In The year I was born, eleven Chilean performers born during the dictatorship reconstruct their parents youth from photos, letters, tapes, used clothes, stories, dim memories. Who were my parents when was I born? What was Chile like before I learned to speak? How many versions are there about what happened before I existed or when I was so young that I can’t remember?

Each performer reconstructs scenes from the past in order to understand something for their future. As if they were their parents’ stunt doubles, they put on their clothes and try to represent their lives. Alexandra reconstructs the conflicting versions about the killing of her mother, who was part of the MIR (Revolutionary Left Movement). Viviana reads the trial against her father who was a police officer who killed two militants. Soledad revisits the circumstances when her parents left Chile and went into exile in México….

The year I was born operates around the borders of reality and fiction, the encounter of two generations, the intersection of national history and private stories.

The year I was born is based on the same concept of Mi vida después, a play based on the biography of performers born during the Argentinean dictatorship, written and directed also by Lola Arias

Credits

Text and direction Lola Arias*
With Alexandra Benado, Leopoldo Courbis, Pablo Díaz, Ítalo Gallardo, Soledad Gaspar, Alejandro Gómez Sepúlveda, Fernanda González, Viviana Hernández, Ana Laura Racz, Jorge Rivero, Nicole Senerman
Artistic assistant, investigation and production Paula Bravo
Audiovisual direction Nicole Senerman
Original music and sound design Ulises Conti**
Scenography and lightning Rocío Hernández
Stage musician Alejandro Gómez Sepúlveda
Sound edition and graphic collaboration Jorge Rivero
Choreography Soledad Gaspar
Production on tour Guillermo Prieto
Tour Manager Carolina Roa

* with the collaboration of the artistic team and the actors.
* with the collaboration of Alejandro Gómez Sepúlveda.

This play was presented in
Festival Teatro a Mil, Santiago de Chile.
Festival Próximo Futuro, Fundación Gullbenkian, Lisbon
Teatro Sarmiento, TGSM, Buenos Aires.
TBA Festival, Portland.
On The Boards, Seattle.
Under the Radar, Red Cat, Los Angeles
Festival Sens Interdits, Lyon
Theatre L’ Hippodrome, Douai
Théâtre de l'Agora, Evry.
Akcent Festival, Archa Theater, Prague
Trafo Theater, Budapest.
Under the Radar, NY
Phil Arts, Philadelphia
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis
Theaterformen Festival, Branchweig
Lift Festival, London