Our Dirty War
Our Dirty War is a rare gem of theatrical depth and daring. … Madero, equally adept at acting as she is writing, achieves a magical transformation into Roberto Madero as a child, a young man, and an adult … a thought-provoking meditation on relationships, trauma, and the power of love to heal even the deepest wounds. It is also a glimpse into the future. If this work is any indication, the next generation of theatre professionals is well on its way to making a significant contribution to the theatrical arts.
— Jeannette Mulherin, M.D Theater Review
“Playwright Camila Madero imagines and provides a platform and process that allows her father — who experienced the trauma of Argentine politics — to break that wall of silence and talk to her about his experiences … Our Dirty War is thoughtful, competent, and compassionate theater that will probably continue to develop. It will very likely be seen again in a larger, higher visibility venue. This is your chance to see it at its beginnings.”
— Gregory Ford, D.C Theater Arts
What it’s all about…
Our Dirty War is a love story between a daughter and father, a deeply intimate exploration of the playwright's relationship with her dad, Roberto Madero, who was forced to escape the horrors of Argentina's Dirty War at the young age of 16. Through dialogues inspired by their real-life conversations, Camila reimagines the captivating and wild tales of Roberto’s past in a dreamy scape laced with magical realism and fantastical oddities. In doing so, she also experiences the fear and desperation that plagued the Argentinian community when thousands disappeared under the regime of a brutal dictatorship in the 1970s.
This play was produced as a workshop production at Georgetown University under the leadership and guidance of internationally acclaimed theater-maker, Derek Goldman who leads the In Your Shoes program with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics. This initiative fosters empathy across identities and polarized groups by having pairs of people engage in dialogue and then perform each other’s recorded words. This idea greatly influenced Our Dirty War, as the playwright plays the role of her father Roberto while another actor takes on the role of Camila. As such, this piece does not only engage with politics on a textual level but also cultivates experimental empathy across generations.
As this piece continues to develop in New York, under the creative direction of Emilia Lirman, it seeks creative communities and audiences who are eager to engage with documentary-based theater and explore the rarely recounted narratives of Latin American dictatorships and their impact on future generations.
Our Dirty War was selected from hundreds of submissions as a semi-finalist in iROAD Theater Company’s Summer Playwrights Festival.
Los Desaparecidos. All artwork by Katie Heaton ©
Artwork depicting Los Desaparecidos was crafted using recently declassified US official documents to poignantly shed light on the United States’ involvement and support of the Argentine military coup that kidnapped, tortured, and killed approximately 30,000 people. Often these people were young and politically minded students who were desperately in search of a leader who could bring their country towards a brighter future. To honor their memory and keep them present throughout the show, these images were incorporated on stage and placed amongst seats in the audience. To learn more about Argentina’s dictatorship, click here.