The Colombian puppet company Teatro Comunidad concludes its creation residency at the TOPIC in Tolosa held during the month of July with the staging on Saturday, July 24, at ten thirty at night, of the play “El fantoche”. A co-production between the members of the Colombian group and the Aragonese company Los Titiriteros de Binéfar, with the collaboration of TOPIC.

This project was born from the need for a meeting between two theater groups dedicated to the art of puppetry in the context of a shared culture and is supported by Iberescena, the Ibero-American Fund to help theater creation in which ten Latin American countries and Spain are present. 

The production of “El fantoche” began in Bogotá between April and June, and later moved to Tolosa where they are working with Paco Paricio, director of Los Titiriteros and recent National Children’s Theater Award winner. Esmeralda Quintana, who is part of Teatro Comunidad along with Javier Montoya and Urpi Barco, believes that this mix of geographies and ways of working “is a new way of opening windows to other forms of creation and strengthening bridges between companies with many similarities”. In the meeting with Paco Paricio, they gave a strong push to the launch of ‘El fantoche’. “Especially what has to do with manipulation, acting and staging. It is being a very intense workshop, where we are learning a lot because when you leave the country you can give another perspective to what you do and, also, reinforce what we already have.”

The members of Teatro Comunidad have been impressed with TOPIC, “a place where the world of puppets is given the value it deserves,” explains Esmeralda. He says that it is the first time that they see “that this craft is elevated to the quality it should achieve, as a major art, as a specialization of theater. It is a center that I hope will be known by puppeteers from all over the world because puppets are treated here as something worthy, important and of a very high level.”

This experience is the first of its kind carried out by TOPIC, since its opening last November. Miguel Arreche, director of the center together with Idoya Otegui, explains that it is “a commitment that is within the TOPIC project from the beginning, with the intention of co-producing, participating, intervening, and promoting the creation of new shows. And we are very happy with the progress of this first work in which we participated.”

After passing through TOPIC, “El fantoche” will be presented in the Aragonese town of Abizanda, where Los Titiriteros de Binéfar’ is based, on July 27 and 28. Later, in August, it will be performed in Bogotá.