
En Parábola/Conversations on Tragedy Part I
by Natalia Lassalle – Morillo
co-devised and co-authored
in collaboration with:
Erica Ballester
Nina Lucía Rodríguez
Raquel Rodríguez
Emma Suárez-Báez
Chorus by Xenia Rubinos

En Parábola/Conversations on Tragedy is a reassemblage of the Greek myth of Antigone in collaboration with a cast of non-professional actors who reside in Puerto Rico and in New York City’s Puerto Rican diasporic community.
Developed through a multi-year process of collaborative theatrical rehearsal and experimental filmmaking, the work emerged through the cast’s revising, re-writing, and performing of the myth of Antigone inspired by their lived and inherited experiences of migration and belonging.Taking the form of a multi-channel film installation and a live performance series, En Parábola seeks to connect these communities after decades of geographical fragmentation, colonial erasure, dispossession, and cumulative environmental, economic, and political tragedies.
The first chapter of En Parábola is a multi-channel film that chronicles the New York City-based cast reimagining the myth of Antigone from their own perspectives. The film weaves together fictional and nonfictional narratives, layering documentation of the rehearsal process with behind-the-scenes footage and staged reenactments performed by the cast themselves. Natalia and her collaborators deconstruct the Greek dramatic structure, using it as a creative device to explore the complexities of the Puerto Rican diasporic experience and the interconnected challenges faced by diverse migratory journeys. Together, they imagine a future for the play’s mythological characters wherein they survive the tragedy—a future that aligns with a Puerto Rican post-disaster imaginary in which new definitions of sovereignty and freedom are possible.
Through participatory efforts to reshape collective memory, En Parábola proposes theatrical rehearsal as a site of speculation and reunion, where Puerto Ricans can revise, unlearn, experiment, and build narratives, woven from their lived experiences.
Re-envisioning sovereignty as an affective citizenship that exists beyond geographical boundaries, this project is fundamentally an invitation to exercise our right to imagination and the potentialities of fantasy and fiction.




The first chapter of En Parábola/Conversations on Tragedy was presented at Amant in Brooklyn from March 14th-June 23rd 2024 as part of Rituals of Speaking, a film-led series exploring how artists represent the voices of others through collective storytelling.
It was curated by Natalia Viera Salgado and comissioned by Amant with additional support from the Mellon Foundation and Princeton University.



Credits:
Director: Natalia Lassalle-Morillo
Co-Devised with: Erica Ballester, Emma Suárez-Báez, Nina Lucía Rodríguez, Raquel Rodríguez
Additional text and writing: Elisa Peebles
Chorus conducted by: Xenia Rubinos
Cinematography: Natalia Lassalle-Morillo, Mollie Moore, and Laura Sofía Pérez
Editing: Natalia Lassalle-Morillo, Laura Sofía Pérez
Producer: Natalia Lassalle-Morillo, CAVAS Films, Xiaoyue Zhang
Assistant Director: Jorge Sánchez
Sound Design and Mixing: José Iván Lebrón Moreira
Color Correcting: Oswaldo Colón Ortíz
Sound Operator: Eduardo Calero, Maxime Robillard, Natalia Lassalle-Morillo
Additional Camera: Jenica Heintzelman, Carlos Ayala, Pablo Calderón Santiago, Xiaoyue Zhang
16 mm Developing & Digitization: CineLab; Negativland
Dramaturgy: Amandla Colón, Elisa Peebles, Mireya Lucio
Production Assistants: Verónica Mojica, Sean Morillo, Amandla Colón, Mario Ruben Carrión, Laura Isabel Tropi
Movement Advisor: Sophia Treanor
Performance Advisor: Kairiana Nuñez Santaliz
Design: Luis Vázquez O'neill
Chorus: Erica Ballester, Carina del Valle Schorske, Melinda González, Micaela González, Víctor González, Zaida Adriana Goveo Balmaseda, Cristel Jusino, Liz Luyando, Sean Morillo, Camila Pérez, Kevin Emilio Pérez, Sofía Reeser del Río, G. Rosa Rey, José Antonio Rodríguez, Nina Lucia Rodríguez, Raquel Rodríguez, Rojo Robles, Estefanía Soto, Paulathena Stone, Emma Suárez-Báez, Nélida Tirado
Puerto Rico-based Cast: Angel Blanco, Francesca Carroll, Tashia Howard Arroyo, Marili Pizarro, Andrea Rovira, Janice Quevedo Santos, Víctor Torres

