Spring Break
'Rosa Cuchillo': Haunted by the ghosts of war
by Elizabeth Pauker
Arts | 10/9/07
Posted online at 9:33 PM EST on 10/8/07
/ Last updated at 6:12 AM EST on 10/8/07
With a ghostly face and powdered white hair, Ana Correa, a visiting actress from Peru, performed Rosa Cuchilla, a one-person theatrical performance, this past Friday on the Great Lawn. Correa was one of many visiting actors here for this past weekend's "Acting Together on the World Stage: Setting the Scene for Peace," organized by the Slifka Program, Coexistence International and Theatre without Borders. With only a makeshift stage, Correa was not only able to convey the pain of her character, but also that of the innumerable Peruvians who have been physically and mentally wounded by the conflicts between the government and local terrorists over the years.
Speaking entirely in Spanish, Correa told the moving story of Rosa Huanca, an orphan whose strength takes her on the painful journey in search of her son, who was kidnapped by soldiers.
The name of the performance, Rosa Cuchilla, translates to "Rosa Knife," a name the character was given as a teenager after she defended herself against her master's sexually abusive son. Fortunately, she is able to move past the experience, describing her life as a wife and then as a mother: "After a year, I met a good and working man; he is Dionisio. I had had a beautiful and strong, healthy baby. Liborio was his name. But when el Liborio was young-the war has begun," she said.
However, the character's family is violently torn apart when her son is taken by the invading soldiers. She cries "with other mothers of the village-when someone said to us that there are bodies of young personas thrown on the road, dead, and nobody-because of fear-rescued them."
As the music slowed to a steady drum, the audience became fellow travelers. With a look of determination and a walking stick in hand, Correa circled the stage in search of her son. Though the hunt brought about Rosa's ultimate demise, her journey was not yet done. Incorporating ideas from Peruvian folklore and tradition regarding the afterlife, the story continued as Rosa literally and figuratively took a paddle in her hand and crossed a river to "the other side." Reaching toward the heavens and calling out for her son, she finally finds peace, reunited with her child and all of those whom she lost to the war. Having purged herself of the painful memories in her past, she then reached into a rose petal-filled vase and tossed its red and white contents out into the audience.
Speaking entirely in Spanish, Correa told the moving story of Rosa Huanca, an orphan whose strength takes her on the painful journey in search of her son, who was kidnapped by soldiers.
The name of the performance, Rosa Cuchilla, translates to "Rosa Knife," a name the character was given as a teenager after she defended herself against her master's sexually abusive son. Fortunately, she is able to move past the experience, describing her life as a wife and then as a mother: "After a year, I met a good and working man; he is Dionisio. I had had a beautiful and strong, healthy baby. Liborio was his name. But when el Liborio was young-the war has begun," she said.
However, the character's family is violently torn apart when her son is taken by the invading soldiers. She cries "with other mothers of the village-when someone said to us that there are bodies of young personas thrown on the road, dead, and nobody-because of fear-rescued them."
As the music slowed to a steady drum, the audience became fellow travelers. With a look of determination and a walking stick in hand, Correa circled the stage in search of her son. Though the hunt brought about Rosa's ultimate demise, her journey was not yet done. Incorporating ideas from Peruvian folklore and tradition regarding the afterlife, the story continued as Rosa literally and figuratively took a paddle in her hand and crossed a river to "the other side." Reaching toward the heavens and calling out for her son, she finally finds peace, reunited with her child and all of those whom she lost to the war. Having purged herself of the painful memories in her past, she then reached into a rose petal-filled vase and tossed its red and white contents out into the audience.
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