En el Ojo de la Aguja is a play by Colombian-born director Ramiro Antonio Sandoval that explores how in a time when technology offers endless ways to communicate, actual communication has become harder than ever. It’s a bit like threading the eye of the needle.
En el Ojo de la Aguja
The play runs at The Tank in Hell’s Kitchen, NYC from September 7-22, 2019. $30
A tragicomedy that reflects on contemporary life, social alienation, and the acceptance of boredom as the means to self-reinvention.
After a disappearance, three characters remain trapped and under constant observation. Meandering between twisted ideas about social behavior, they struggle to create meaning (or run away from it?) while trapped in a strange place. With expulsion looming, sophistic discussions on culture and myths displace the fear of their shared circumstance. Polar and nonsensical perspectives reveal with dark humor the make up of their uncomfortable experience.
Get tickets at thetanknyc.org
The Play won a 2018 HOLA Award for Outstanding Dramatic Production. HOLA is the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors.
It was written and directed by Ramiro Antonio Sandoval with the participation of Johanna Bock and a collective of Tatiana Barrero, Jorge Luis Berríos Cuevas, Thiago Jiménez, Klara Lopera, Kike Olaya and Karina Tobón.
The production stars Klara Lopera-Sánchez, Andrés López-Alicea, Vanessa Hernández and Jei Fabiano.
The production features original music by Samuel Torres, stage design by Verónica Álvarez with Omayra Garriga and Edu Canal with Alexis Mendoza and Elisabet Díaz Cintrón, technical direction by Omayra Garriga with Jorge Berrios Cuevas, costume design by Alejandra Laverde with Bibiana Torres Rey, lighting design by Karim Rivera Rosado. Juan Esteban Vélez is the production assistant.
The Eye of the Needle is the Eye of the Storm
All this technology we have creates the illusion of connection, but actually overwhelms and separates us, from each other and even from life itself.
Under the constant bombardment of so many images, it becomes hard to know and stay focused on what is important. Ever notice the dinner table with four people, all looking at their phones?
It’s also hard to know what is real. I have seen this effect on the beaches of Puerto Rico. People bring their phones everywhere, even into the ocean, and spend the entire time trying to get the perfect picture. That perfect image of someone enjoying their vacation, masks the reality of some rather stressful picture making.
The brevity of social media forces us to see and respond to complex, interrelated issues from a single touchpoint. Because people get more excited by complaints than compliments, the echo-chamber of social media leads to polarization and is easily manipulated. The breakdown in communication leads to actual breakdowns in society.
Tabula Rasa
The theatre company is named after the idea that we are born as a blank slate without preconceptions and our characters are formed by experience.
Once a character is formed by experience, good theatre can break through preconceptions and pull us outside of ourselves, which is the only place from which we can see the world again with clean eyes.
The Company is a multicultural team of actors and production people, but the director is Colombian.
Artistic Director Ramiro Antonio Sandoval Marín is originally from Bogotá, Colombia.
For more information, visit www.tabularasatheater.org