our mission of creating conversions across the Americas through innovative artistic expressions that invite our audiences to discover new worlds… and perhaps encourage you to think of your personal cartography as we chart paths to a better world for all” - Beatriz Pizano, Artistic Director of Aluna Theatre

Aluna Theatre is happy to return to Theatre Passe Muraille and Factory Theatre as our RUTAS Festival venue partners.

Tickets for RUTAS 2024 are available now at rutas.ca. The festival runs on a pay-what-you-can-afford ticketing model with three price points of $25, $35 and $60. For more information about Aluna Theatre’s RUTAS 2024 Festival, please visit rutas.ca

RUTAS 2024 PROGRAMMING

WEEK 1

At THEATRE PASSE MURAILLE MAINSPACE 16 Ryerson Ave. Toronto, ON

VARIACIONES SOBRE EL CAFÉ |VARIATIONS ON COFFEE (Mexico, Uruguay)

Bordes Escénicos

Genre: Theatre, performance, installation

Duration: 80 minutes

Language: Spanish with English surtitles

September 26 at 7 p.m.

September 27 at 7 p.m.

September 28 at 7 p.m.

Variaciones Sobre el Café (Variations on Coffee) is an invitation to contemplate and reflect on the processes behind the things we consume. This performance/installation arises from an investigation that presents the lives of women coffee producers and classifiers from the community of Pluma Hidalgo in Oaxaca, Mexico, as well as the artist who has never worked in the field. A braiding of bodies and feelings of women from different cultures and traditions, as well as of ancestral practices and daily life.

“The piece invites us to reflect about our own relationship with the land and with our own roots, highlighting the beauty and strength found in our fragilities. This is a unique and profound piece of theatre that will live in our memories long after it ends.” CAPITAL

The piece has toured in Mexico, Uruguay, El Salvador, Guatemala, Spain, Slovenia, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

At FACTORY THEATRE MAINSPACE, 125 Bathurst St, Toronto, ON

WILMA (Mexico)

Porta Teatro

Genre: Interdisciplinary dance theatre

Duration: 60 minutes

Language: Spanish with English surtitles

September 27 at 7 p.m.

September 28 at 7 p.m.

September 29 at 2:30 p.m.

A girl grows up as a foreigner on her own land. She is isolated by the racism and classism imposed by her Irish grandmother, who forbids her to learn Mayan or associate with Maya speakers. Suddenly, one of the worst hurricanes in history arrives on the peninsula. An early cyclone alert is issued in the Mayan language. Unable to communicate with others, she tries to survive a hurricane without anyone’s help. Will she make it?

“To poke. Disinfect. Scream. The Theatre of Itzhel Razo makes you feel uncomfortable. It can make you laugh, but it will do so to point out the issue at hand. It is capable of leading you through hilarious moments while also making your stomach churn. It is a theatre that shakes us to the core. It is a necessary theatre.” Luis Herrera Albertos, El Financiero

Winner of the best solo show from the Association of Critics and Journalists in Mexico (ACTP)

This piece has toured in Mexico, the United States and Germany.

At FACTORY THEATRE STUDIO, 125 Bathurst St, Toronto, ON

COYUNTURA

CALTAC - A National Latinx Theatre Gathering

The Canadian Latinx Theatre Artist Coalition (CALTAC) is thrilled to be in partnership with Aluna Theatre to produce the third COYUNTURA, a vibrant national Latinx theatre gathering. For the first time since its inception, COYUNTURA will be held outside of its origin city. CALTAC is excited to host three days with workshops, panels, speed friending, and dancing in downtown Toronto at Factory Theatre on September 27, 28 & 29.

This unique conference in Canada proudly convenes our comunidad while sharing knowledge, tamales, pão de queijo, café, and chisme. As a space dedicated to amplify Latinx voices and experiences in Canadian theatre, we warmly welcome international guests and encourage the participation of our allies.

Funded by the BC Arts Council and the Vancouver Foundation.

At THEATRE PASSE MURAILLE STUDIO 16 Ryerson Ave. Toronto, ON

KEEOUKAYWIN (Canada)

By Rihkee Strapp

Genre: Installation

September 26-28, 5:30 - 9 p.m.

Our collective dreams are woven into the stories we tell—around campfires, within our communities, and increasingly on Social Media. Keeoukaywin, the michif word for Visiting, places us in a room with a circus tent, on whose cloth walls Miskwa the MAD clown is projected from dream and digital spaces to our reality, to deliver the prophecy of the White Lodge to the community.

Conceived and created by Rihkee Strapp

WEEK TWO

At THEATRE PASSE MURAILLE MAINSPACE 16 Ryerson Ave. Toronto, ON

REMINISCENCIA (Chile)

Malicho Vaca Valenzuela

Genre: Theatre, performance

Duration: 60 minutes

Language: Spanish with English surtitles

October 3 at 7 p.m.

October 4 at 7 p.m.

October 5 at 7 p.m.

Through a gentle use of digital technologies, Malicho digs deep into his biography and the recent history of the city as well as its painful scars. With a narrative built through Google Earth, photographs, and videos published on different sites, this experience focuses on magical and unique places that reveal an emotional topography; revealing a relationship with a city that is different for everyone, but one in which we inevitably find each other.

From the alleyway where his family home is nestled, he travels back in time to long gone eras, and to love stories that never die. Reminiscencia is a personal story, as much as it is a reflection on Chile half a century after the coup détat. The city and the streets of Santiago become witnesses, providing evidence of a complex history, past and present.

Winner of the Circle of Art Critics in Chile in 2020 as best online theatre

Malicho is the third Chilean artist to be showcased at the prestigious Avignon Festival 2024. He has also toured extensively in Europe and the Americas, including the TransAmeriques Festival in Montreal.

At FACTORY THEATRE STUDIO, 125 Bathurst St, Toronto, ON

ROSA (Canada/Mexico)

Carlos Rivera, Abra Projects, Ondinnok

Co-Presented by RUTAS International Performing Arts Festival and Factory Theatre

Genre: Dance, theatre

Duration: 60 minutes

Language: Spanish with English surtitles

October 4 at 7 p.m.

October 5 at 7 p.m.

October 6 at 2:30 p.m.

An ode to women’s power and their ability to move mountains.

ROSA, a peasant Indigenous woman from Ixtacamaxtitlan, located in the highlands of Puebla State, flees her community with her six small children on her back. As she escapes a life of abuse at the hands of her husband and her in-laws, she crosses valleys, climbs mountains, and faces enormous challenges. After three weeks she arrives in Mexico City where she will face her greatest challenge yet: brutal discrimination. This will force her to make a choice that will have an impact on her, her children, and will reverberate for generations to come.

Through movement, theatre and documentary, ROSA highlights the female body, its relationship to the land, and its capacity to resist, survive, and transform.

At FACTORY THEATRE STUDIO, 125 Bathurst St, Toronto, ON

Documents Perform

Co-created by Natalie Álvarez, Richard Maxwell, and Katiana Gonçales Rangel

in collaboration with the New York City Players’ Incoming Theatre Division, Hemispheric Encounters, and Aluna Theatre | RUTAS

Genre: Performance

Duration: 60 minutes

Language: English & Spanish

October 1, 7 p.m.

At THEATRE PASSE MURAILLE STUDIO 16 Ryerson Ave. Toronto, ON

Sandwich Board Hall (Canada/Colombia)

By Lorena Torres Loaiza

Genre: Installation

October 3-5, 5:30 - 9pm

In an era where physical spaces are becoming unaffordable, artists face a critical question: Where can they showcase their work?

Sandwich Board Hall is a digital showcase of an imaginary, surreal arts venue – A way to brainstorm how future artists may adopt new technologies in the face of the loss of urban spaces. The exhibit will be a tour of an arts venue that "almost exists."

Conceived and created by Lorena Torres Loaiza

About Aluna Theatre

Aluna Theatre is an artistically-driven theatre company based in Toronto creating exciting new work that introduces audiences to diverse and rich performance practices from across the Americas. Aluna’s bold productions in English and Spanish are marked by a distinct theatrical language drawing from our heritages, cultures, and languages, including dance, physical theatre, and multimedia design. Over eighteen years of production, Aluna has received 26 Dora Awards’ nominations for acting, writing, directing, and design – and has won eleven awards. Artistic Director: Beatriz Pizano.