“There’s something that doesn’t need to be translated,” Bortolamedi says. “And that’s the aesthetic language that we use, which we think is really important.”

This aesthetic language is key to creating a “theatre under the sand,” which Bortolamedi identifies as a key goal of the production. This idea was coined by playwright Federico Lorca, the author of TEATRO’s last production “Baja La Arena, El Público.”

“We wanted to reinvent theatre,” Bortolamedi says. “The theatre under the sand is a theatre of fantasies, of dreams and desires. Not necessarily a realistic theatre, which is just a representation of something that is there, but a theatre that seeks to define what lies behind the facade that we see everyday.”

“The Adams Pool Theatre is amazing for the show,” Colon says, “because it has so much personality on its own. We try to exploit that and make it like you’re stepping into a different world when you step into that theatre.”

“This is part of a larger project of TEATRO,” she continues, “which is doing theatre in new, unconventional ways.”

The play’s focus on Latin American events marks a new phase in the history of TEATRO. “It’s the first Latin American play that we’ve done with TEATRO, and I think that’s a very important point,” Colon says.

“Before we were only doing Spanish playwrights,” Bortolamedi says. “So this is kind of a big step for us, showcasing what we think is the essence of Latin America as a region.”

With this exploration of Latin American history, universal linguistic experience, redefinition of theatre, and the nature of self-identity, “Jardín de Pulpos” hopes to provide a revelatory and memorable show, as is the goal of TEATRO as a whole. “We hope to bring a different point of view that’s not seen in many of the plays and arts at the Harvard campus,” Alvarez says. “By exploring other cultures and other languages, we expose different ideas.”