GALA Hispanic Theatre is pleased to announce the U.S. Spanish language premiere of Las Paredes (The Walls). This sharp and deeply ironic play by the controversial Argentine Griselda Gambaro, one of Latin America's foremost contemporary playwrights, is the second production of our 2006-2007 season, Her Work, His Staging, an ongoing celebration of Hispanic female playwrights. Directed by Gabriel Garcia, the play runs February 1 to 25 2007 at GALA Theatre-Tivoli, at 3333 14th Street NW.

Performances are in Spanish with English surtitles, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 4 pm. Press Night and Noche de GALA on Saturday, February 3 will be hosted by His Excellency, Mr. Octavio Bordon, Ambassador of Argentina to the United States. The production is made possible in part with generous support from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, and the Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation.

Las Paredes is a provocative work that echoes the "absurdism" of Eugene Ionesco: A man is kidnapped by two eccentric civil employees who inexplicably charge him with a crime. They lock him in an otherwise innocuous room and begin to do their dirty work. Meanwhile, the man's physical surroundings slowly begin to change, presenting a metaphor for the randomness and helplessness of his condition. Gambaro's brilliant use of drama and dark humor portray the individual's inability to rise up against aggressors in a totalitarian state. Written in 1965, the play resonates with contemporary meaning as we witness the U.S. military involvement in Iraq and the "war on terror"-a time of heated debate about the definitions and limitations of torture, secret CIA prisons, government corruption and lies, and public complacency as human rights are flagrantly ignored.

Griselda Gambaro, a second-generation Argentine with Italian roots, was born in Buenos Aires in 1928. She is a world-renowned, prize-winning playwright, novelist, and short story writer. For decades she has created allegorical dramas that address issues relating to the oppressive political and social environment of Argentina in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, but her work reaches beyond the country's borders to make universal statements about power dynamics, human nature, and the role women play in the larger social order. Her use of black humor underscores the absurdities of the Argentine political situation and breaks with realistic drama insofar as she never specifies a time or place, nor refers to her native country. After her novel Ganarse la muerte was banned in 1977, Gambaro and her family went into self- imposed exile in Barcelona, Spain, until 1980. Only in the 1990s did Gambaro's work began to be produced with some frequency in the United States.

Gabriel Garcia (Director) is an award-winning theater artist who has directed more than six productions at GALA since the 1980s, the most recent being El angel de la culpa, in 2003. Born in Argentina, he studied theatre in Buenos Aires and in Paris. In 1984 his documentary The Promised Land won an Emmy Award, and Timeless, a film written and directed by Garcia, was presented at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. He is currently finishing the production of a documentary on the history of the tango and Argentinean painter Benito Quinquela Martin.

GALA company member Cynthia Benjamin (Valet) appears in her second play of the 2006-2007 season after her role in Valor, agravio, y mujer. She performed in GALA's hit production Real Women Have Curves in 2005. Carlos Castillo (Young Man) is a GALA company member who most recently starred in GALA's 2006 production of El rufian Castrucho. Castillo received a 2000 Helen Hayes Award nomination for his work in GALA's El burlador de Sevilla. Manuel Cabrera- Santos (Investigator), also a company member, was last seen in GALA's 2003 production El angel de la culpa. He had a walk-on role in the 2005 movie The Visiting, starring Nicole Kidman, and co-produced the movie Se habla espanol.

The unique set designs for Las Paredes are by Guillermo de la Torre, a world renowned and award-winning designer from Buenos Aires. Light design is by Ayun Fedorcha, whose work in La Chunga was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award, and costumes are by Alessandra D'Ovidio, a two time Helen Hayes Award nominee for her designs at GALA. Sound design is by David Crandall. Brendon Vierra is Technical Director. Hugo Medrano is Producer, Ariadna Alvarado is Assistant Director, and Mariana Osorio is Production Manager.

Single tickets are $30 on Thursday and Sunday, and $34 on Friday and Saturday. Tickets for students, senior citizens (65+) and military are $20 (Thurs/Sun) and $26 (Fri/Sat). Additional discounts are available for groups of 10 or more. Tickets are also available at TICKETplace. Tickets for Noche de GALA and Benefit party are $50 per individual or $90 per couple.