Juli Hendren, one of the founders of the Tricklock Theater Company, said the Revolutions International Theater Festival’s mission is to connect the international and local theater communities.
The festival, produced by Tricklock, is its biggest event of the year, she said. There are 42 performers, 35 volunteers and 20 different events.
Artists from Mexico, Austria, United Kingdom, Israel, Ukraine, Armenia, India and Uganda along with national-based performers will be presenting throughout the festival, she said.
“I truly believe events like this absolutely help heal the world,” Hendren said. “New Mexico is a pretty poor state, a lot of people who live here struggle to get by, not everybody is able to travel all over the world. Being able to see shows, hear stories and meet a lot of people from different cultures I think it is really valuable.”
Also this festival helps clear up previous perceptions audience members and performers may have had of foreign countries, she said.
Much of the performances are experimental and shy away from the traditional American theater, she said. Clowns, spoken word, shadow puppets, acrobatics, dance-theater and poetry will be presented.
Hospitality is a key feature of the festival, Hendren said. The Tricklock Theater Company hosts a welcome dinner and free workshops to truly bring the New Mexico feel to the festival.
Last year, the festival brought a Polish theater company to Zia Pueblo Elementary School in order to expose different cultures to one another said, Alex Knight, artist liaison of the festival.
“Mixing of cultures is just a reminder that we are all the same. That these artists that come in remind me of myself a lot and that the human experience is the same,” he said.
There are not many theater festivals in New Mexico and it is nice to see work from many different places, he said.
“It’s something completely different; it’s just above and beyond. It’s handpicked, curated pieces of theater from all over the world. It’s stuff that you’ll never see unless you go to a festival like this,” Knight said.
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The festival is continuously growing because the performances are of high quality and often times the international talent is blown away by local talent, he said.
Hannah Kaufman, public relations and marketing personnel for the festival, said another unique feature of the festival is it is not pay-to-play, which is really rare.
The Tricklock Theater Company provides plane tickets, food and a company fee to traveling performers, she said.
“Revolutions is the only festival of its kind in the southwest. It’s one of the only festivals of its kind in the country,” Kaufman said.
Lauren Marvin is the Culture Editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @LaurenMarvin.
The first event of the festival is the Revolutions Kick Off Party
When: Tonight at 7 p.m.
Where: Tricklock Performance Laboratory, 110 Gold Ave. SW
For a list of events visit Revolutions International Theater Festival’s website,
www.revolutions2015.com.
