SU’s Point of Contact to present ‘Congelada,’ theatrical production by famed Argentine actress, Nov. 14

SU’s Point of Contact to present ‘Congelada,’ theatrical production by famed Argentine actress, Nov. 14October 20, 2005Jaime Winne Alvarez jlwinne@syr.edu

On Nov. 14, Point of Contact will present “Congelada,” a theatrical presentation directly from the stage of Teatro del Pueblo, Buenos Aires, by famed Argentine actress and producer Maria Jose Gabin. Gabin will perform the monologue in the Underground at Syracuse University’s Hildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center at 7:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale Oct. 31 at the Schine Box Office. Call (315) 443-4517 for ticket information. General admission is $5 and $3 for students with I.D. For the Spanish-speaking community of Central New York, the show will be performed in its original Spanish version with simultaneous electronic English translation. Parking is available in the Comstock and Marion lots.

Award-winning actress Gabin is an author, playwright, interpreter and co-producer of “Congelada.” She is scheduled to arrive in Syracuse on Nov. 10 for a weeklong residency on the SU campus, during which she will perform her show and conduct a series of theatrical workshops for SU faculty, staff and students, and the local community. Her theatrical director, a professor of drama in Buenos Aires, Eduardo Bertoglio, will accompany her and take part in the production and workshops.

“Congelada” is a theater adaptation of “Como me hice monja” (“How I Became A Nun”), a novel by Cesar Aira, one of the most prolific contemporary writers in Argentine literature and author of more than 30 books. The original Spanish version, published in 1998, was selected as one of the 10 best novels published in Spain that year. The theatrical adaptation narrates an episode of food poisoning, which triggers the misfortune of a woman who lives “congealed” in a pink-colored world, as if everything that has happened to her was nothing more than someone else’s story. Between the ice cream parlor, dentures, hospitals and school teachers, the audience will find themselves in an hysterical world of passions confronted, full of deranged characters and absurd situations all conformed in an intimate reflection of a woman fully clad in pink glucose.

“Congelada” is a co-production of SU’s Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics and the Latino-Latin American Studies Program. This event is made possible in part thanks to the co-sponsorship of The Rosamond Gifford Foundation, SU’s Goldring Arts Journalism Program, University College, Division of Student Affairs and the Drama Department in the College of Visual and Performing Arts; with support from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs’ Program on Latin America and the Caribbean (PLACA) and the Women’s Studies Program.

Point of Contact Productions, a division of Punto de Contacto/Point of Contact at SU, is the generator of the Syracuse International Film and Video Festival, international art exhibits, music and theater events, academic symposiums, poetry readings and cross-cultural exchange.

For more information, contact Tere Paniagua at (315) 443-5497 or tpaniagu@syr.edu.