Telo by Julián Mesri

An intrepid and revealing look at intimacy, revolution, and global identity Set within the paper-thin walls of a telo, a pay-by-the-hour sex hotel in the heart of Buenos Aires, three pairs of people across three eras of Argentine history find themselves torn between the personal and political in a perpetually changing and increasingly dangerous world. Repressed gay lovers in a tango bar, two sisters planning a...
An intrepid and revealing look at intimacy, revolution, and global identity Set within the paper-thin walls of a telo, a pay-by-the-hour sex hotel in the heart of Buenos Aires, three pairs of people across three eras of Argentine history find themselves torn between the personal and political in a perpetually changing and increasingly dangerous world. Repressed gay lovers in a tango bar, two sisters planning a terrorist attack, and a random hookup in the middle of an economic crisis are woven together in a narrative that crosses generations. Accompanied by a dynamic score that brings together tango, cumbia, and Latin rock, Telo connects the revolutions--big and small--of the past with what we face in the world today.
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Telo

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LALO (male), an Argentine tango composer and singer, 30-40s
NERO (male), a young Puerto Rican waiter at a tango bar, 20s
PAULA (female), a young Argentine member of the ERP (People's Revolutionary Army - a leftist guerilla group in Argentina in the 1960s-70s), 20s
MARTA (female), Paula's sister, also a member of the ERP, 20s EMI (female), a young American working for a start-up, 20-30s
CHARLI (male), an Argentine-American expat working as an English teacher in Buenos Aires, 20-30s
Secondary characters (doubled by the mains)
DOLORES, Lalo's wife, and later in 1979, owner of the Telo, played by same actress who plays EMI
FEDE, An older man who runs/owns the Telo in 2019/is a young soldier in 1979, played by the same actor who plays NERO.

Development History

  • Workshop
    ,
    Columbia University
    ,
    2022

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