HOW THE THEATRE DIED is a multi-language stage proposal by the Yama Collective , directed by Carlina Derks Bustamante, which aims to document, fictionalize and ritualize memories and stories of Ecuadorian theatre during the pandemic.

We all know someone who has passed away and to whom we were unable to say goodbye, give them a final hug or perform a ritual. This project arose from the need to create a space for re-signification, memory and mourning of the transformative moment that the pandemic has meant.

To create this work, the Yama Collective called on various artists with medium and long careers who gave voice to their own experiences during the pandemic. In this work, each artist is the author of their work because it was created from their own materials and stage memories that were later woven together and dialogued in the form of a stage funeral rite.

During the COVID-19 health emergency, theatre was one of the jobs most affected and least valued by public entities, leaving many artists marginalized and forgotten.

On the other hand, an investigation was carried out into funeral rites and the Andean worldview, to work on death from its transmuting and cyclical sense in order, in some way, to offer people symbolic reparation for the strong experiences left by the pandemic.