June 20, 2009

ATLANTIC COAST OF NICARAGUA NEXT SITE OF LABYRINTH SHOW TOUR

The Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua will be the next performance site for The Labyrinth of the Butterflies as the third stop of the Central American tour of the show.

Between June 27-30, the artistic team of the play comprised of artists of the Grupo Archipiélago in Costa Rica will travel to Nicaragua, along with the author of the book on which the play is based, one of the members of the international advisory group for Wings of the Butterfly, and the two co-coordinators of the Wings project.  They will present the Labyrinth play in two venues, including one to the students, faculty and staff of the Autonomous Regional University of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua (URACAAN) and another show to the community of the port town Bilwi. After both performances, a forum will take place to enable the audience to share with the cast of the show and its organizers their "resonances" with the show and the issues related to peace, an end to violence against women, and women's contributions to history, among others.

The artistic group will also participate in a series of cultural activities and interviews at the community radio of the zone.

The community of Bilwi (which is an indigenous word for “leaves of snakes”), has been inhabited for the most part by Miskito indigenous, creole and meztizo peoples.  Each ethnic group has its own language and culture, existing within a mixture of ethnicities and a bilingualism of this port town.
Bilwi is located in the Autonomous Region of the North Atlantic of Nicaragua.  The majority of the residents of Bilwi work at fishing, or with wood or gold, thus holding a very important place in the economic development that connects the Caribbean with the rest of the world.

The relatively new university of URACCAN in Bilwi  is located in the Autonomous Region of the North Atlantic, in the town of Puerto Cabezas and also on the lands of the indigenous community of Kamla.  The university of was established in 1992 based on a resolution of the National Council of Universities passed on March 5th of that year.  The school has operated since 1995 in three locations in the region, including Bilwi, Las Minas and Bluefields. 

The International Forum of Indigenous Women (FIMI), which was created in 1995 during the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, to unite actions of women from indigenous communities throughout the world and is coordinated from Nicaragua.

The Labyrinth show will be presented on June 28th in the auditorium of the University.  Also in this location, María Suárez Toro will present her book, Women: Metamorphosis of the Butterfly Effect, on which the play is based, in which she will emphasize the importance of recognizing women's invisible contributions in history and today.

On June 29th, the Labyrinth play will be presented by the FIMI women together with representatives of the URACAAN in the indigenous community of Bilwi, with an emphasis on women of local organizations, institutions and churches.