photo credit: La Comete
Coming directly from Paris, Cuervo is a haunting multimedia theater performance honoring the legacy of Chilean playwright Óscar “Cuervo” Castro, who founded Teatro Aleph in Santiago de Chile in 1967. In 1974, Óscar and his sister Marietta were arrested by agents of Pinochet’s Chilean military dictatorship. Despite the extreme violence they experienced in captivity, Óscar turned his despair in Chile’s concentration camps into a work of art. Astonishingly, Cuervo, as his friends and colleagues called him, found a way to stage a new play each week in the camps’ dining halls, transforming the lives of hundreds of prisoners. After being released, Óscar found shelter in the French Embassy and was later invited by French luminaries such as Ariane Mnouchkine and Claude Lelouch to rebuild his life and his beloved theater in Paris, now named Théâtre Aleph.
In April of 2021, Castro passed away in France. Three years later, his sons Cosme and Óscar Jr., now working in Paris, crossed half the world and the Andes with cameras in hand alongside their father’s unpublished theatrical autobiography, Théâtrographie. Guided by that narrative, they set out to find his former fellow prisoners, friends who had shared his playfully creative attempts at psychological survival. They visited the camps where he was detained and tortured, retracing his steps through harsh years of political suppression and theatrical bravery.
The result is this freshly reimagined Cuervo, adapted and directed by Cosme Castro and Óscar Castro, Jr. from an excerpt of Théâtrographie: a theatrical, audiovisual, and testimonial adaptation that includes a staged reading enriched with audiovisual sketches, silhouettes, and photographic images of crucial spaces captured by his sons half a century later. Journeying through memory and highlighting art as a means of resistance and resilience in the face of oppression, this cautionary tale is more timely than ever.
A theatrical reading weaving together Óscar “Cuervo” Castro’s story with his sons’ film in a reflection on memory, art and resistance.
CREDITS
Original Text: Óscar “Cuervo” Castro, from his autobiography, Théâtrographie
Adaptation / Direction: Cosme Castro and Óscar Jr. Castro
English reading: Stanley Weber
Illustrations: Jeanne Frenkel
Musical Composition: Lou Rotzinger
US Tour Producer and Senior Advisor: Olga Garay-English
US Tour Co-Producer: José Zambelli
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Son of Teatro Aleph’s founder, Óscar “Cuervo” Castro, Cosme Castro is a director and audiovisual creator. In 2015, together with Jeanne Frenkel, he founded the film and multimedia production company La Comète. In 2017, they created Adieu Bohème, a short film presented live at the Bastille Opera as part of the Paris National Opera – La Troisième Scène. As associated artists at the Théâtre Montfort (Paris) they produced three stage productions: Le Bal, Point Némo, and Georges sauve le monde (2018–2020). In 2022, they produced the live feature film Jour de gloire, set on the night of the presidential elections, broadcast live in cinemas and on France’s Arte.tv. They have collaborated with artists such as Flavien Berger and Matthieu Chedid. In 2023, they created the fiction short film iNTELLIGENCE, starring actor Vincent Macaigne in collaboration with musician Jacques. Selected for the 76th Locarno Film Festival (Pardi di Domani), the film won the Young Jury Prize.
The youngest member of the Chilean theatre family Teatro Aleph, Óscar Jr. Castro grew up on stage. After several years working as first assistant director for La Comète Films (Jour de Gloire – live feature on Arte.tv; Georges sauve le monde – presented at Théâtre Monfort), he co-founded in 2017 a collective of directors, screenwriters, and art directors La Piscine Films, together with his creative partner Jeanne Sigwalt. Together, they have co-directed numerous music videos with the support of the French National Centre for Cinema (CNC), including Les Louanges feat. Ichon – Sur la Mélodie (2023); Bro feat. Ichon – T’étais pas là (2023); Dada – Demain (2024); Hiru – La lluvia cae (2025). In 2023, he directed his first fiction short film, Rocket’s Stadium, selected for the official competition of the Grenoble Outdoor Short Film Festival (Festival du Film Court en Plein Air de Grenoble) and the Gindou Film Festival.
FUNDING + SUPPORT
The 2027 U.S. tour and New York Premiere of Théâtre Aleph & La Comète Films’ Cuervo is supported by Villa Albertine and Albertine Foundation through the Theatre & New Forms program, and with additional support from the Olga Garay-English and Dr. Kerry English Legacy Trust.
Presented in partnership with Under the Radar.
Olga Garay-English, Senior Advisor and Producer for the U.S. tour
José Zambelli, tour co-producer
VENUE NOTES + ACCESSIBILITY
Pregones Theater
575 Walton Avenue
Bronx
Take the 2, 4, or 5 train to 149th Street–Grand Concourse.
Pregones Theater is on Walton Avenue, between 149th and 150th Streets, just one short block from the station.
Access
Pregones Theater is wheelchair accessible and fully compliant with ADA requirements. Please contact the box office in advance if specific accessibility accommodations are needed.
Appropriate Age Range
Accessible to audiences of all ages; subject matter is best suited for audiences ages 12 and up.
SCHEDULE
Friday, January 15 at 7pm
Saturday, January 16 at 7pm
Sunday, January 17 at 3pm
VENUE
Pregones Theater
575 Walton Avenue
Bronx
map
Accessibility
For access + directions, click here
Run Time:
90 minutes, no intermission
