Corazón del Espantapájaros

Corazón del espantapájaros (Heart of the Scarecrow) is the third iteration of a serial project that explores the historical reverberations of Guatemalan playwright Hugo Carillo's 1962 script El corazón del espantapájaros (The Scarecrow's Heart) and its oblique interpretation by students at El teatro de la Universidad Popular de Guatemala in 1975. The students' highly stylized satirical portrayal of juridical archetypes provoked one of the most severe censorships of the arts during the Guatemalan Civil War (1960-1996).Working with a contemporary interpretation of the play by Guatemalan poet Wingston González, Ramírez-Figueroa explores the “scarecrow” and the “heart” in terms of their beauty and their power. His work serves as a meditation on the endurance of art; the role it can play in times of unrest; the political power of education; and the long-term effects of censorship on bodies, geography and culture. In an act that brings the project back to its historical roots, students of SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts will stage additional performances inspired by Carillo, Gonzalez and Ramírez-Figueroa’s work.