Cultura y noticias hispanas del Valle del Hudson
La Voz Invites You: Six Episodes in Search of a Patriarch
World premiere of a play in Spanish.
Por Tania Ladino Ramirez
May 2026 It could be a town somewhere in the Caribbean, where time does not move forward but instead circles back on itself. Where memories repeat like waves, and the figure of a patriarch, an eternal, excessive, and solitary dictator, appears and disappears among music, shadows, and the density of the air. That is the atmosphere of Six Episodes in Search of a Patriarch, a Spanish-language play created by iD Studio Theatre that will have its world premiere on May 30 and 31 at Bard College.
For readers with good memory, iD Studio Theatre, based in the Bronx, is the same organization that a few years ago brought La Voz to the Hudson Valley with its successful Spanish-language theater productions: ¡Arsenio!, Cumbia de mi Corazón, and Pedro Infante: One Hundred Years I Think of You, which had already been presented in New York City. This time, the production of Six Episodes in Search of a Patriarch is a world premiere that has been in development since August of last year with community performers from the Hudson Valley trained by Germán Jaramillo himself and his team.
Germán Jaramillo is an award-winning actor and director born in Colombia and co-founder of Teatro Libre de Bogotá (1973) and its School for Actor Training (1988). For his performances as an actor, he received several Best Actor of the Year awards in Colombia. In 2000, he starred in the film Our Lady of the Assassins, directed by Barbet Schroeder, for which he gained international recognition. In 2001, he moved to New York, where he founded iD Studio Theater NY, where he serves as Artistic Director. With iD Studio, he has directed and produced more than 30 plays, initially with Alianza Dominicana, Theater for the New City, and other organizations in New York. On television, he has acted in the international series La Bruja for Caracol Televisión, in Narcos for Netflix, and in the second season of One Hundred Years of Solitude.
The play premiering on Saturday, May 30 is inspired by The Autumn of the Patriarch (1975), one of the most complex and ambitious novels by Gabriel García Márquez. In it, the author constructs a portrait of absolute power through a fragmented narrative, without linear structure, and with multiple voices that intertwine. “It is probably the most difficult novel in modern Spanish,” says director Germán Jaramillo. “The narrative is completely disorienting… it moves between different voices and time periods with total freedom.” This complexity has meant that it has rarely been adapted for the stage. In this production, instead of adapting the entire text, the creative team chose to select key moments and build six episodes based on the universe of the original work.
“This is a respectful and humble approach to a text that is almost sacred,” Jaramillo noted about this novel, which functions as a synthesis of Latin American dictatorships, focusing more on the psychology of the loneliness of a despot who lives more than 200 years than on a plot of concrete historical events. For Jaramillo, the center of this work is not political, but human: “It is a very dense, very deep character… the novel is poetry about the loneliness of power.”
The cast is composed mostly of participants with no prior theater experience, such as Manuel Blas, Angélica Farfan, Mauricio Ferreyra, Gabriela Lauria, Beatriz Parra, Elvira Rodríguez, and Jennifer Restrepo, from different countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, El Salvador, and Colombia, along with Cuban professional actor Sandor De-Juan González.
“I don’t call them actors,” Jaramillo emphasizes. “They are citizens who want to express themselves through theater. It is a mysterious impulse because exposing oneself to the gaze of others means confronting oneself.”
Jaramillo explains that this mix of backgrounds has been fundamental to the process, as the professional actor teaches technique, rigor, and precision to participants, while they teach humility, listening, and a sense of reality.
For many, this experience has been their first approach to the stage. “It was like fulfilling a frustrated dream I had,” shared Beatriz Parra, one of the participants, in an interview with Mariel Fiori for Radio Kingston that took place in the early months of the process. “This has definitely been a one hundred percent enjoyable experience,” added Mauricio Ferreyra, another cast member.
The staging is supported by a structure inspired by Greek theater: a collective chorus, made up of seven performers, and a narrator or coryphaeus, a role assumed by the professional actor. “The chorus moves as a whole,” the director describes. “And the coryphaeus is the one who tells the story.”
The process has included physical training, work with original music, and the exploration of archetypes, from everyday figures to symbolic characters from the novel’s universe, as part of a collective creation process.
“At first there was resistance, because the text is very difficult,” Jaramillo recalls. “But when they understood it, they became fascinated by its beauty.”
In a landscape where Spanish-language theater productions are still limited in the Hudson Valley, this premiere represents a rare opportunity for audiences. Six Episodes in Search of a Patriarch offers a stage experience that combines literature, music, body, and community in our language. A meeting point between tradition and contemporary exploration, between the individual and the collective.
An open invitation to be part of that unrepeatable moment when the lights go down, the stage lights up, and a story —told by many voices— begins to take shape.
All proceeds will support La Voz, this Spanish-language community magazine you hold in your hands, which brings to life the stories, culture, and Hispanic voices of the Hudson Valley and the Catskills. La Voz informs, and also connects, celebrates, and uplifts the community. By attending, you will not only enjoy a unique artistic experience —but also contribute to the continued growth of this publication, helping it tell our stories and strengthen our roots.
La Voz, Cultura y noticias hispanas del Valle de Hudson
Germán Jaramillo is an award-winning actor and director born in Colombia and co-founder of Teatro Libre de Bogotá (1973) and its School for Actor Training (1988). For his performances as an actor, he received several Best Actor of the Year awards in Colombia. In 2000, he starred in the film Our Lady of the Assassins, directed by Barbet Schroeder, for which he gained international recognition. In 2001, he moved to New York, where he founded iD Studio Theater NY, where he serves as Artistic Director. With iD Studio, he has directed and produced more than 30 plays, initially with Alianza Dominicana, Theater for the New City, and other organizations in New York. On television, he has acted in the international series La Bruja for Caracol Televisión, in Narcos for Netflix, and in the second season of One Hundred Years of Solitude.
The play premiering on Saturday, May 30 is inspired by The Autumn of the Patriarch (1975), one of the most complex and ambitious novels by Gabriel García Márquez. In it, the author constructs a portrait of absolute power through a fragmented narrative, without linear structure, and with multiple voices that intertwine. “It is probably the most difficult novel in modern Spanish,” says director Germán Jaramillo. “The narrative is completely disorienting… it moves between different voices and time periods with total freedom.” This complexity has meant that it has rarely been adapted for the stage. In this production, instead of adapting the entire text, the creative team chose to select key moments and build six episodes based on the universe of the original work.
“This is a respectful and humble approach to a text that is almost sacred,” Jaramillo noted about this novel, which functions as a synthesis of Latin American dictatorships, focusing more on the psychology of the loneliness of a despot who lives more than 200 years than on a plot of concrete historical events. For Jaramillo, the center of this work is not political, but human: “It is a very dense, very deep character… the novel is poetry about the loneliness of power.”
Community on Stage
One of the most unique aspects of the project is its community-based nature. The play emerged from a series of workshops that began in Kingston in the summer of 2025, in collaboration with La Voz magazine, Radio Kingston, and made possible thanks to the support of the New York State Council on the Arts.The cast is composed mostly of participants with no prior theater experience, such as Manuel Blas, Angélica Farfan, Mauricio Ferreyra, Gabriela Lauria, Beatriz Parra, Elvira Rodríguez, and Jennifer Restrepo, from different countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, El Salvador, and Colombia, along with Cuban professional actor Sandor De-Juan González.
“I don’t call them actors,” Jaramillo emphasizes. “They are citizens who want to express themselves through theater. It is a mysterious impulse because exposing oneself to the gaze of others means confronting oneself.”
Jaramillo explains that this mix of backgrounds has been fundamental to the process, as the professional actor teaches technique, rigor, and precision to participants, while they teach humility, listening, and a sense of reality.
For many, this experience has been their first approach to the stage. “It was like fulfilling a frustrated dream I had,” shared Beatriz Parra, one of the participants, in an interview with Mariel Fiori for Radio Kingston that took place in the early months of the process. “This has definitely been a one hundred percent enjoyable experience,” added Mauricio Ferreyra, another cast member.
The Language of the Body
Far from a traditional dialogue-based play, Six Episodes in Search of a Patriarch is built through image, movement, and music. The piece has been co-created with choreographer Daniel Fetecua and composer Pablo Mayor, who, in addition to creating the music and choreography, have connected the community actors with a stage language in which the body and sound are central. “It is more a spectacle of images than of text,” Jaramillo explains. “The body has to learn to listen, to react, to be present.”The staging is supported by a structure inspired by Greek theater: a collective chorus, made up of seven performers, and a narrator or coryphaeus, a role assumed by the professional actor. “The chorus moves as a whole,” the director describes. “And the coryphaeus is the one who tells the story.”
The process has included physical training, work with original music, and the exploration of archetypes, from everyday figures to symbolic characters from the novel’s universe, as part of a collective creation process.
“At first there was resistance, because the text is very difficult,” Jaramillo recalls. “But when they understood it, they became fascinated by its beauty.”
A Project Born in Community
The development of the play has been deeply connected to Radio Kingston and La Voz magazine, spaces that not only shared the initial call but also served as places for meeting and creation. “Thanks to the support of La Voz and the radio station, we were able to begin this project,” says Jaramillo. “We would not have had the working conditions without that support.”In a landscape where Spanish-language theater productions are still limited in the Hudson Valley, this premiere represents a rare opportunity for audiences. Six Episodes in Search of a Patriarch offers a stage experience that combines literature, music, body, and community in our language. A meeting point between tradition and contemporary exploration, between the individual and the collective.
An open invitation to be part of that unrepeatable moment when the lights go down, the stage lights up, and a story —told by many voices— begins to take shape.
All proceeds will support La Voz, this Spanish-language community magazine you hold in your hands, which brings to life the stories, culture, and Hispanic voices of the Hudson Valley and the Catskills. La Voz informs, and also connects, celebrates, and uplifts the community. By attending, you will not only enjoy a unique artistic experience —but also contribute to the continued growth of this publication, helping it tell our stories and strengthen our roots.
Six Episodes in Search of a Patriarch
Spanish-Language Theater Premiere
Saturday, May 30, 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, May 31, 4:00 p.m.
Location: Old Gym, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson
Tickets: $25, https://bit.ly/BoletosEpisodios
All proceeds benefit La Voz Magazine
COPYRIGHT 2026Spanish-Language Theater Premiere
Saturday, May 30, 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, May 31, 4:00 p.m.
Location: Old Gym, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson
Tickets: $25, https://bit.ly/BoletosEpisodios
All proceeds benefit La Voz Magazine
La Voz, Cultura y noticias hispanas del Valle de Hudson
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