Teatro Popular Criado Pelas Mulheres da Fortaleza da Mulher Maya (FOMMA) nos Altos de Chiapas, México.

Abstract

FOMMA (Fortaleza de la Mujer Maya) is a collective of Mayan women formed in 1994 by  Petrona de la Cruz Cruz (from Zinacantán, Chiapas) and Isabel Juárez Espinosa (from Aguacatenango, Chiapas) Mayan women who use theatre as a creative tool toward education  and community building. They are performers, playwrights, and teachers who tour their work in their communities and internationally, performing plays that focus on women’s and indigenous rights, literacy, health, and education in the Tzeltal and Tzotzil indigenous languages. Their theatrical work, is a creative, political and educational process based on the woman’s autobiographical testimonies whose main objective is to show their audience their ability to reflect and  create change  from the social and  emotional challenging circumstances they may  face in their everyday life. Through the body expression and personal testimonies the actresses document how they live, think and resist oppression  from a gender perspective.