Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – Dearly departed spirits will return to hover over this year’s ART VallARTa Day of the Dead celebration in Puerto Vallarta’s Zona Romantica.
Visitors are expected from around the Banderas Bay region and beyond are expected to join in the festivities, which start on Friday, October 25th, from 6–9 pm with a street party and live music on stage, plus an all-new gallery exhibition inside the ART VallARTa gallery and studios, where seating will be provided and refreshments will be available.
On street display will be giant alebrijes — brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical creatures. Inside the ART VallARTA gallery and studios, available for sale, will be original art, including in-theme paintings and sculptures by noted local, regional, and international artists.
Also inside will be several commemorative altars, works of art themselves, to honor those who’ve passed on. Costumes are encouraged. Refreshments will be served.
Mexico Premier: “La Noche de los Alebrijes”
a bilingual play by Georgina Escobar in collaboration with Mundo Milagro
In addition to music, the street stage activities will include a preview of “La Noche de los Alebrijes – Til Death Does Us Art,” a bilingual play written and directed by Georgina Escobar, an acclaimed and award-winning playwright from New York City who was born in Mexico and raised in Chihuahua and Zacatecas.
Her plays explore themes of fantasy, mythology, and feminism, and her notable works include Ash Tree, The Ruin, and Sweep. She received the Kennedy Center’s Theatre for Young Audiences Playwriting Award in 2010. “The performance of my work in the ART VallARTa theater marks my return to my Mexican homeland and is intended to honor the magic of Mexico and its growing contributions to the world of art and surrealism,” Escobar says.
Performances, all bilingual, are scheduled at the following days and times in the ART VallARTa theater, Calle Pilitas 213. The play is a performance in collaboration with Mundo Milagro, a Latino theater group based in Portland, Oregon, USA. Tickets are available online at artvallarta.com, or at the door, from 290.00 pesos. Dates and times are:
Thursday, October 31, 1:00 pm
Friday, November 1, 1:00 pm
Saturday, November 2, 1:00 pm
Sunday, November 3, 7:00 pm
Friday, November 8, 7:00 pm
Saturday, November 9, 7:00 pm
Sunday, November 10, 7:00 pm
ART VallARTa Director Nathalie Herling invites everyone in the Banderas Bay region and beyond to attend. “Our annual Day of the Dead festivities celebrate a Mexican cultural tradition that has roots in Aztec times and earlier,” she says. “We want to keep that tradition alive, even as we celebrate in both art and live performance the lives and memories of those who have passed on. We are especially excited to have noted playwright Georgina Escobar for her Mexico debut of her latest work in the Art VallARTa theater.”
For more information and tickets to the play, visit artvallarta.com.
