The Refuge of Freidel (El Refugio de Freidel)
From Colombia’s Avant-Garde theatre to Toronto’s after-hours service industry, Liliana puts a face and a name to the refugee experience. Liliana weaves her experiences of forced displacement, arrival, and her journey as an artist in Canada, with the plays of controversial Colombian theatre-maker, and her director, Jose Manuel Freidel: an artist who fought against his society’s indifference toward injustice. Freidel was assassinated a few blocks away from his beloved theatre at the age of 39.
Credits
A collective creation by Liliana Suarez Henao and Beatriz Pizano.
Toronto Premiere at the Progress Festival at the Theatre Centre, Jan.20-23, 2016
Leaving my country of origin meant making a complete stop in my life as a theatre artist. Creating as an actor had always been vital for my identity and development as a person and as a woman. And then there I was, in a new world, charged inside with memories and images and with no means to express them, as I had done so before in my life.
