UN RATO (A While)

A MULTIDISCIPLINARY PERFORMANCE INSTALLATION

THREE INTIMATE PERFORMANCES

ONLY 20 AUDIENCE MEMBERS PER PERFORMANCE

What happens when time stops moving forward? Perhaps, at last, we can look inward.

Un Rato (A While) is an immersive performance uniting theatre, dance, music, and visual art, developed by three Latin American and Latino artists in collaboration with Houston's artistic community.

For three consecutive nights, SITE Gallery will transform into an immersive universe where theatre, dance, and the visual arts engage in a dialogue exploring our relationship with time, space, and contemporary existence.

This approximately 50-minute multidisciplinary performance installation invites the audience to move through the gallery's segmented spaces, inhabited by micro-theatre pieces, exuberant choreography, performance art, and multimedia installations.

The work stems from a reflection on simultaneous time and eternity—a nonlinear time with no defined beginning or end. In contrast to the biblical conception of genesis and apocalypse, and the capitalist transformation of time into a productive tool, Un Rato proposes that we stop. That we take some time—or even lose some.

In a world where every minute must be utilized, measured, and converted into output—including our interactions on social media—the act of pausing becomes a gesture of resistance.

INSIDE THE EXPERIENCE

Developed under the direction of and in collaboration with artists from theatre, dance, and the visual arts, the experience brings together more than ten actors, dancers, and performers from the Houston community.

The audience does not observe from a safe distance; they find themselves inside the work.

Each section of the structure offers an intimate, limited-capacity space where physical proximity transforms the relationship between spectators and artists.

The compartmentalized architecture of the silos serves as a fractured image of contemporary life. Within these distinct spaces emerge narratives, gestures, and capsules of existence that speak to loss, oppression, the need for connection, political rhetoric, and even mockery. These fractures represent more than breaks; they are sites where it is possible to come together, rebuild, and begin anew.

The multimedia installation establishes a playful dialogue between the real and the virtual. Fragmented images, fleeting narratives, simultaneous connections, and audiovisual stimuli recreate the overstimulation characteristic of our digital interactions.

Yet the work does not seek to escape this noise, but rather to pass through it. Each fragment offers a possibility: to observe, to participate, to get lost, or to recognize oneself.

Improvisation and interaction with the audience ensure that every performance is unique and unrepeatable. Dispersed narratives eventually converge into a collective portrait: a disjointed society whose values and bonds seem to fragment, even as power and resources become increasingly concentrated.

Amidst this contradiction, the space compels us to be together—if only for a while.

Un Rato invites us to suspend the linearity of time and experience the present moment in a qualitative way. It evokes circularity, the eternal return, and that which transcends us—that which lies beyond our control.

The very act of questioning is, in itself, a form of resistance.

Three nights. A transformed space. A shared experience that happens only once, yet may continue to resonate long afterward.

For perhaps remembering that we are time is also a way to reclaim our inner freedom.

CREATIVE TEAM

Mariela G. Domínguez — Producer and Artistic Director
Ángeles Romero — Acting Director
Lídice Núñez — Choreographer

ACTORS: Roger Palominos, Esteban Gago, Nataly DeVous, Elda Ramos, and Francisco Ramos.
DANCERS: Adam Castaneda, Jade Devault, Sarah Kay Havemann, Kylee Miller, and Soren Rivero.

PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

• Audience capacity: Up to 20 people per performance
• Age guidance: Ages 16+ if accompanied
• Content advisory: Adult themes
• Technical advisory: Flashing and rapidly moving lights and projections, as well as haze effects
• Running time: Approximately 50 minutes
• Intermission: None
• Languages: English and Spanish

This event is supported in part by the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance.