La Maestra (i.e., "The Schoolteacher" in English) is a Latin American play written in 1968 by the Colombian playwright, Enrique Buenaventura (1925–2003). It is the first in his series of small one act plays, Los Papeles Del Infierno [The Roles of Hell]. Plot The play tells the story of a Colombian schoolteacher, La Maestra, who is dead. This creates an eerie, dreamlike quality to the play. Each character she speaks to in the play is someone who has held importance in her past. In the beginning she is seated on a bench and the characters she interacts with do not see her, just as she does not see them. The play opens with the teacher describing the rain in the town and how everything becomes red and muddy. The play ends after the teacher is raped by army sergeants; she cannot eat because of the traumatizing experience and it begins to rain again. Characters La Maestra is the main character. She “converses” one-sidedly with each of the following characters. In the beginning, she states that she is dead and describes where she used to live—in a house made of red clay with a straw roof. She grew up in a small town called “Hope” which was named by her father. She truly cares for the children whom she teaches; when she doesn't eat she is thinking of the children. She teaches them the history of their country, Colombia. Juana Pasambú: This is the schoolteachers’ aunt. She is the first person who replies to the schoolteacher. She questions why La Maestra lost her appetite. Pedro Pasambú: This character is the schoolteachers’ uncle. After the schoolteacher tells Pedros’ wife that she can't eat because she lost her appetite, he replies by recalling that she liked to eat bananas and corn on the cob with salt and butter. He is the second person who converses with the schoolteacher. Tobías el Tuerto: (i.e., "Squint-Eyed Tobias" in English) He was the mayor who preceded her father. He says that he brought La Maestra water from the spring where she drank when she was a child and goes on to say that the Maestra refused to drink the water. La Vieja Asunción: This is the midwife who delivered La Maestra into the world. She wails inquisitive remarks about why the schoolteacher wouldn't take things from her and why the schoolteacher spit out the soup she offered