A theatre student organization at UTRGV will be on the international stage this week for the first time.
The Latino Theatre Initiatives (LTI) will be a part of The Festival de la Bête Noire, a horror theatre festival in Canada.
This year, the festival will be held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the festival’s official website, the festival held in Montreal focuses on theatrical performances in the horror genre in order to build a diverse community and share it coast to coast.
According to the LTI’s website, they are the most active college organization for Latino theatre in the United States and create opportunities for Latino artists and theatre enthusiasts.
LTI Faculty Advisor Eric Wiley says that this is the first time the organization has attended a festival like this.
“It’s super exciting. It has allowed us to stay active in a time that all theatre has shut down.”
LTI Secretary Carolina Perez, explains what the group has decided to do for the festival.
“We submitted a recorded play named The Witch Among Us…It’s about a witch hunter and his helper showing up to help the city [Rio Grande City] with the problems that they’re having with an infestation of witches.”
Perez says that the play, written by Francisco Garza, is something they hope will get people interested in LTI to share Hispanic culture.
“The world needs to be exposed to Latinos and Latino stories…there’s a lot of us in this world; we’re a minority but not.”
LTI Vice President Priscylla Guzman, agrees with this notion.
“I feel like there’s a general idea of what Latino people are like…For groups like us to go out there to the world and perform and show them what we really are like… it’s important for our stories to be heard.”
According to Guzman, those who want to attend the virtual event can do so by going to the festival’s website and purchase a ticket for $5. The festival starts Monday and ends on Sunday.
