Monkey Business Theatre

6. The Future

6 The Future for the mayas time is thought to be cyclical. The future repeats and develops from the past. Just so, Mayan myths repeat old truths, but adapt them constantly to the present situation. The same is true of the Monkey Business Theatre. Currently, the major support for the cooperative is from the State of Chiapas and Oxfam International. We were concerned that government involvement might threaten the cooperative’s autonomy, but the Chiapas officials have given us total freedom. However, support from Oxfam is now conditional , requiring that the Monkey Business Theatre attend to poverty and the search for peace. The actors were upbraided for ignoring a crisis in Zinacant án during which the Partido Revolucionario Democrático (prd) members of the civil government and their supporters in several hamlets were cutting off all water to the Zapatista members of those hamlets, arguing that the Zapatistas were refusing to enter the religious hierarchy or to perform community activities. The Zapatistas’ promise to do so was ignored. After increased harassment, more than a hundred families fled their homes. Then, two hundred masked Zapatistas from their highland headquarters in Oventic offered to escort those families back to their hamlets. The march was overseen by five hundred police with a helicopter overhead. Despite the government’s insistence that tranquility has been restored, nothing has been resolved, and tension remains high. Indeed, the Zapatista leader, Subcomandante Marcos, focused on this act to show that the supposedly “leftist” prd party was no such thing. Seeing that no political party would support the Indians, he called on people to ignore the 2006 presidential election and to unite in a broad campaign for change. Despite Oxfam’s admonishments, the Zinacantec members of Sna Jtz’ibajom, as well as those from Chamula and Tenejapa, were unwilling to become embroiled in this dangerous political upheaval. Consequently, they [  ] monkey business theatre came up with a trick to keep surviving. There now is a new version of De todo para todos (From All for All) that focuses on the necessity of sharing water in the Indian communities. Last year, puppeteering was revived by Antonio Coello, who directed El General Grillo [General Cricket], which was presented by the Theatre to Lacandóns at Naja. The Monkey Business Theatre will repeat the moral lessons of the past in the future, but “for women as well as for men, the discipline of the theatre itself can work for change within a culture as well as in the larger world in which it presents itself” (Underiner 2004, 76). On December 15, 2006, the cooperative received from President Fox the Premio Nacional de Ciencia y Artes; Arte Tradicional y Popular. “This prize is the highest recognition that the Mexican Government bestows on those who have followed such a special course and have carried out endeavors that contribute to enlarging the cultural, scientific and technological patrimony of our country.” More specifically, “arte tradicional y popular” refers to Indian cultural achievement. Upon receipt of the prize, our president, Xun, urged President Fox to create an Instituto de Ciencia y Artes Maya at a university level. The president stated that “Tomorrow I will set the first stone.” Currently, in the role of untitled academic adviser, I am a member of the commission, led by Sna Jtz’ibajom, to create this institute as a project of the new Universidad Intercultural de Chiapas, based in San Cristóbal. Since the founding of Sna Jtz’ibajom, its members had dreamt of creating an Indian-directed autonomous cultural unit of high prestige. They hope that such an institute will stimulate greater respect for and wider presentation of their plays, as well as permit them to train the younger generation to become actors and playwrights, ensuring a long life for Mayan theatre. ...