The Pueblo is a dual-language (English and Spanish) experimental play that explores the changing cultural and political landscape of the Americas. The Pueblo was performed in 2007 at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. HartBeat Ensemble collaborated with Pan-American musician Lorena Garay and Caribes de Itagua, a multi-arts ensemble based in Caracas, Venezuela to create a modern-day fairy tale of magical realism.

Known for such socialist leaders as Chile’s Salvador Allende and Cuba’s Fidel Castro, Latin America now has a new wave of such socialist leaders as Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Michelle Bachelet of Chile, and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, who see themselves as “leaders of the Bolivarian Revolution.”

United States officials have called them “dictators who abuse power and manipulate their citizens.”  The Latin American leaders have called the Bush administration, “the devil” and “imperialist.”  Set in a fictional South American country, The Pueblo incorporates these themes at its core, telling how they affect everyday people and how the world responds to them.

In The Pueblo, a loved and popular leader of a country gets kidnapped and all his administration flees in fear.  From an island prison, the captive president meets his opponents, The Febelitos, who claim that they are the true protectors of the country and will rid the people of this corrupt and unjust leader.  The “pueblo” is left to decide who is telling the truth and who will lead them into the prosperous future they desire.

The Pueblo is a narrative constructed in the style of the fairy tale.  This choice to create a sophisticated narrative, which combines real current events and characters with whimsical, super personality traits, allows for a story that questions universal morality.