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Carlos Pascual

The conversion of the devil
 12

The conversion of the devil


National Theatre Company of Mexico / Compañía Nacional de Teatro de México

Director: Martín Acosta

Spanish, Maya and Nahuatl languages with Hungarian and English subtitles

1 hours 40 minutes, without breaks.

In the XVI Century, after Spain conquered Mexico, a profound evangelization quest took place to convert the native population. The religious orders, mainly Dominicans and Franciscans, used theatrical representations to pass the biblical teachings and stop them from carrying on with human sacrifices instead. However, the two orders had different strategies and got into a political struggle to win the domain of the colonizing theatre of the New World. Theater as a representation of humanity in the Franciscan utopia against the inquisitorial censorship of the Dominicans, who were determined to erase a cosmogonic and ancestral spiritual heritage. “The Devil´s Conversion” opens a debate about whether the spiritual conquest of Mexico was really achieved.

 

Awards and prizes of the performance:
- Mario Marín´s costumes for La Conversión del Diablo were selected as part of the WORLD COSTUME IN ACTION at the Bucharest Scenography Biennale of the National Theatre this year.
-The play has received nominations for best play, best costumes and best choreography at the Critics and the Metro awards in Mexico. 

Actors 

Atotoztli :: Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez 
Valeriano :: Jesús Hernández                    
Fray Diego :: David Hevia                           
Tecuapini :: Pedro Martínez Arredondo    
Fray Luis :: Fernando Bueno                     
Concepción :: Nicté del Carmen                   
Tizoc :: Armando Comonfort             
Lorenzo :: Federico Lozano                    
Live musician :: Yurief Nieves                         

 

Playwright: Carlos Pascual
Director: Martín Acosta
Stage design: Jesús Hernández
Lighting design: Matías Gorlero
Costume design: Mario Marín del Río
Choreographer: Armando Comonfort
Composer and sound track design: Carlos Matus
Video design: Miriam Romero inspired by visual artist Paloma Contreras Lomas
Assistant Director: Yunúen Ro
Nahuatl language coach: Gudelia de la Cruz

 

*Beneficiaries of the Artistic Residency Program in Stable Groups at the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (PAGEI).

 

National Theatre Company production credits:

Artistic Director -  Aurora Cano  
Producer - Raúl Munguía  
Programmer - Mónica Juárez  
Dramaturg - Simón Franco  
Technical Director - Alejandro Carrasco  
Communication, press & media director - Rocío Ramonetti  
Administration - Osana Sandoval  
Cast Manager - Laura Perea
Graphic Design and Photography - Sergio Carreón Ireta  
Tour manager - Luis Rivera  
Executive producer - Fernando Santiago

SA
Main Stage (Stage auditorium)
29 April 2025, 19:00
30 April 2025, 19:00
Martín Acosta

Martín Acosta

Graduated from the National School of Theater Art of the National Institute of Fine Arts. He has made more than 80 professional productions as a stage director and also works as a set designer, playwright and teacher. Teatro de Arena company´s founder and artistic director, with which he has participated in various international festivals and went on a three-month tour of the United States and Canada. He has directed productions for the National Theater Company, for companies in Mexico, Canada and Colombia and the Montezuma opera in Heidelberg, Germany and Luzerne, Switzerland.

He has received the award for Best Director seven times by the different associations of theater critics in Mexico; as well as the METRO awards for Best Director and Best Editing for June 93' (2022). He has been a fellow at the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts in New York, N.Y; resident in Los Angeles, Cal. within the Inroads program of the National Endowment for the Arts and was also selected for the prestigious Sundance Institute Theater Laboratory in 1999. He has been a member of the National Creators System and has received the Young Creators Grant and Support for Co-investments and Special Projects of FONCA.

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