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Written and directed by Chilean playwright Guillermo Calderón, “Escuela” (school) recounts a paramilitary meeting of dissidents planning to overthrow a totalitarian government. To buy tickets visit Fringe Arts
Written and directed by Chilean playwright Guillermo Calderón, “Escuela” (school) recounts a paramilitary meeting of dissidents planning to overthrow a totalitarian government. To buy tickets visit Fringe Arts

Guillermo Calderón brings Chilean history to Fringe Arts

“Escuela” will be staged at FringeArts from Thursday, Jan. 28 to Saturday, Jan. 30 at 8 p.m. On Thursday there will be a post-show discussion with Calderón,…

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A forgotten story of dissent and militia set during the Chilean dictatorship will take center stage in Philadelphia this weekend. Written and directed by Chilean playwright Guillermo Calderón, “Escuela” (school) recounts a paramilitary meeting of dissidents planning to overthrow a totalitarian government.

“The play itself is a school, it has the dramatic structure of a classroom. At the same time the audience become students of the situation,” Calderón told AL DÍA.

In 2013, the playwright was commissioned to develop a play inspired by the 1973 Chilean coup led by Augusto Pinochet, who overthrew the socialist government of Salvador Allende and ruled the country until 1990.

“I didn’t decide to write a play about the beginning [of the dictatorship] but instead of the final stage in 1989. That is an experience I feel much more connected to,” Calderón said. “This is the story of a group of young people that are fighting against the dictatorship at its dying stage, and they want to do so through violent political action.”

With five actors on stage playing these young students, the audience is taken to one of the secret paramilitary schools that spread in many dining rooms all over the country in order to prepare for battle and depose the regime.

All the participants wear hoods so they may never betray their fellow revolutionaries. They share a common knowledge of secrets: How to use a gun, how to hide, how to make a bomb. And, of course, how to justify the problem of killing and dying.

"But that armed conflict never happened, because the dictatorship ended by peaceful means. What the play seeks to portray is this missed part of history, and at the same time explore the idea of political violence," Calderón said.

This will be the first time “Escuela” is being performed in Philly but the play has traveled other countries and different parts of the U.S., including New York and Chicago. And although the story revolves around a very specific and very painful part of Chilean history, Calderón says that audiences around the world always find connections.

"When it was first performed we made it thinking of Chile. But when the play started touring different places we realized that audiences around the world make complex connections that deal with situations of gun violence and terrorism," Calderón said. "The public is interested not only in the history of Chile, but also in reflecting on their own contemporary issues."

“Escuela” will be staged at Fringe Arts (140 N. Columbus Blvd.) from Thursday, Jan. 28 to Saturday, Jan. 30 at 8 p.m. On Thursday there will be a post-show discussion with Calderón, moderated by Sarah Bishop-Stone, programming director of Fringe Arts. To buy tickets visit Fringe Arts.

The play will be performed in Spanish with English supertitles.

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