It is no mystery to anyone that the Valparaíso Profundo cultural space located on the Fisher scale of Cerro Concepción operates in a place where public baths for women were formerly located, where there were tubs that were filled with sea water, they were Los Baños del Almendro, name adopted due to the characteristics of the ravine located in the Urriola descent.
With this rich heritage legacy, Alejandra Jiménez and Ricardo Ogalde, main managers of Valparaíso Profundo, recover the site that was a semi-abandoned warehouse and that today has a small theater, a cafeteria and a visual arts gallery and, More importantly, a large programmatic grid full of activities and artists who develop their craft there.
With this background, they created the play La Casa Azul in 2022, a montage that recalls the life of these public baths in Almendro and that today can be re-released thanks to the fact that the programming has financing from the Support Program for Collaborating Cultural Organizations of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage, Call 2023.
“Relaunching this work was a heartfelt desire of the entire team since it comes to embody and represent part of the history of our heritage Valparaíso, a story that in turn accounts for a moment of transition for the city and its water supply problems. vital element” said Alejandra Jiménez, director of Valparaíso Profundo.
The argument
The Blue House tells a love story that tells us about the old Baños del Almendro and little stories from Fisher Passage back in the ’20s. Ninoshka, confused with a love and having been told a great truth, hopes to go north to look for her brother who suddenly arrives in the city fleeing from the saltpeter mines.
The new and experienced cast
Recharged comes the revival of this editorial work by Valparaíso Profundo with the presence of prominent actors and actresses who have several works and appearances on television to their credit. Javiera Martínez, Enrique Saldes, Daniela Ramos, Fernando Mena, Vilma Pérez and Rodolfo Cepeda are part of this new cast. Meanwhile, this new Casa Azul brings powerful musical and lighting spatial proposals that are displayed in this mini season of the play that consists of 4 performances and has Alejandra Jiménez herself in dramaturgy and direction, Ricardo Ogalde in the design of the space scenic, Ricardo Lobos in charge of the sound space, Nicolás Gautier as responsible for the lighting space and David Legue in the costumes.
Theatrical Device
Jiménez and Ogalde are a couple who have been dedicating themselves to the performing arts for decades through the collective they have called Diseño Teatral that was born back in 2004 with the staging of La Chanchería 7, and then working with the trilogy La Salvación Apócrifa, Kasim and The Nylon Houses (2005, 2008 and 2010). Then they develop stage proposals from different companies: Woman from Nowhere, Háblame, Contigo pan y Onion, Todo es campo, among others. In 2022, La Casa Azul premieres for presentations and an important invitation to Escenafem 2023 as female dramaturgy.
In addition, Ogalde and Jiménez were creators of the Teatro Escuela La Matriz, initiators of the Sala Pascal and the restored chapel of the SSCC of Valparaíso where the Cultural Device Hall of the University of Los Lagos operated.
