sayda trujillo
Teatrera | theatre-maker
Win the War or Tell Me a Story
Examines the effects of war and the power of story. It looks at the body as a carrier of stories, following moments of the author's childhood in war-torn Guatemala (where she is from) through to her experience of witnessing Israel's violence towards Palestinians. Win the War or Tell Me a Story is a meditation on war, the war of states towards their subjects and the war within. Through the use of voice and physicality the piece embodies the universal themes of longing and displacement and asks what it means to resist, to win, and to replace the global forces that perpetuate hate and domination in today's world.
I Was Raised Mexican
A story of loss and making a new home in a new land, a story of roots and redefining identity. It uses movement, song, words, and a ladder to tell the story of her journey from Montreal, Canada to her parents’ village in Guatemala to Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles, CA, USA: a neighborhood populated primarily by Mexican immigrants where she was often assumed and perceived to be “Mexican.” Her story is visually a peeling of layers, each layer offers a possible answer to "What do you see when you see me?” It draws our attention to what the immigrant carries with him/her and how this translates in their adopted new home/country. It asks, “What do we take with us? What’s impossible to leave behind?”
Definitely Oops
The central theme in Definitely Oops! is love: the end of a love, a transition, and the possibility of a new beginning. A highly physical piece exploring time, hope, growing up and not knowing. Stillness contrasts an array of gestures, and movement inspired and influenced by Tai Chi Chuan, Grotowski, Suzuki and Clown. Aurally it combines live traditional music with improvisations (Violin, Flute, and Percussion), and verbally it employs poetic, absurdist, and direct, everyday language. The production, funded by a grant from the Cal Arts/Community Arts Partnership, premiered at REDCAT, in downtown Los Angeles in 2005.
Banana Leaves
A devised piece exploring the journey of a woman growing up in Guatemala and the complexities of her relationship to her parents, her husband and her children. It examines the gender specific roles in a society where these are clearly defined. The themes of waiting and stillness drive the story. Seven chairs are used to transform the varied Guatemalan landscapes in the play. It was created at CalArts in 1997. It premiered at the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival in 2000.