Theatre Guild of Ancon

The Theatre Guild of Ancon has been around for more than half a century, and has gone through many phases as the English-speaking community has evolved.

It began as a Zonian institution, thrived on the participation of military personnel and dependents during the times of the Carter-Torrijos treaties, and more recently has found a pool of young talent in the elite English-language private schools. Many of the present notables of Panama’s thriving Spanish-language theater scene have passed through the Theatre Guild.

This year there has been a leadership change in the Guild and in the coming months there will be a monumental physical change to the physical theater, as the wooden playhouse next to the PTJ morgue will be dismantled and reassembled at Clayton.

The Guild has also gone through various changes and mixes of artistic sensibilities. All you have to do to see that is go to one of the plays and peruse the framed playbills from seasons past. Among the “safe” American theatrical standards have been interspersed original local works and controversial plays that were bound to rub certain nerves raw. For example, when the segregated Zonian way of life seemed to be forever, the Guild performed “A Raisin in the Sun.” At the little playhouse in Ancon they have done and will do shows aimed at children. Right now they’re working on an adult play.

“My Left Breast” is a one-woman show, an autobiographical work by director and playwright Susan Miller (LA Law, Thirtysomething) interpreted here by Billi Veber, who works at one of Panama’s great bastions of Americana, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

The play deals with breast cancer in particular and women’s health care in general, motherhood, the lesbian chic, sexuality, drugs and sundry other topics in a way that’s neither dumbed down nor softened into innuendo.

This is not for little kids, although the high school student who’s passing into adult sensibilities may find it both instructive and enjoyable. It’s also not for people who would have Jerry Falwell or Queen Victoria as their cultural censors, but neither is it likely to be the most appealing fare for those whose cultural heroes are Larry Flynt or the radio shock jocks. It’s a contemporary Obie-winning play about adult themes, well selected and well performed --- from what this reporter saw at a rehearsal --- for Panama’s varied and sophisticated English-language theater audience.

Catch “My Left Breast” at the Theatre Guild on the 14th or 15th, or 21st or 22nd of November at the Theatre Guild. The curtain for the one-act play goes up at 8 p.m., and the bar opens well before that. Admission is $10, but with a $30 membership you get a pass to all of the Guild’s productions this season. After the play the bar will be open for a few more minutes and then there will be a discussion among the audience, actress and production crew about the play, the issues raised therein, and the Theatre Guild of Ancon and where it’s going. For more information, call 212-0060.

Also in this section:
Theater, My Left Breast
Panamanian exhibition in New York
Jazz, the Rippingtons coming to Panama

arts

Thespianism --- right up there on the stage!