Imago Theatre Portfolio
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IMAGO THEATRE PORTFOLIO The Portfolio is a collection of texts, links, visuals, etc. that the Imago Theatre team is using as research or inspiration for the show. The aim of the Portfolio is to give educators material they can be inspired by to then use as a jumping off point for class discussions, exercises, essays and projects. ELSEWHERE All annotations within this document are useable links to the source. DISCLAIMER: This document is meant to encourage critical discussion and does not necessarily reflect the views of Odd Stumble or Imago Theatre. ABOUT ODD STUMBLE Founded in London, England, Odd Stumble is a politically engaged theatre collective whose core artistic work is presently based out of Montréal. Odd Stumble produces new works and also initiates projects that respond to current events with improvisation and devised collaboration as creation methods. With a penchant for the odd, experimental and physical, the company works laterallywith artists of various disciplines to explore diverse forms of narrative. Politically relevant stories, theatre design elements, and unique performance spaces are central to the company’s creation approach. For more information or to check out our projects in development please visit our website www.oddstumble.com ABOUT IMAGO THEATRE MISSION Imago Theatre is a catalyst for conversation, an advocate for equal representation, and a hub for stories about unstoppable women. MANIFESTO We are arms open, heads flung back, spinning catalysts. We are kaleidoscopic words that ripple and tear down walls. We are daring feminists, creators and mentors. And we won’t stop Advancing, Developing, Democratizing, Telling Her Side of the Story. For more information please visit www.imagotheatre.ca AN ODD STUMBLE PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH IMAGO THEATRE A CRISIS IS NEVER A CRISIS WHEN IT IS ELSEWHERE… Elsewhere, written by a Venezuelan-Canadian woman, is the story of six people’s lives – their hope, resilience, resistance and survival - amidst the chaos and absurdity of the Venezuelan crisis. All seek a way to move forward, grasping at remnants of a life they once knew; a life irrevocably changed by scarcity, greed and corruption. The play points to the fragility of systems in which we put our trust, while asking us to consider why a crisis is never a crisis when it is Elsewhere. “Mom, today I went out to defend Venezuela. If I do not come back, I went with her.” 1 “I call petroleum the devil’s excrement,” Juan Pablo Perez Alfonzo said. “It brings trouble … look at this locura (madness) – waste, corruption, consumption, our public services falling apart. And debt, debt we shall have for years.” 3 “The greatest damage done has been to our hearts...” — Laureano Marquez HISTORY Venezuela was inhabited by the Carib, Arawak and Chibcha peoples. Columbus and Spanish explorer Alonso de Ojeda land in Venezuela in 1498-99. Spain then colonized the country for over 200 years before the people started rebelling. The political history of Venezuela has danced between dictator and civilian government regimes. Simon Bolivar, whom the currency is named after, headed the first rebellions against the Spanish. He led from 1819-30. In 1973 the oil boom hits. Venezuela, sitting on the largest reserves of oil in the world, quickly learns to capitalize on their most prized resource. For a succinct In 1998 Hugo Chavez was democratically elected President of Venezuela. He led, what was named, the Bolivarian revolution. Calling himself timeline of this a socialist and counting Fidel Castro as an allie and mentor, Chavez Venezuela’s moved quickly to hold onto his power by calling a referendum where the population voted to end limits to terms in office. history Click HERE His presidential term included the expropriation of corporations such as Exxon, and the criminalizing of the press and any political opposition. Chavez also expropriated private property in his attempt towards equalizing wealth. Though some social programs, supported by the oil economy, did benefit the poor, the corruption and mismanagement of the country continued to spiral downwards. Chavez ruled for thirteen consecutive years until his death in 2013 from cancer. During his presidency, Chavez rewrote the constitution, and economic and social policies. He is known for nationalizing energy and telecommunications companies. Many accuse Nicolas Maduro, President of Venezuela and Chavez’s appointed successor, for the worsening of the ongoing crisis. ECONOMY What is a Petrostate? Government income is deeply reliant on the export of oil and natural gas. Economic and political power are highly concentrated in an elite minority. Political institutions are weak and unaccountable, and corruption is widespread. Venezuela is the Oil dependence. Oil sales account for 98 percent of export earnings and as much as 50 percent archetype of a of gross domestic product (GDP). Falling production. Oil output has declined for petrostate decades, reaching a new low in 2018. gone south. Spiralling economy. GDP is expected to shrink by double digits for a third consecutive year. Soaring debt. Venezuela has missed billions of dollars in payments since defaulting in late 2017. Hyperinflation. Annual inflation is running at more than 50,000 percent. Growing autocracy. President Nicolas Maduro has violated basic tenets of democracy to maintain power. 6 The Venezuelans are running from a nation broken by failed socialist policies, mismanagement, corruption and lower global oil prices — the country’s principal source of cash.7 Fig. 1 What is Dutch Disease? Dutch disease is the negative impact on an economy of anything that gives rise to a sharp inflow of foreign currency, such as the discovery of large oil reserves. The currency inflows lead to currency appreciation, making the country’s other products less price competitive on the export market. It also leads to higher levels of cheap imports and can lead to deindustrialisation as industries apart from resource exploitation are moved to cheaper locations.8 Fig. 2 Here’s a short cut to Understanding the Dutch Disease “We are condemned,” said Carlos Mendoza Pottella, a petroleum economist at the Central University of Venezuela and advisor to the nation’s central bank. “They say we have oil for 500 years. So we’re doomed to keep suffering from this disease.”9 Fig. 3 Consequences Hyperinflation. Venezuela’s inflation rate, which has been over 50 percent since 2014, reached 536.2 percent in 2017 largely due to the rapid depreciation of the local currency on the black market, the opposition-controlled National Assembly said on October. The International Monetary Fund estimates that inflation will reach 2,068.5 percent by 2018. Economic war. The government says it is the victim of an “economic war”, including speculation and hoarding, by pro-opposition businessmen. Venezuela’s currency has weakened sharply on the black market. Food shortages. The government controls the price of basic goods, but the black market still has a powerful influence on prices. Prices on basic goods can change in a matter of days, causing severe food shortages. The often leads to food shortage which reflects in the long lines of people inside and outside supermarkets and the attempts to cross the border with Colombia to buy basic goods. Oil output. Venezuela’s oil production, which has been falling by about 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) since last year, is on track to fall by at least 250,000 bpd in 2017. Fig. 4 Refinancing its debt. However, the country’s President Nicolas Maduro has dismissed the possibility of a default, adding that Venezuela would instead work on refinancing and restructuring its foreign debt. Health assistance. The economic crisis is also hitting Venezuela’s public health system the hardest. In the country’s public hospitals, medicine and equipment are increasingly not available. “Most of the time patients die because their families are out of the hospital looking for the treatments and they don’t come at a time we can use the treatment, when they bring the treatment, the patient’s already dying,” Orfram Moreno, a doctor working in a public hospital in Merida told Al Jazeera. Crime and poverty. Crime and violence are also widespread. In 2016, 27,479 people were killed - an all-time high - according to the independent group the Venezuelan Violence Observatory.10 Fig. 5 Fig. 6 “When you can’t find food, when your daughter could get sick at any moment, that’s when you know you have to leave,” Lozada said, clutching her baby to her breast.10.1 Fig. 7 VENEZUELA AND NORTH AMERICA The Trudeau Government’s Relationship To Venezuela In September 2018, the Trudeau government joined Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, and Peru in appealing to the International Criminal Court to denounce the Maduro government accountable for Crimes Against Humanity concerning the ongoing crisis.11 CBC ran a story on January 4th, 2019 about Canada, along with other South American countries, denouncing the Maduro presidency and committing to no longer recognizing the present Venezuelan government. 12 “When I look at Trump this is populism. Right and Left populism is very similar. And so what we have to see more carefully is how populism emerges when you don’t pay attention to certain problems in society. […] What we are seeing in the United States is very similar to what we saw in Venezuela at the end of the last century.” 13 - Historian Margarita Lopez Maya Venezuelan and U.S Current Relations Venezuelan tensions with the U.S have been ongoing. As Chavez began nationalizing industries, anti-American propaganda continues to grow. In 2008 Chavez’s government, already close to Cuba, signs an accord with Russia for nuclear cooperation. This legacy has now begun to make headlines once more. “All nations of the world should resist socialism and the misery that it brings to everyone,” Trump said in a speech at the U.N.