Villa by Guillermo Calderón (review)

In the New York production the elimination of site-specificity and the companion piece, as well as the choice to cast two non-Latinx actors, downplayed the Chilean context in an effort to highlight the play's widely applicable themes: particularly how legacies of national violence hinder personal connections and impede political processes, fragmenting communities and provoking more violence. On the back wall a mural depicted raised fists, defiant iconography reminiscent of groups like the Brigada Ramona Parra, a muralist collective of the communist party that operated clandestinely during the dictatorship. [...]the political struggles and utopian dreams of the Left were the backdrop of the play, but also functioned as objects of art and contemplation. The play's combination of rigorous critique, leftist in-jokes, and self-ironization allowed Calderón both to preach to the choir and invite the audience into a winking, comradely jest with the sermon.