Nunca estás y estás
Synopsis
A possible collapse / derrumbe, on the verge. The possibility of an earthquake always looming in Mexico City. The possibility of an earthquake looming in an Arab-Jewish household. Knowing that she cannot work nor use electricity after sundown, a young Mexican Syrian-Jewish mother hurries to get, not merely something, but everything—an entire world—ready for Shabbat dinner. “Nunca estás y estás” is a threat of possibility; the threat of worlds more subtle, emerging; the threat of worlds more quiet, more vivid, un llanto, un grito, on its edges; the threat of worlds giving in—collapses that yield to forbidden blurring: between inner and outer world, between Arab and Jew, between mother and lover, between now and then, between what is and what could be.
Playwright
Clairette Atri Mizrahi
Studied Social Psychology at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing in Spanish from New York University and is currently working on her PhD in Critical Social / Personality Psychology at the Graduate Center (CUNY). Her first poetry collection, De la boca de mi madre, explores the intergenerational saying-without-saying, an alternative way of using language, of Syrian-Jewish women in Mexico. Clairette explores, both in her creative and academic work, other possibilities of being and knowing by situating the Arab-Jew in Latin America, outside of the Global North. She is currently working on reopening Café Guanajuato, a Syrian Jewish taaule / backgammon café in Colonia Roma in Mexico City that closed in the 70s. As a research project, community center, performance space, and art piece, she proposes Café Guanajuato as an opening: both an actual opening and an ontological opening within Social Sciences.
Staged Readings Artistic Team
Antígona González, Director
A Mexican performer, director, and producer. Co-founder of Aguaardiente Colectivo, creating community-based art using field research and oral history. Since 2007, a member of Teatro Línea de Sombra (Mexico), co-creating pieces like Amarillo, Baños Roma, and Article 13. Collaborations include The Commons Choir, FABnyc, Superhero Clubhouse, IATI Theater, Cie Carabosse (France), Downtown Art, and University Settlement. Grateful for this amazing team.