Memories in the making...

Monday, April 8th, we continued rehearsals first thing in the morning, working 8am to noon at the UNAH's newly inaugurated  Teatro Francisco Salvador.  We still need to find roles for all the students participating but slowly and surely we’re making our way through the piece.  We spent a good part of Thursday, last week, going through the text and creating new dialogue for a number of new characters. 

Friday I introduced the idea that the play start with a robbery and mugging perpetrated on Sueño, he’s been beaten up and that’s why he’s dying.  With all the talk about violence and murder in the country (I heard a statistic yesterday that someone is killed every 78 minutes) it seemed appropriate as well as dramatic.  

However, I can't help but wonder whether I’m overstepping boundaries, inadvertently imposing my ideas about Honduran society onto this play which a Honduran has written, and Hondurans will perform predominantly for Hondurans (and a few US Embassy folk.)  I check in with Blanca, the playwright, and the students ~ they like the idea of building upon her metaphoric characters with a theatricalized reality, such as this staged mugging.  

So we interrupted rehearsal for a mini makeshift stage combat workshop, many thanks to my recent work with fight choreographer Kristen Mun and also John Armour, who’ve kept my training fresh. I’ve been thinking about my teachers a lot this past week, very grateful for all the things I’ve been taught over the years.

This impromptu training is sort of the way things have been going in rehearsal, the needs of the play have inspired the opportunities to discuss movement, character, blocking, focus, dramatic arc, choreography, intention, projection, etc.…

I'm hoping to write more entries that fill in the gaps/memories from this week before they've faded.  

Today I met the students of the Proyecto Piloto 7-14, a pre and after-school program that is part of a larger federal initiative to combat urban poverty.  I was asked to start off by providing a motivational speech for 90 children aged 7 to 14 years old. This was an interesting challenge, 7 and 14 year-olds have much different tastes!  And I'm struck by the fact that a statement like "You can make it if you work hard enough!" isn't as motivating here as it might be to a Portland audience.  These children see people working plenty hard all around them, with little "success".  So we talk about what it means to be a hero (aka the protagonist, in dramatic structure) and how they can be heroes in their own communities... how strength is often found in knowing that your actions are meaningful to people around you.  I told the story of St. George, and they most enjoyed the part where I played the dragon...

After the speech I met with a group of about 15 who are focused on theatre, and we had a good time creating characters together...  These are bright, creative children, respectful and fun.

Each night of this week I attended a different event in the XXIII Festival Internacional de las Artes Escénicas Bambú 2013, a week of theatre, music, storytelling ~ Honduras' most important cultural festival of the year. The line-up is terrific, the music is especially wonderful and diverse, from jazz to rock to folk and grunge. Grupo Teatro Bambú has produced this festival for 23 years in a row!  

with the inspriing director Luisa Cruz,
one of the founders and leaders
of Grupo Teatro Bambú

Attending the festival, I got a sense of the strong feelings shared by the audience about their country.  There's great love and pride for Honduras, and the desire for change seems to be on everyone’s mind.  Musicians sang a number of political songs, such as 'La Huelga!' about an historic strike held against United Fruit in 1954, that in effect dismantled the exploitation by the banana growers, ending Honduras' status as a Banana Republic ~ and everyone in the audience sings along.  

There's also a great feeling of solidarity with its regional neighbors, as one after another performer urges us to work together to create a unified Central America.  A common refrain from the stages: ¡Que viva el Centro America!  

Valle de Angeles

The wonderful Beverly Thacker, Cultural Affairs officer for the US Embassy, and her husband Carl picked me on Sunday at noon for a day trip to Valle de Angeles which is about 22km northwest of Tegucigalpa.  We spent a lovely afternoon of walking through this small town, eating lunch, visiting the gift shops, town square, art gallery...

On the drive, the countryside landscape is bit dry in spots. Brush fires are common this time of year, late summer.

Las viberas ~ Roadside greenhouses

Many of Tegucigalpa's gardens are

filled with flowers & plants from Valle de Angeles

Valle de Angeles streets we strolled...

Left, Anafre, a special appetizer
made with melted cheese, beans, topped with ground beef.
To the right, lunch ~ so happy to see plantains!
All delicious...

The restaurant is called La Casa de las Abuelas, a family home filled with antiques.  Honduras is renowned for its carved wooden artisanry decorating boxes, wall hangings, furniture and here, this set of antique chairs in the house of the grandmothers.









La Casa de las Abuelas...

At the amazing Galeria Sixtina, a wonderful gallery filled with fine art, our last stop and it was beautiful.



Thank you Beverly and Carl for a wonderful afternoon!





Later that evening, went to the Maya-TV station to appear on the talk show, En Confianza (In Confidence) with host Pedro Grave de Peralta.  The theme of the show was the XXIII Festival Internacional de las artes escenicas Bambú 2013.   Seen here: Clowns Patricia Pardo & Company (Spain), Pedro Grave de Peralta, & Teatro Bambú company leaders Danilo Lagos, Luisa Cruz & Edgar Valeriano!

A good day, and the two days since have been chock full with rehearsals in the morning, working with the younger kids aged 7-14 in the afternoon and attending the theatre festival in the evenings!  So grateful...

R&R...

Today was my day off!  Slept in, ran, went to the mall, spent a few hours in the hotel's business center at their computer... now I'm sitting poolside, listening to loud dance music, waiting for my hamburgues de vegetales... it's not terribly exciting but kinda swell at the same time. My glass of vino tinto has arrived.

Last night they had a terrific salsa band playing but not many people were dancing. This courtyard is their open air nightclub, small groups sitting on cushioned rattan furniture eating sushi.  I'm leaning back on a chaise lounge.  And not only is this a nice looking place, the folks who work here are great. If you're ever in Tegucigalpa I highly recommend the Hotel Real Intercontinental...

At the mall I had an interesting conversation as I was sitting eating my pupusas de quesilla (Honduran cheese) with an older gentleman who sat down near me and identified himself (much later) as a catedrático, a professor, but of a higher rank, a dean? In any case, his knowledge was encyclopedic. He started off talking about how happy he was to finally sit down after running errands all day and soon he was talking to me about the Roman Republic, which preceded the Empire.  How the Republic had conquered Greece at Corinth.  Sometime soon after, at the Olympics, the Romans announced that the soldiers guarding Greece should be Greek, not Roman (though they would still be Roman subjects). This caused a day of celebration in Greece, and the Olympic games were paused. His point was, the US shouldn't have taken over the lands that were gained by Treaty of Guadalupe (the Southwest) but should have allowed Mexico to have retained some control.  If they'd done so, he figured, the US would have controlled all of Mexico by now.

I invited him to see the show I'm directing with the students.  He warned me not to speak to anyone about the government.  Also urged me to reconsider the title of the play, Esperanza para un nuevo país (Hope for a New Country).  He felt it might insult the people.  I could see his point.

The image today is of Lempira, a war chieftan of the Lencas of western Honduras during the 1530's. Lempira led the resitance to Francisco de Montejo and the Spanish Conquistadores who attempted to conquer and incorporate the region in to the the province of Honduras.  Based in Cerquin Hill, Lempira managed to gather an army of almost 30,000 soldiers from 200 villages.  As a result other groups took arms in the valley of Comayagua and Olancho.  Spanish attempts to stop him were unsuccessful, until 1537. 

His name was given to Honduras currency in 1931 and his image is on the 1L. bill.  

Timbers won today...

Small world!

 with José Luis López, Mariela Zavala,
José Luis Recinos  and Tito Ochoa 

Here's a cool international coincidence...

This evening I went to see Teatro Memorias' production of La Muerte y La Doncella (Death and the Maiden) by Ariel Dorfman, a challenging  play about revenge set in Chile after the fall of the Pinochet regime.  The show was very well done by the ensemble which included Jose Luis Recinas, the Director of the Escuela Nacional de Arte Dramatico (ENAD).  The very cool coincidence is that I was introduced to the director, Tito Ochoa, and when I mentioned I was visiting from Portland, he asked me if I knew Michael Griggs ~ my friend, theatre artist and member of the Miracle's Play Selection Committee!  (Hey Michael, Tito says hello!)

Michael visited Honduras back in the 80's and Tito had been one of his students!  Tito went on to work in Czechoslovakia for 8 years and then in Colombia, where he co-founded the Escuela Nacional de Arte Dramatico with the National Theatre.  Tito returned to Honduras where's he's spearheaded not only the launch of Teatro Memorias but also the fundraising to create their new theater, the first alternative theatre venue in the city.

Seeing the show was a great way to end this first week of rehearsals and workshops.  At left are the students and a couple of the instructors of the ENAD who have been participating in the workshop these past few days, a great group of talented, dedicated young artists.  Theatre is an uncertain field in Honduras; I've been told there's virtually no government support and this translates into few training opportunities for the serious artist and then limited resources with which to produce professionally. These young artists and their instructors are true risk-takers; that spirit is evident in their willingness to approach the various physical and emotional explorations we undertook this week.  It's been an honor to work with them.


Rehearsals continue for Esperanza para un pais mejor.  The play is about 20-25 minutes long and it's been great to have a good amount of time to rehearse and build skills as we go.  Today we worked on: stage combat techniques and gave the students time to beat each other up safely!  At right, three of the actors in the play.  Siria plays La Codicia (Greed), Luis is the Presidential candidate, and Alejandra is his running mate.  They are pointing to his vote-getting beauty mark...

I can imagine these young actors working at Teatro Memorias someday!

Bienvenidos

Dear family and friends, welcome to my blog about my visit to Tegucigalpa, Honduras.  I'll be here from April 1-13, 2013, working as an Arts Envoy for the Bureau of Culture and Education of the US State Department.
I've posted three entries, for the first three nights I've spent here so far, which you can read below. I wasn't  sure I'd be able to write on a regular basis, so didn't let anyone know I'd started!
I'd like to write everyday, and include photos.  I haven't taken very many so please excuse this photo of my breakfast, which is what I'm eating as I write this sunny, clear, 20 degrees C morning...
Love and best wishes, Olga Patricia...

PS, After this morning's rehearsal Carmen Urcuyo shared a newspaper clipping from today's La Tribuna!

Teatristas...

Top L-R: Playwright Blanca Estrada; actors: Alejandra, Gaby, Siria, Adaza
Center: Armando, Alex, Ana
Front: Luis, Johny, Alex and Elsa

There was a strike this morning of the public transportation services and so a few of our students (as well as the person who had the key to our rehearsal space, the new Francisco Salvador theatre) arrived a little later than our planned 8am start time... nonetheless we got a lot done this morning, most importantly auditions, the identification of a few more roles, and casting!

The most fun part was when the actors were asked to work in small teams and come up with songs and choreography to accompany the political campaign song of our play's villain, El Lunar (the man with the beauty mark)!  One version was set to the music of  "Hi-ho, Hi-ho, it's Off to Work We Go!", another was a beatbox rap.  The third included drumming on a cardboard box and traditional dance moves of the Garifuna, the second-largest ethnic group in Honduras, descendants of the Carib and Arawak Indians and Africans, that now populate the entire North Coast and Bay Islands of Honduras.  Last but not least, the fourth team came up with a Broadway-style choreography complete with "jazz hands"!

In the afternoon was my first meeting with the students of the Escuela Nacional de Arte Dramatico (ENAD), the only professional acting training program in the country.  We split our two-hour session into physical work for the first hour, and what we called 'emotional' work for the second.  'Outside' and 'inside' work.  Outside exercises to build flexibility, balance, awareness, impulses and reflexes.  Inside work to build "presence".  Sometimes this word is used to describe charisma or star-quality.  In this case we were just working on being here, now.

This is the view from my hotel window. Across the street is the mall where I had lunch, and beyond are the beautiful mountains that are everywhere in this country.  I learned that Honduras got its name from the ups and downs of its topography.  Ondas means waves.

I have been welcomed to estas Honduras...

Esperanza para un mejor país

I took no photos today.  But I had a fine breakfast in the hotel, and, as I think about it, I ate all three meals at the Hotel Intercontinental.  Tomorrow I'm going to get there a little earlier so I don't rush through the amazing array of fresh fruits and fruit juices on hand, watermelon, papaya, orange, melons, pineapple...

Today was our first rehearsal with Lucem Aspicia ("I seek the light" in Latin) the motto of the UNAH, and the name of the theatre group. Thirteen students, plus our playwright Blanca Estrada and her husband Armando spent the morning together, getting to know each other, doing some physical, vocal, centering work.  We talked about why we do theatre and it was encouraging to hear that in addition to challenge, personal growth and camaraderie, theater is important to this group because of its ability to convey important ideas.

Blanca's play, Esperanza para un mejor país (Hope for a Better Country) is about the near-death of Sueño (Dream), who envisions national peace.  His partner, Esperanza (Hope), asks him to hold on, she's sure they'll find a catracho (Hondureñan) who can keep his dream alive. They encounter three students, two of whom are blind (Toño and Daniela). The third, their friend Sofía, wants them to vote for the candidate with the attractive beauty mark who promises a million new homes to solve the housing problems and a fleet of helicopter taxis to alleviate the traffic.  Not only do Toño and Daniela not trust this candidate, they also know that support for people with disabilities is not on his list.  When Toño brings it to his attention, he amends his promises.  He now vows that if he is elected, the blind will see, the deaf will hear, and those who can't walk will walk!

Tomorrow we begin the casting process, and because we have 13 actors but only 7 roles, we've begun talking  about how to bring other characters into the work.  Perhaps there are other "values" that need to have a voice, such as Codicia (Greed), or Cinismo (Cynicism).   Luckily Blanca will be at all rehearsals and she's open to seeing how her work will grow.

After lunch, I was taken to the US Embassy again, where I checked my cellphone, camera and laptop at the security desk, and my passport at the main door.  I met Carmen Urcuyo, who worked with José Gonzalez (who referred me for the gig) back in 1995.  She and Beverly Thacker introduced me to Stephen Posivak, the Embassy's Press and Culture Secretary.  We talked about the script and he suggested 'Fear' might make a good new character for the play. I appreciated it when he told me that the Embassy (the US, in essence) is not interested in advocating for any candidate or political party, but rather for civic engagement as a whole.

I am struck by how real this work of the Embassy is, and how influential and dangerous it can become.

Back to the hotel, I stopped in at the gym where I ran 5k, 'cause 'round here we roll in kilometers, centigrade and lempiras (the Honduran currency).  Great timing, I caught the end of the re-broadcast of the Paris-St. Germain vs. Barcelona (Barca) futbol game!  Barca is the best team in the world, with the best player in the world, Lionel Messi.  But PSG has David Beckham, who just before the match gave a rousing speech about how PSG shouldn't give up even if the odds are against them.

I had watched about a half hour of the game at lunch, as PSG tied the score 1-1, and then Barca came back to make it 1-2.  It looked hopeless when I left but, lo and behold, in the 4 minutes overtime, PSG scored, for a 2-2 draw!

The stuff of Hope...