In the devised documentary play Paisajes para no colorear / Non Colouring Landscapes nine young performers from Chile confront the dangers that being a woman brings with it and against society’s ignorance of young people. With shattering stories from Latin America – that are just as relevant in Europe. 

Anne Britting, Dramaturg for the Junge Triennale, sent the performers questions about the project and the play’s themes and has compiled this interview collage from a selection of their responses.

A glossary provides explanations of the words that are highlighted.

1. How did you devise the play?  

IGNACIA ATENAS Improvisations, research into FEMICIDE, a lot of biographical work and a series of other tasks provided the foundations of the play.

FREDDERICK VÁSQUEZ Paisajes was created through a collective process: we all rehearsed the scenes so that we would each contribute something and then discussed them several times to see how we reacted to them.

ANGELINA MIGLIETTA It was a really wonderful process, so free and unique: I’ve never experienced anything like it. We set ourselves lots of improvisations where we talked about what annoys us, what we like or makes us sad or that dealt with situations that we couldn’t talk about anywhere else. The play was then created from these.   

2. What does it mean to you, to be able to stand on stage with Paisajes para no colorear – and how has working on the play changed you?

FREDDERICK To be able to shout out what we feel, what’s important to us, to be given space where we can finally be seen as young people and where we can express ourselves.

Working on the play has given me an open perspective on the world, made me more tolerant of certain things and made it possible for me to be more open with myself and others. The fact that we can communicate message to the world, in front of different kinds of audiences, has a real magic to it.

ANGELINA To be able to go on stage and to speak for all the women, adolescents and little girls, who have experienced and continue to experience so many injustices, to recognize that we are not alone, that we can change attitudes… that really is a dream I never want to wake up from.

It has given me the tools I need to stand up for the ideals that really matter to me and to rid myself of prejudiced attitudes that those around me have encouraged me to believe. Today I am very proud of everything I have learned and that I can now contribute something to those around me and change them for the better.

DANIELA LÓPEZ It is our struggle. I feel a lot of pride and at the same time a great responsibility in representing many young people who feel that the play speaks to them because they have often experienced similar situations to the ones we present on stage.

After working on the play, I think my view of the world broadened. Encountering other realities, other circumstances in which other young people are or were living and knowing that some of them have experienced the same violence as me has enabled me to grow as a person and given me the feeling that there are others with me.   

To take the play to other parts of the world and to recognise that it and its themes also resonate there and arouse empathy, gives me a sense of purpose. And I’ve noticed that we’ve all experienced the same thing with each other and that struggles and subjects like this have to be shown in the theatre to affect people and inspire them to identification and change. 

CONSTANZA POLONI For me the play has brought relief and it immediately opened my eyes. I looked around me and saw that millions of other people are going through the same thing. I discovered sisterhood, FEMINISM. And in the theatre I’ve understood more about myself than ever before: I’ve seen how important theatre is for criticism and change and understood how theatre can be a limitless tool.  

IGNACIA I’ve learned a great deal about gender, sexuality, social change, GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE and a thousand other things. While I have changed personally, my family and my close friends have also changed because I kept them informed and that has changed a number of attitudes that really aren’t »cool« any more now.

For me it is an honour to be able to stand on stage to make such an important topic as gender-based violence and the real lives of young people in the world today visible. It’s a responsibility because you are trying to represent thousands of members of your generation and do it as well as you can. And a huge feeling of joy because there’s nothing more beautiful than going on stage, acting and feeling the reactions of the audience when you are communicating a message like this one.

ALMENDRA MENICHETTI This play has helped me to unearth all my fears, my hunger and desire to unleash the anger I feel for myself and all my companions.

3. What is the most important line or moment in Paisajes para no colorear for you?

CONSTANZA For me the death of Lizette Villa inevitably has to come first. Along with the feeling of despair at losing someone, I feel the pain of injustice and defencelessness.

DANIELA I think one of the most important moments in the play is when Sofia, the inflatable doll, commits suicide. Because for me this is an example of how a PATRIACHAL and ADULT-CENTRIC SOCIETY that objectifies and rapes young people can destroy our lives. Youth suicide is an urgent issue in our country and all over the world. And nobody has tackled this situation and really helped these young people., listened to them and supported them in the way they need.

ANGELINA For me the most moving part of the play is the ending, when we hold hands and are grateful that the adults are finally listening to us without interrupting us and we make it clear to them that we will need to do a lot of talking, of having our say and fighting for us to be able to take control of our own bodies and never be afraid again.  

IGNACIA One important line in that scene is: »No group of adults has ever listened to us for this long without interrupting«. That line calls out the ADULT CENTRICITY prevailing in the world and how we teenagers are constantly being silenced because we apparently »know less«.

ALMENDRA The lines that always resonate with me and give me goosebumps: »[…] We will be proud when we tell our children, grandchildren and the generations that follow that when we were thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, we were aware: we went out on the streets and we took over our schools. That’s how we proclaim the sovereignty of our bodies, defend the freedom of our actions and topple this system that has erased the female sex from history books and literature.«

4. What does it mean for you to be born a woman?

ALMENDRA Ever since I can remember, it meant to dream: of princes, of love: wishful thinking about castles, about a family. It meant falling in love thousands of times and always being ignored, it meant that, as I grew up, I gradually realised that I didn’t fit the type, that I wasn’t »pretty« enough, wasn’t »tall« enough and it began to trouble me. Then it meant being afraid, having doubts and uncertainties about my body and the world. Being afraid of leaving the house alone, afraid of sexuality, afraid of myself because I wanted things that »aren’t for girls«.

Now it means being a very intellectual person who looks for the »truth« and has hundreds of questions, who tries to love herself and identifies a lot with FEMINISM, in order not to be afraid that my own child will be a girl, in order to not to leap at every honk or whistle from a stranger. What being born a woman means to me most of all is resistance. 

ANGELINA Every MACHISMO situation that one of our friends experiences, affects us just as much because sadly we are all victims of this society in some way. But I am happy to be who I am, I’m glad I’m a woman, because: yeah, I’m hysterical, crazy, intense, bipolar, emotional, intelligent and powerful thanks to what my teachers, grandmother, mother, sisters, nieces and friends have taught me. I feel safe surrounded by them and I want to learn more from all of them every day.

DANIELA Being born a woman makes me strong and a fighter and enables me to feel for everyone who is oppressed by the system. It means being united with the women around me and being sisterly, supporting each other against the PATRIARCHY. For me, being a woman means carrying the stories of thousands of women that the system has done violence to and who have fought against that system, because thanks to them I am now able to vote, receive an education and work. Being a woman means being born a fighter and a member of the resistance simply because of the fact that we live in a society that is against us.

FREDDERICK It’s a bit complicated for me because I’m a TRANSGENDER BOY and it has always been a constant emotional conflict for me to be born in a body that is biologically female. Because of the MACHISMO SOCIETY we live in, I saw myself wounded just as much in my biological sex as in my gender identity.

CONSTANZA It means a challenge, it means courage and resistance. Being a woman is also a unique world, a unique kind of empathy.

IGNACIA Sometimes it would be nice to be a man so that you don’t get criticised form how you dress, how you sit or whether you’ve shaved – or simply to be able to walk the streets at night without being afraid. But I wouldn’t swap being a woman for anything in the world.

5. What do you definitely not want to unlearn or forget about growing up?

FREDDERICK Who I am, what motivates me, the things that I want to fight for. I hope I never lose everything that now makes me who I am right now.

DANIELA I think I never want to lose the urge for change, the urge to act if something bothers me, is unjust or harms someone. I see myself in the future as someone who will always open her mouth, who will fight for what she thinks is right and who’s always on the move. I think young people are intensely sensitive and they don’t hide their feelings. But I don’t want to lose that either because I can tell that in the adult world it’s often not allowed to have feelings and to show these openly.

ALMENDRA I never want to lose sight of the fact that you’ve always got to fight, to support what’s right and never give up the desire to create a new world. I never want to forget that if I ever have children, I will really listen to them – especially when they’re young, if they have doubts – and I will tell them that they can be free.

IGNACIA That just because a person is under age it doesn’t mean that she knows less or her opinion is of no consequence. And that adolescents can bring about a great change in society and that they mustn’t be silenced.

ANGELINA I want to pass on my ideals and believe in them until a better world has been achieved. And, of course, I want to keep my faith in youth as the way to progress. Because we and the generations to come will be the ones to instigate the change that leads to a more just society. We will put all the subjects on the table that we think are important, and stop being silent, like our parents and grandparents were.

CONSTANZA To achieve the fantasy – the deconstruction of reality – in the group and to support each other. And also that young voices matter, that childhood is important and feminism is the way.

 

6. What will you never get used to in this world?

CONSTANZA I will never get used to machismo, I will never get used to being denigrated because I am a woman, and not to sexist comments either. Just like I won’t get used to feeling unsure of myself.

IGNACIA Along with machismo and patriarchal society, capitalism and the absence of punishment [for criminals, ed.] in the world and especially in Chile, I will never understand having to find out every day that a woman has died just because she was a woman. And that the system exploits people every day and they don’t have any life any more.

DANIELA I will never get used to the patriarchy and hatred of the LGBTIQ+ COMMUNITY. I cannot accept people being hated only because of their sex or their sexual orientation and every time I come across something like that, I try to counteract it because it hurts me, makes me angry and at the same time drives me to take action.

ANGELINA I will never get used to violence and a lack of empathy. The way to change is based on love and respect. Now we’ve had enough guns, enough of the fear they’ve put into us, if we raise out voices, it’s time they listened to us and a dialogue began. We won’t stand for any more deaths. We are people, not numbers and from now on the message is: »Never again without us«.

FREDDERICK Injustices and insults are something I can never put up with. From an early age I was taught to defend myself against injustice and not to allow my rights to be infringed and I hope to stay like that.

ALMENDRA I am constantly seeing injustice all around me – that’s what I hate most. But I also refuse to become accustomed to violence and poverty because I am convinced that nothing good comes of them, instead they simply serve a socially and culturally conditioned notion that some people are privileged and others are simply made invisible. I think that is an evil that prevents us from evolving an empathetic world.

GLOSSARY

Adult-centrism, adult-centric society

Adult means grown-up. Adult-centrism therefore means that grown-ups are the focal point of a social order, that their needs are prioritised and that they are allowed to make the decisions, including those on matters that concern children and young people.

Feminism, feminist

Feminism demands an end to the traditional oppression and disadvantage on the basis of sex or gender – all persons should have equal rights and obligations, opportunities and chances and receive equal recognition, whether they are female, male or non-binary. Feminists campaign to achieve e.g. equal pay for women – jobs that more women than men do are often less well paid. They demand that unpaid work (e.g. housework, childcare) should be divided equally between women and men. Power should also be distributed fairly because to this day leadership positions and parliaments in which important decisions are made are filled with more men than women. Everyone should be free to go where they wish, without having to be afraid of being insulted or assaulted. 

Femicide

The murder of a woman or girl for reasons of sex or gender is called femicide. This is a form of gender-based violence.

Gender, gender-based violence

Gender is the social aspect of a person’s sex. It describes the role in society and the expectations society has of a person on the basis of their biological sex and their felt and lived gender. »Sex«, on the other hand, is a biological term applied to persons on the basis of their physical sexual characteristics.

Gender-based violence occurs when a person becomes a victim of violence because of their gender. Such violence is the consequence of social power structures. Women are much more frequently victims of gender-based violence than men.

LGBTIQ+ Community

Stans for the community of:

Lesbians

Gays

Bisexuals – people who love persons of the same and also the opposite sex.

Transgender – people who do not feel they belong to their biological sex or feel they are neither a girl/woman or boy/man.

Intersex – people who possess both female and male physical characteristics.

Queers – all people who live and love beyond heterosexual and/or binary sexual norms.

+ stands for all those people who feel that the gender identities and/or sexual orientations do not apply to them.

Machismo, machismo societies  

The word macho that is used in English is derived from the Spanish term machismo. One dictionary defines this as »an exaggerated feeling of male superiority and vitality«. Machismo expresses itself in the form of a kind of manic masculinity and is therefore consistent with denigratory behaviour towards women, e.g. through derogatory remarks or when men believe they have the right to be able to take decisions on behalf of women. 

A machismo society is strongly influenced by traditional role models, the predominance of men is apparently self-evident and the derogatory treatment of women commonplace and tolerated.

Patriarchy, patriarchal society

In a patriarchy co-habitation is shaped, controlled and represented by men. A patriarchal society is structured so that men are in a position of dominance over women and children in the state/politics, in social relationships and in the family.

Transgender, transgender boy

For transgender see LGBTIQ+

A transgender boy is a person who was assigned the female sex at birth on the grounds of his physical characteristics

Ignacia Atenas, 16 years old, is interested in politics, the world and feminism. Her dream is to become the President of Chile. Her passions include rhythmic gymnastics – where she is among the best in Chile – and theatre. Paisajes para no colorear is the first play that she has been part of.

Daniela López Quintero, 18 years old, is a young feminist, activist, vegan and acting student. She is bisexual and has taken part in numerous theatre projects ever since she was a child. She was 15 when she was cast in Paisajes para no colorear.

Almendra Menichetti is a 19-year-old woman who loves art in all its many forms. She has been taking part in theatre and film projects since she was 12. Through participating in Paisajes para no colorear she has discovered a political and feminist space that she explores further every day.

Angelina Isabella Miglietta Escobar is 17 years old and is the youngest daughter of a conservative family. She is an extrovert, restless and unfocussed, and has always been interested in theatre. Paisajes para no colorear opened up a new world for her, she has evolved and questioned the values that her family imposed on her. She is now a feminist and activist.

Constanza Francesca Poloni is 20 years old and has attended theatre, dance and art workshops since the age of 8. She has acted in TV series, short films and school plays. When she was 16, she joined Paisajes para no colorear. Since then, she regards herself as a feminist, activist and advocate of social change.

Fredderick Undomiel Vasquez Petrone is a 16-year-old transgender boy. He has never known a lot about himself but it was always clear to him that he wanted to spend his life as an artist as that was his place. Together with the wonderful team from Paisajes para no colorear this dream became a reality.

Text collage: Anne Britting

Translation from Spanish: Stefan Barmann
Translation from English: David Tushingham