How to re-create a dialog between white, native and mixed cultures… According to Makhurka Teatro [1] it is a necessity to create link between urban and rural communities. The four members of the Bolivian troupe went to meet native peoples of Cochabamba in order to gather tales, myths and legends. From the elderly people of Limo village to the children of Punata and the Tacopaya peasants, the exchange did prove fruitful.
The purpose is to save oral traditions and to write a play set in a rural area that will be shown to city-dwellers in order to promote interculturality. 
“People are sad. My community is dying. And I with it” says one of the Limo inhabitants. Ageing, enslaved by the corruption of the wood-industry, the Yucarare [2] community, about 30 Indians, hardly survives in Amazonia. And yet the community abounds in stories, tales and secrets. Not very willing to communicate at the beginning, these people which society seems to have forgotten, soon turn into chatter-boxes, provided one shows interest in them. And the stories lead to some very instructive exchange, to lots of details noted for the future theatrical play.  

A feeling of discomfort between city and country

In Punata, the second largest city in the province of Cochacamba, most of the population belongs to the Quechua ethnic group. There, the troup worked with the creative space of la Cigarra [3] – an institution which receives the children from the communities around. Through workshops, games, drawings or theatre, the children ranging in age from 3 to 12, tell the stories they may have heard from their parents or grandparents, like the story of Atoj Antonio y cumpa conejo (Antonio the fox and his buddy the rabbit), a traditional Quechua tale. Or the story told by the Cochabamba inhabitants: Sik’imira (the ant-child), so small that people needed a magnifying glass to see him…

	Chimera’s eyes for theatre? © Makhurka Teatro

A passion for the theatre, in addition to respect for all human beings, has united the four young people of Makhuka Teatro in this initiative, at the beginning of 2007. It all started from a regrettable acknowledgement: today in Bolivia racism is becoming a plague for society [4]. Reciprocal racism between the natives and the populations descended from less traditional backgrounds. MT therefore wants to save native cultures, but above all to re-establish a dialog between Bolivians. “We only relay testimonies. People lock themselves up in their prejudices” says Ivette, one of the actresses. A true project of integration, the play wil, to start with, be shown to an urban public.

The word too many… which has to be said

The writing and production of the text are taking shape. La Palabra que Desborda (One Word too many), then, relays the histories of the groups portrayed, as seen by the inhabitants themselves. Even animals really come to life in the paly. Listening and sharing have been the best research-tools to produce it. A written version is intended for, among others, the pupils and students of Punata. Unfortunately, for lack of money, it won’t be published, but several performances are to be given before the end of the year. This initiative, before anything else, makes it possible to exchange with young people (in junior high-schools, senior high-shools and universities), as they lead to debates about, quite simply, culture and respect.

“Thanks to our modest work, we have received lots of smiles, and aroused new hopes… That is the most important” says Rocio, another actress. Thanks to the joyous troupe, communities, themselves, regain esteem and confidence, and regain the dignity they had lost. It also permits to trade prejudices against words. After this very positive experiment, today, the troop has many projects in mind. They have definitely decided to use art to favour the expression of marginalised populations as well as communication beween them all.