by María Morrett
Women in Confinement (Mujeres en el encierro) by María Morett, explores the notion of female confinement as a labyrinth formed by social, cultural, and archetypal structures of repression. The play focuses on the particular social contract that exists in the microcosm set off from the society-at-large by prison walls, comprised solely of women living “on the edge.” Inspired by Morett’s work as an acting teacher in the women’s prisons of Mexico City, Women in Confinement reflects its author’s six years of research inside and outside the penal systems of Mexico and Colombia. While speaking to and for all “women in confinement,” Morett’s play directly addresses the ongoing struggle of women living in societies with a strong sexist ethos–societies which, although beginning to grant “space” to women, continue to keep them confined–and illuminates the condition of the Latin American woman who, in the family and workplace, confronts a complex web of social archetypes which shape her personal and professional relationships.
María Morret is a playwright and theater director, fFounder and Artistic Director from Me xihc co teatro and Proyecto Ariadna. She studied with Julio Castillo, Juan José Gurrola, Luis de Tavira, Alejandro Luna, Ludwik Margules, Oswaldo Dragún, Hugo Arguelles and Maria Irene Fornés. She has the Bachelor of Communications by the UNUM and a Certificate in Theater Direction and production by the National School of Theater in México . She has been a member of the Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab from New York since 2000. She has written and produced more than twelve theater pieces including La Llorona, Mozart y los Duendes, Muerte, la Caja Mágica, Alarconeando, Quijotes: Visiones Itinerantes, Cruces , Mujeres en el Encierro and Ninfa. She also did the translation and adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s “Spring Awakenings” in co production with la MAMA E.T.C., and Me Xihc Co teatro, also she adapted the play “Primero Sueño” and “Amor es más laberinto”from the Mexican poet Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and created the outdoor production of “Mas Laberintos” that was opened in the Festival Internacional Cervantino in 2003 in Guanajuato. She did the translation from the Jules Laforgue text “Moralidades legendarias” and from the Italian text of the contemporary opera “Lohengrin” composed and written by Salvatore Sciarrino. She has been recognized and honored with grants and awards from the National Fund for Culture and National Council for the Arts from México, Arts International from New York, Ministerio de Cultura de Colombia, and Contacto Cultural/Fideicomiso para la Cultura México/EUA and the Rockefeller foundation; She is a resident artist from Voice & Vision’s Envision 2000 retreat, La MAMA Experimental Theater Club and the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts. She has conducted research for the National Institute of Fine Arts in México and for EITALC on the work of the theater artists: Jean Marie Binoche from France; Santiago Garcia from Colombia; and Yoshi Oida from Japan. Her play Cruces was awarded with the Excellence Award for Innovation & Originality in the New York Fringe Festival in 2000. Her play “Mujeres en el Encierro” is translated to English, by Deborah Saivetz and German by Cordelier Dvorak. In 2003 she wrote “Ninfa” for the divan project directed by French artist Michel Didym and opened in the XXXI FIC/INBA. Her most recent work as a director is the Mexican opening of the contemporary opera “Lohengrin” written and composed by Salvatore Sciarrino, presented with success in the VI Festival Música y Escena at the National University of Mexico. In November 2004 she presented her play “Mujeres en el Encierro” at CINARS PLATFORM 2004, in Montreal, Canada and in December she was in an artistic residency in Berlin invited by the Goethe Institute from Germany. In July 2005 she will be in a four months artistic residency in Montreal invited by “Le Centre des Auteurs Dramatiques” FONCA and Canadian government. Her play “Mujeres en el encierro “ is now a part of the season from February to April 2005 at the “Teatro Helénico” at the “Centro Cultural Helénico”.
