Women's Activism NYC

Egly Larreynaga

1980 - Today

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Her love for theater and the reality of thousands of Salvadoran women led Egly Larreynaga to create La Cachada, a theater company made up of women from marginalized backgrounds who, through their autobiographical plays, depict life in one of the most violent countries in Latin America. Egly Larreynaga was born in 1980 in El Salvador, the daughter of revolutionary parents, both militants, and later guerrillas, of the Popular Liberation Forces. Her childhood was spent amidst much political and geographical movement, as her family had to escape repression several times, finally settling in Nicaragua. Egly went on to study economics at university, while taking workshops to become a professional actress. In 2004 she went to live in Spain, where she stayed for 7 years, until she returned to El Salvador in 2011 to participate in a documentary. Faced with the reality of her country, Egly felt the need to do theater there, to show through representation the social conflicts of a country crossed by war. Thus, together with two friends, she created the company Teatro del Azoro with a social focus, representing issues such as sexual abuse and violence against women, in plays such as “Los más solos”, “Made in El Salvador” and “De Bordar en Bordar se me fue la vida”. But for Egly, having her own company was not enough, so she approached a women's organization to offer theater workshops. Even though the participants had to stop working to learn the acting craft, the result was so successful that they decided to form a company. Thus, five women, including street vendors and domestic workers, Wendy Hernández, Evelyn Chileno, Magdalena Henríquez, Magali Lemus and Ruth Vega, formed “La Cachada”, a company directed by Egly where they perform their own stories that shed light on the social problems that exist in El Salvador. They began practicing in small classrooms, and today they have become a unique group of women in their country, not only because they are made up of marginalized actresses, but also because they are an autobiographical example of the inequality and discrimination experienced by women in one of the most violent countries in the world. The success of the company and its approach led them to premiere the play “Si vos no hubieras nacido” at the Ibero-American Theater Festival earlier this year, which tells how women, according to their social and economic conditions, receive the news that they are pregnant. This play is expected to be released in Spain next season.

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