PALMASOLA – uma cidade-prisão 
[PALMASOLA – a prison village]

Palmasola is a prison village in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia), a walled area where inmates and their families live, full of businesses and going by their own rules. It is a parallel world, with huge social and economic gaps, and which was ravaged by a police raid that perpetrated unprecedented violence in 2018. This site-specific show by the Swiss group KLARA in partnership with Bolivian artists is based on the reality of the prison, and recreates its environment following the fictional story of a foreign traveler who was jailed for smuggling cocaine. Through his misfortunes, he is faced with issues of law and justice, understands how the population creates their own survival strategies, and adapts to the logic of this social regime. 

Established in 1991, KLARA-Theaterproduktionen develops a large project every two to three years. Having Chris Frick as its artistic director, the company has been exploring different languages of theater, new dramaturgies, and the combination of fictional and documental performances in productions created through collective processes. In recent years, KLARA’s work has been focused on social issues, social participation, and ecology. 

CAST AND CREW
Cast: Jorge Antonio Arias Cortez, Omar Callisaya Callisaya, Nicola Benjamin Fritzen and Mario Tadeo Urzagaste Galarza
Director and stage: Christoph Frick
Technical director: Lorenzo Ariel Muñoz
Video: David Campesino
Music: Bo Wiget and others
Dramaturgia: Carolin Hochleichter and Jhonnatan Torrez
Management and diffusion: Philip Decker
Production assistant: Alejandra Rea
Production management in Brazil: Palipalan Arte and Cultura
Co-produced by: Goethe Zentrum (Santa Cruz de la Sierra/Bolivia), Kaserne Basel (Switzerland) e Theater Tuchlaube Aarau (Switzerland)
Supported by: Fachausschuss Tanz und Theater (Kanton Basel-Stadt/ Switzerland), Pro Helvetia (Switzerland), Migros Kulturprozent (Switzerland), Ernst Göhner Stiftung (Switzerland), Stiftung Edith Maryon (Switzerland) and Parrotia-stiftung (Switzerland)
Revival rehearsals supported by: Pro Helvetia (Switzerland) and Fachausschuss Tanz und Theater (Kanton Basel-Stadt/Switzerland) 

www.klara-theater.ch | @klara_theater