Documenting Diversity: César Brie’s Theater in Bolivia

Abstract

César Brie’s artistic work together with the Teatro de los Andes –founded by himself– invigorated Bolivia’s theater scene, contributing with a new critical view on the country’s contemporary history. The dialogue between European culture and the plurality of the Andeans culture is characteristic of his work. In this essay we will briefly analyze some of his most representative plays –La Ilíada (2000), La Odisea (2008), En un sol amarillo (2004)– as well as his documentary films –Humillados y ofendidos (2008) y Tahuamanu-Morir en Pando (2010)–. Through this works, I would like to show the way Brie conceives artistic work in a tight relation with the inhabited cultural context: a tool for the celebration of cultural diversity as well as a mean for social denouncement.