In a small Colombian village, Polonio Castro, a poor coffee farmer, is hooked on telenovelas (Latin American soap operas) when civil war and daily lottery losses force him to flee to the big city. He arrives in Bogotá with his potted plant and the dream of becoming a telenovela star; but instead finds a job as a doorman in a high-rise apartment building. As he whiles away his days conjuring up his make-believe stardom, his daydreams are interrupted by the relentless demands of the building’s quixotic residents via a video intercom system—creating a hilarious back-and-forth between live actor (Thaddeus Phillips as Polonio) and filmed actors (actual Latin American soap opera stars).

Shot on location in Bogotá, ¡EL CONQUISTADOR! was developed using classic sources (Hamlet, The Count of Monte Cristo), the international telenovela phenomenon, and an innovative fusion of live theater and film. An ingenious set transforms effortlessly from a peasant’s shack to an apartment lobby to a taxi cab to a swimming pool. Slowly, the lines between reality and fiction blur as beautiful women, dangerous criminals, illicit love affairs, long lost twins, and fate in the form of a frying pan convert humble Polonio into the protagonist of his own telenovela.

“Thaddeus Phillips would have made a great silent-film comedian. He is currently proving that in ¡El Conquistador!, an ingenious one-act, one-man show about a hapless Colombian doorman.”
New York Times

In short: life imitating art, Colombian soap opera, homage to the underdog, physical comedy, una gran aventura, televised daydream.

Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental's Thaddeus Phillips and Tatiana Mallarino collaborated with Colombia's leading TV actor and director, Victor Mallarino, to create this vivid picture of contemporary Latin America, which has earned critical acclaim across Europe and the United States. Previous Live Arts shows include The MeLTING BRiDgE (2008), Flamingo/Winnebago (2007), RED-EYE to HAVRE de GRACE (2005).

Created by Tatiana Mallarino and Thaddeus Phillips in collaboration with Victor Mallarino Direction and Set Thaddeus Phillips Co-Direction Tatiana Mallarino Lighting Jeff Sugg Sound Jamie McElhinney Video Thaddeus Phillips with Austin Switser Set Engineer Jeff Sugg Video Performers Cristina Campuzano, Luis Fernando Hoyos, Helena Mallarino, Tatiana Mallarino, Victor Mallarino, Antonio Sanint Live Performer Thaddeus Phillips

¡El Conquistador! is performed in Spanish with English supertitles.

Post-show discussion moderated by Walter Bilderback, dramaturg and literary manager, The Wilma Theater, following the performance on September 10.

To read blog articles about this show, click here.

Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental is a theater company that uses improvisation, intuition, maps, Eastern European “Action Design,” rapid-fire scene changes and wild use of media to travel through theatrical styles. Their original works have been presented at theaters and festivals across the USA & Europe. Lucidity Suitcase’s original theatrical creations include: Flamingo/Winnebago (a gypsy-jazz musical road trip across the USA), THE MeLTING BRiDgE (an apocalyptic exploration of fathers and sons and civilization collapse), Red-Eye to Havre de Grace (An Action-Opera about Edgar Allen Poe’s last days) and The Earth’s Sharp Edge (a travelogue through Morocco about tourism and terrorism). Recently, the company created Capsule 33, the first theater work to be powered entirely by renewable energy, which told the story of a Serbian astrophysicist living in the doomed Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo. ¡El CONQUISTADOR! has toured the USA and Europe, and was nominated for a Drama League Award (outstanding performance in New York), a Lucille Lortel award (outstanding solo show Off-Broadway), and a Hewes Design Award. Other original works include Lost Soles (a solo tap performance set in Wyoming and Cuba), Henry Five - Live from Times Square (a solo adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry V, with war toys), PlanetLear (a solo adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear set on a putt-putt golf course) and The Tempest (Prospero’s revenge set in a child’s swimming pool). Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental has presented work at the New York Theatre Workshop, at Festival de Otono (Madrid), La MaMa E.T.C. (New York), Sterijino Pozorje Festival (Novi Sad, Serbia), Mladi Levi Festival (Ljubljana), Nooderzon Festival (Groningen, Holland), Teatro Calderon de la Barca (Valladolid), Traverse Theater (Edinburgh), 4 + 4 Days of Movement Theater Festival (Prague), Arcola Theatre (London), Festival Internacional de Teatro (Malaga), On The Boards (Seattle), The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, The Dublin International Fringe Festival, and Festival Escena II (San Miguel de Allende, Mexico).

Upcoming projects include the Off-Broadway debut of Capsule 33 (September 2010), The Travel Agency (a new work about international border crossings, opening at the Painted Bride in April 2011) and Whale Optics (an epic new work about whale songs, fiber optic communications and the ocean, premiering at the 2011 Live Arts Festival).

Thaddeus Phillips (director; designer; 'Polonio') is a Pew Fellow who received his B.A. from Colorado College and attended DAMU in Prague. He is a protégé of Bulgarian scene designer Encho Avramov, and studied with tap master Jimmy Payne and Czech Puppet Theater Director Josef Krofta. He is the Artistic Director of The Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental, a company that makes original innovative theater based on subjects ranging from airline security to the last 7 days of Edgar Allan Poe. For Lucidity Suitcase he has designed and created Capsule 33, Flamingo/Winnebago, Red–Eye to Havre de Grace, The Tempest (in a kiddie pool), PlanetLear (King Lear performed on a putt-putt golf course), Lost Soles (a solo tap adventure about Wyoming and Cuba), The Earth’s Sharp Edge (a travelogue through Morocco, 1970’s hijackings and Newark’s ‘Liberty’ Airport). Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental’s work has been presented in the US and Europe at such venues as MassMoca, On The Boards, The Painted Bride Art Center (Philadelphia), The Arcola Theatre and Battersea Arts Center (London), Traverse Theatre (Scotland) and Buntport Theater (Denver). Phillips also worked as a writer and performer in Robert Lepage’s The Geometry of Miracles which played at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York and at The Royal National Theater in London as well as a world-tour.

Tatiana Mallarino (co-creator; co-director; 'Aminta') is from Bogotá, Colombia and is currently an artistic associate of the Buntport Theater in Denver and the Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental. While in Colombia, she was involved in television production working on the telenovela, "Leche." Tatiana directed Henry Five Live, Lost Soles and ¡El Conquistador! and appeared as Leila Khaled in The Earth's Sharp Edge. She also served as stage manager for The Tempest in London at the Arcola Theater and worked as a translator for the Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro in Bogotá translating for Ex Machina and Serbian Director Gorcin Stojanovic.

Victor Mallarino (co-creator; 'Didier') is one of the most important figures of Colombian television and theater. Victor has been involved in uncountable telenovelas, the first of which were "La Tia Julia y El Escribidor" and "Maten al Leon." More recently Victor has played the male lead in "Sangre de Lobos," "El Inutil," "La Babysister," "Porque Diablos," and "Dora la Celadora." He wrote and directed a satire of those telenovelas called "Leche" (Milk). For Telemundo in Miami, he was the host for that station's "Protagonistas de La Novela" - a reality TV show.

Drew Billiau (Lighting Designer) Lighting design credits include Opera Company of Philadelphia's Tea: A Mirror of Soul, Turandot, Madama Butterfly, Porgy and Bess, Faust, Macbeth and Hansel und Gretel; Lantern Theater's Hamlet; Lucidity Suitcase's Red Eye to Havre de Grace, The Melting Bridge and Flamingo Winnebago; New Paradise Laboratories' Fatebook and Prom; Arden Theater's Frog and Toad, All My Sons, Violet, Falsettos, and Ferdinand the Bull ; Ballet X's Le Baiser Inèvitable, They Break , Silt, M.O.M and Risk of Flight. Drew is the Resident Lighting Designer for The Opera Company of Philadelphia and Associate Designer in the industrial design firm Fine Design Associates.