Stilts in Denmark, Days 4 and 5

My quip a few days ago about feeling great and in top form has come back to bite me as I now have a head cold and have lost my voice. But one of the kitchen saints has taken pity and supplied me with lemon and ginger for tea, and another has promised to bring me schnapps from home. Having already suspected my lack of essential vitamins may be playing a part in this malady, I stopped at the grocery store today to purchase some beer and chocolate to supplement the otherwise excellent meals.

My Danish Doctor administers an ancient
and effective cure for sore throats.

Work continues to develop, slowly and in fits and starts. in addition the big performance on Sunday there is a pageant to be done on the walk streets of Holstebro on Friday afternoon: we take city hall at noon. There are some 55 actors to coordinate, performing songs, dances, stilting and manipulating six giant paper mache animal totems. During these days we have achieved two full company walk-throughs in the spacious Red Studio, as well as outside in the nearby field. Typical of such events, a lot of material is worked on (costumes, props, acts) that ends up modified, rearranged and finally cut as the space and time restraints become more obvious. There has also been some injury to knees and backs that adds a level of anxiety. Still, I'm impressed by the work of the performers and directors and designers - this gig is not an easy assignment given the scale and unknowns - but I do feel it is coming together.

Though there hasn't been as much opportunity to exchange techniques and develop ideas among the stilters within the studio structure, it has been a boon just to see the work the others have brought and talk shop at meals. I had forgotten all the cool counterbalance moves that can be done, lifts and turns, tricks for getting up and down, techniques forgotten but still within reach.

It is also a joy to see the work demonstrations of Odin's Julia Varley, presented over the last nights; it is for me a reminder of the explorations of voice and physical gesture that informs their work and set us on our own course many years ago. She ended the voice demonstration with an improvisation that was a masterpiece painted with the colors of Bach, Coltrain, and Amazon Rainforest.

Pageant tomorrow. More to come. 

Ensemble assembled to get the marching orders for the Holstebro Pageant.

The Plan of attack.

Intern Spotlight: Darielle Shandler

This summer, our wonderful BST interns are blogging about their experiences in the New York office. Darielle Shandler, our Arts Administration intern from Drew University, writes this week about her experience.

Darielle steps out as a BST intern!

This is the story of how I started working for Bond Street Theatre. I grew up in a small town in the south and always wanted to work in the bustling metropolis of Manhattan. This summer I finally had the opportuity to apply for internships in the city I have loved from afar for so long. When I was hired at Bond Street, I couldn't believe I would get to work among the people who use theatre in such wonderful healing ways. Once the summer hit, I made the long journey from home to find my place in New York City. I explored the crisscrossed streets until I reached Bond Street and Broadway. Behind the unassuming store front there is a mountain of stairs to climb - even the most fit of us might loose their breath - but it doesn't matter once you reach the top. A small sign greets you with a request to remove your shoes. Strange to me at first, but it immediately set a tone of comfort and ease that permeates throughout the Bond Street offices. Stepping, barefoot, into the airy sunlit loft, you can't help but feel at home. The floors are covered in rugs from Afghanistan and the walls are covered in maps and pictures from trips around the world.

As I step further into the room I am greeted by the those who make Bond Street run so smoothly. First, Olivia, Queen of Communications, welcomes me to the office. A young beautiful grad student, she always has answers to my questions and is the person I turn to for my next assignment. She tweets, blogs, and posts, making sure the inter-webs know of the work Bond Street is doing thousands of miles away. I most closely connect with the work she is doing because marketing is the area of theatre business I am most interested in. Next, Joanna, her majesty the Artistic director, looks up from her work. A petite woman with voluminous red hair, clad in a simple dress, she wishes me a good morning. Throughout the day, she lets us in on the news from around the world, all while making sure the grant reports are written and updated. I am in awe of her because she has been a part of the company since the very beginning and she knows all of the ins and outs of what Bond Street does. Finally, Michael, the Lord of Numbers and Technology, swivels around in his chair to wave hello. He is hidden in his alcove of books and double screened computers. He is perched, contorted, on the little wooden chair, every once in awhile ruffling his fluffy gray hair while pouring over the numbers and budgets that keep Bond Street up and running. I like working with Michael because he knows so much about design and editing programs and I feel as if I can always learn something from him.

Darielle stands tall at her second stilt
walking lesson with Michael.

Every day, I work hard to help Joanna, Michael, Olivia, and Bond Street accomplish anything they need. I am ecstatic because working here isn't like any other internship, filled with fetching coffee and organizing files. I feel like a real part of the business - complete with my own bondst.org email address and bio on the website. I am doing work that I really enjoy; using my skills of design and video production to help with development. From one day to the next, there are many different things I do. One day I help edit quarterly reports and then help to design a postcard to hand out at Stilt Band events. The next day I edit footage from Bond Street's work in Afghanistan to make DVDs to give to their sponsors. I am having so much fun because I can take the time to learn new programs that I can combine with the skills I already have. For example, I have always wanted to learn Photoshop because it would fit in nicely with my other design skills. Bond Street sent me to a Photoshop workshop which helped me help them! They are also teaching me how to walk on stilts. I had watched them perform but never thought I would be able to do it myself. But after only two sessions I am able to walk around on my own. Now the idea of maybe one day walking with them in a parade doesn't seem so impossible anymore. Never in a million years did I think I would learn a crazy skill like that.

My internship has been a strange and wonderful dichotomy of interactions. On one hand, I am helping to finish projects so they have time for other things. I love to think a video I create will be used for a grant, or the sign I designed was actually used for their Shinbone Alley Stilt Band costumes. Then on the other hand, while I am working I am learning more and more about all of the amazing work they do on both sides of the Atlantic, from working with orphans in Guatemala to teaching women in Afghanistan to playing music on stilts right here in the five boroughs. I am seamlessly learning specifically about Bond Street Theatre and learning how a not-for-profit theatre business functions. Just like the child who eventually learns that there's more to Manhattan than the flashing lights of Times Square, being a Bond Street intern I have learned that there's more to running a theatre company than just putting on productions. There are grants to write and board meetings to attend. Yet you don't have to choose. Yes, Michael is the Managing Director, but he is also a performer and educator as well. There are pictures of when some of the board members were a part of the ensemble and clowned around and stilt walked. It baffles me that Bond Street Theatre is this amazing community of people all working in different capacities from places all over the world for a common goal. As I leave the office each day to slip my shoes back on and descend the stairs, I smile at the thought of being a part of a theatre that doesn't just entertain, but educates and bridges cultures while doing it.

4 members of the BST family: Michael, Heddy, Darielle and Charlotte!

Day 3 - Stilts in Denmark

Day Three of Stilts in Denmark

Since I only just arrived on day one this is really the second work day, and somehow (and this frequently seems to be the case) the end of the second workday feels like the end of the first work week, in that I've gotten to know some people, where I sleep, where the food is and the schedule to a practical degree. Suddenly all that was strange is now familiar: foreign tongues, eccentric behaviors, joyous sounds, giant puppets and wild stilt dancers. In other words, my favorite day at the office.

Of course, there are still great questions related to the performance on Sunday, which, to remind you, is for an international gathering of a whole lot of boy / girl scouts and their families (like, 50,000). We are the pre-show entertainment, a performance that was supposed to be two hours, then one hour, now 45 minutes long. Could be fifteen minutes by the end of the week; I'm guessing it's a big difficult negotiation with the scout committee. The actual big stage show is, I'm told, by famous comedians and rock stars. At the end of our big stilt-giant-puppet-wild-music pageant the stilters are supposed to hold up big letters that spell out W-E-L-C-O-M-E T-O H-O-L-S-T-E-B-R-O. We got the letters today. They are actually too big - they will completely hide the the stilters (and block our vision) and are guaranteed to act as dangerous billowing sails in the wind. And we're missing a "T" and an "L". Which is not too bad, because we actually don't have enough stilters anyway. Fortunately, I'm not in the decision making loop, just the talent loop, and everyone is game and open and ready to improvise.

As everyone is rehearsing with amazing agility and passion, the post-rehearsal studio floor was somewhat carpeted with stilters getting backs adjusted, limbs aligned and muscles massaged. To my egotistical delight, I myself feel great and in top shape despite being one of (if not the) oldest of participants. Of course, I'm also not doing any of the acrobatics and controlled falls my compatriots are doing, so I can't gloat too much.

Onward and upward.

Stilters - some up, some down

Rehearsing with cool costume elements (not me, though)

Stilting in Denmark - Day 2

Got a good amount of sleep last night - timed it well to actually be jet-lag tired at bedtime, so I woke up this morning pretty alert. Stepping back a second, on my arrival last night and after dropping bags in the room I went around and tried to get my positioning in the labyrinth which is the space here -- there are three (or four?) rehearsal studios and a video room and a resource room and scene shops and lots of offices all scattered around a number of building all connected by long hallways. As I walked about I met most of the stilters, a few of whom i know: Jay from Carpetbag Brigade and Nicholas Sinfuentes who stilted with us in two Halloween Parades; some new friends like Mike and Zita know of us through our dear friend Meghan Frank as they all were just at Del'Arte in CA.

9 am, following breakfast, we started off with an Odin based training session led by Tage, a long time company member (one of the founding members I believe, over 40 yrs ago). The word "training" is used here in the athletic sense, as in training a boxer; a lot of physical movement. We are not being 'taught" something per se, but the focus is on new discoveries, trying to come up with surprising and new physical ways of doing things. The exercise, which kept us running for like 45 minutes, is the kind of thing I've done for years and the rules are very simple... move around the room, jump, fall to the ground, freeze in various statue-like positions. The object is to surprise each other and imitate exactly what each other is doing. But it's really hard to do; you (well, I) tend use the same "usual" tempos and gestures. It's actually quite difficult to surprise yourself.

One great thing about it is you reeeeeaaally get to learn a lot about the strangers in the room. As I said, I went around last night and met people, but there is only so much you can learn about a person in conversation. You can learn names, home towns, likes and mutual friends, but you rarely learn who the ARE. Running around in one of these exercises, and you can immediately assess your neighbors - who is fluid, who looks you in the eye (or avoids contact), who steps with levity, conviction, who is creative, who reserved? Everyone's personalities are starkly apparent.

Among the stilters there are several Italians, Colombians, Canadians and USofA's - 16 of us in all. Following the training we put on stilts and strutted about and showed each other whatever we had to show. Some, like the Colombians - Nemcataco a Teatro - and Carpetbag Brigade had some very cool acro-choreography worked out. Others without routines did improvised movements and character studies. I showed off some staff and flag manipulation. Following lunch Tage and Donald (another Odin member) introduced us to various new "toys" they were building, great long lengths of PVC pipe attached to the body or bent into various size hoops. Between the considerable bouts of rain (when it would get magnificently sunny) we went out to a nearby field to play around, tossing the stuff about to see what we could do with them. Not everything was brilliant, but it was a great deal of fun.

I'll try to get some photos over the next few days. I have no idea what the performance on Sunday will look like (the details of that seem to change daily) but the process will be educational and entertaining, and new friends will be made.

More to come, watch this space.

Stilts in Denmark: Part 1

                                                         The Prince of Row 43

Hey Kids!

I'm heading off to Denmark to attend a week long "stilt council" at the Odin Theatre in Holstobro. As I happen to be a professional stilt walker, my interest was piqued by the email I received several months ago. The work of Odin Theatre has greatly inspired our work at Bond Street Theatre, and as I always wanted to spend some time at their fabulous performing arts complex, I figured the experience will be well worth the travel costs.

       
Despite being a professional, I'm not exactly sure what a "stilt council" is supposed to be. What I understand from the email correspondence: for the price of an airline ticket to Copenhagen and a four hour train ride to Holstobro, I will be treated with room and board and the opportunity to rehearse and perform with other like minded stilters in a single outdoor pageant performance. The audience will be thirty to fifty thousand "European scouts" and their families. Boy scouts? Girls Scouts? Co-ed? The email is not specific. It does say we will be rehearsing routines that"should consist of opposing moments of Butho, like slow motion and moments of short explosive behavior and things in between." The email continued:

"We believe our show will consist of about 2 hours, in a big open field, the size of a football field, using 5 corridors (wide enough to let an ambulance pass through). Each corridor will be bordered with ropes and balloons attached. Our presence should end with a small scene in front of the main stage... We will have to improvise and adapt to the unforeseen circumstances."

Oh. Okay. Cool.

In the month previous to my arrival another workshop has been underway at Odin, Crossing 2, lead  by Deborah Hunt in giant puppetry and  mask making, and The Jasonites leading music and dance.  The fruits of their labors will be the centerpiece of the performance (I gather). Additionally, "there will be The European Caravan in the far end with tractors and a horse."

I am happy to participate because about a zillion years ago in the early days of my involvement with Bond Street Theater, Swedish director Ingeman Lindh showed us a film called "The Two Banks of the River", about the adventures of the young Odin Theatre in South America. With eccentric characters, detailed choreography and open air rehearsals the European ensemble challenged cultural norms, dodged the military junta, and delighted the locals with a variety of highly physical performances.

It blew our minds. From that moment forward, the idea of traveling the world and mixing it up with international artists and audiences became the goal. Oh, and one of the coolest tools in Odin's performative arsenal? Stilts!

So thats the background. So far the best part of the trip is that I am the only passenger to command an entire four-seat row on the night flight over the Atlantic, so I should sleep relatively well. The worst part is that I am without my love and regular traveling companion Joanna, who remains behind in NYC handling the details of our upcoming Afghanistan projects. As she recently had her own personal Odin week, there was less incentive on her part for this adventure. Still, I would happily give up three of my four seats for her presence.

More to come.

Things I Learned in Guatemala

Ilanna reflects on her first trip with Bond Street Theatre to Guatemala.

When I first learned I’d be going on our project to Guatemala to work with girls at an orphanage, images flashed through my mind: pessimistic and frail children, theater as the Answer to All Their Problems, and strolling through the countryside en route to our performances. Thankfully (for the first two), I was dead wrong. The girls we met at the orphanage are strong, resilient, and optimistic. They are opinionated and determined, smart and hopeful. And they’re not looking for us to answer their problems—they were looking to us for friendship, fun, leadership training, and teambuilding. And with those as my redefined mission, I got to breathe a sigh of relief. “ohhh--my job is to try to make life richer and teach people how to be proactive, not to Provide the Answer.” And the gusto the girls showed in the following three weeks trying goofy things, helping each other, letting themselves get silly, learning dances and attempting it in homemade masks, creating both poignant and ridiculous tableaux, and then discussing everything—all this proved our work had achieved its purpose. 

Ilanna and Christina performing Se Necesita Soñyar.  
Thanks to John Kirkmire.

I think some of my favorite moments occurred mid-performance of our clown play, Se Necesita Soñar. In the show, I wanted to go to the ocean with the cricket and Christina didn’t want to go.  We led our respective sides of the audience chanting “si si si!” or “no no no!”. Each performance, right before that part, I’d look out at my half of the sea of eager eyes, and know they were with me. I’d make a hand gesture meaning “you too, this time!” and a chorus of voices would join with my chant. 

Where were the shy, unfocused children I had been warned of? These kids were anything but. Kids are kids everywhere—they latch onto a presence that gives them attention and run with it.  After some of the performances, we would take our bow and leave to the chant of “Otra! Otra!” (“More! More!”). I was afraid it would be like pulling teeth to get these kids to participate; in fact the challenge was in getting them to remain passive audience members. Some of these kids had never seen theater or been given the opportunity to be silly in a group before. I think we did this show, about a cricket following its ridiculous dream to go to the ocean, for those kids. I like to think they went home that night, where they may or may not have food to eat, running water, or literate parents, smiling and dreaming about their own desires, just a little bit more prepared to deal with the challenges of the next day. 

Squished in the back of a truck indeed!

Oh--and we didn’t leisurely stroll to these shows, as I had for some reason assumed. We happily made our way squished into tiny tuk-tuks and the backs of pick-up trucks, bumping along to bring smiles and laughter to environs alarmingly bleak but wholeheartedly deserving. 

Things I Learned in Guatemala:

1. You can never listen to Shakira’s “Waka Waka” song too many times. Especially while doing a free style movement warm up!

2. The city of Antigua is beautiful, old, and colorful. It is taken over by students at Spanish schools and gringo NGO workers. Imagine “Epcot Guatemala”. But you don’t have to look far to find the other side of this facade. A 10 minute drive out of the city’s picturesque cobblestoned streets brings you to small farms that have “se vende tortillas” signs, lots of electric barbed wire, and roads in various stages of development. I’m glad that the show we’re touring will bring us out of this little paradise and into areas with more turmoil and less access to foreign checkbooks.

3. Teaching in Spanish is difficult, but gets exponentially easier everyday. We use many of the same words (body parts, theater lessons, simple commands) everyday, and now they are beginning to be second nature. It’s amazing how much I can get across by saying a few Spanish phrases and then using my body and facial expressions to convey the rest of the thought. It has also delightfully surprised me how patient the girls are with our Italian- and Creole-peppered Spanish (complete with competing accents).

Ilanna in the world's most beautiful McDonalds.

4. Antigua has been said to have the most beautiful McDonalds in the world, and this morning as I was sipping a frozen latte staring at a volcano topped in clouds peaking up behind the ruins of an old church, which was situated on the other side of a be-fountained courtyard, I couldn’t help but agree.

5. Water bottles make very good puppet cricket bodies, especially when covered with old green corduroy fabric.

6. Even though it is not my personal belief system, I cannot doubt the good that God, Jesus, and the church has done for many of the people I’ve met here. The girls at the orphanage, who’ve all been taken away from their families because of sexual abuse, get so much hope from religion. Who am I to say that’s not valid? Where do I get the authority to think “those are just stories” or “you determine you own destiny”? If that’s what people want to believe, then okay, their beliefs make it real for them. And that’s enough.

Change Begins with You and with Me: Guatemala Update 4

Olivia's final update from Guatemala- or more precisely, the Honduras airport- on June 17.

Well, the girls have performed for the very first time!  The performance this afternoon was really lovely.  We spent the first hour warming up, rehearsing trouble spots, and losing girls who ran away to the bathroom or to find their friends.  We did manage to start on time, though, even after the girls changed our “pasa la toca” exercise.  We close each rehearsal by standing in a circle, holding hands, with our eyes closed.  One person squeezes the hand of the person next to them, who passes the squeeze on to the person on the other side.  So it goes around the circle.  Today, the girls took the end of the activity to tell us how thankful they are and how much the program meant to them.  It was stunning.  We are thankful too, and we expressed our pride and love for all they have accomplished. 

One of our actresses gets ready for the spotlight.

Ida made a headshots poster for the girls to display! As part of this process, Ida took photos of each girl who is performing with her portrait lens, and we printed them out as 8 x 10s, attached the girls’ names, and put it on a big board for them.  The Board also has the name of the troupe, El Grupo Juvenil Transformando Vidas Con Fe (Young Women Changing Lives with Faith), and the name of the show, El Cambio Empieza Por Ti y Por Mi  (Change Begins with You and with Me).  The girls are going to bring it to the cultural and religious retreat in July for their second performance.  They loved it; it made them feel like the professionals they are.

Ida also made a video of our rehearsal process, which we showed after the performance.  It ended up being over 8 minutes long to incorporate everything we have done here.  The soundtrack was awesome- "Waka Waka," "Send Me on My Way," and "Jai Ho."  I introduced "Jai Ho" a week and a half ago, and the girls fell in love.  They made up their own dance to "Jai Ho," or as they call it, “Hai Ho.” (tee hee hee)

The show went really well.  The girls spoke out clearly, took their time, and hit all their marks. The staff and residents at Oasis loved it!  Beatrice, one of the Directors, came up to tell us how wonderful it was and how proud she was of these twelve girls.

As I have said, it takes a long time to get to Oasis.  We have had several drivers from a local taxi service, but one of the most common ones is a lovely man who often brings his wife and two children.  He has two little boys, Christian and Robin.  Christian is 2, and Robin is only a few months old.  We call Christina “Senor Serioso” because he always looks so contemplative.  Today, the most beautiful family in Guatemala (as we call them) drove us to Oasis- and they came in to see the show!  We had an invited audience, but it was so nice to see these little kids enjoying the hard work that our girls have put in.

After the show, we had a party with a big pink piñata.  These girls seem so demure and composed until you put a broom handle at them and point them at something keeping them from candy!  It was really impressive to watch them swing madly, and dive immediately for the fallen candy with no fear.  Christian even got to take a swing, with some assistance.

So next steps; Oasis has an Arts Director for the first time!  She arrived in early June, and she is excited to continue the work with the theatre ensemble.  We left her with a bunch of printed and online resources, as well as our contact information so she can reach out whenever she needs to.  (Christina, Ilanna and I also may Skype into some of the rehearsals for the July show).  We also identified three of the older girls who are responsible and dedicated members of the group to serve as leaders.  These are the wonderful young women who would get the group to pay attention, who encouraged their peers to strive for perfection in the physical work, and many of whom wrote for the final play.  They are wonderful and will do a wonderful job to keeping this ensemble together!

It’s so hard to say goodbye, but I know we will be back to Guatemala.  We have made amazing contacts here, and now we know how to better serve the larger community.  We will visit Oasis again, if only for a short workshop session, and I know these young women will surprise us once again with their passion and talent.  I can’t wait for what they do next!

The Acting for Peace Team!
from left: Christina, Olivia, Ilanna, Turid, and Ida.

Olivia

Speed bumps: Guatemala Update 3

Another update from Olivia in Antigua, Guatemala, from June 13.

Everywhere we go in Guatemala, we encounter one thing.  Whether traveling the 40 minutes to Oasis, over an hour into Guatemala City, or just around Antigua, we are consistently jostled by a multitude of speed bumps. 

It's alarming at first. They have been installed everywhere- on cobblestones, on dirt roads, highways, and even the sidewalks tend to have them (not intentionally, but from erosion and long steps down to the street).

This seems a somewhat apt metaphor for the work here, and for getting things done in general. We do get things done, indeed the girls have walked through the entire show!, but it is bumpy. Our progress is often checked by 'Guatemalan time' (read: 5 minutes means 10-15 at least), by unforeseen details, by distracted/hyper/hungry/tired students, and by the sheer time it takes to get places.  Antigua is a perfect base, but it still takes travel time to get around.

I hope you aren't reading that this makes work slow and plodding.  On the contrary, between the minor bumps are beautiful patches of incredible creativity and productivity. The girls have an entire show, complete with musical transitions and a spoken-word style coda, and they are proud of what they have accomplished.   We are, too.  

These young women have a lot to say, and are saying it clearly with physical theatre, song, dance, rhythm, and physical images.  Each story has a message (not a massage, which was a minor mistranslation) that the ensemble chants together at the end of the parable.  The message are not, though, simplistic sentences of common sense advice.  These are complex messages, really calls to action for the community: to work together, to replace love with violence, to find their answers in the community using what they already have, and that unity is a crucial source of power.  Hearing the young women identify these messages, and shout them out together is an unbelievably powerful experience.

Rather, the minor bumps realign my own perception of the work. I cannot (despite my nature) sprint forward, but must be slow to anticipate the bumps.  The speed bumps ensure that I am taking care or myself and the others on the road with me. And in Guatemala, many of the roads definitely require that.

The philosophy students of Integral Heart Foundation in San Mateo.

Ok, I think I've beaten that metaphor to death. A quick update:

• This week we led workshops for 76 4-6 year olds in a village outside Antigua. We played follow the leader- and all the little girls loved being bunnies and kittens, while the little boys focused on being snakes, bears, and monsters.  Ah, gender.
• We also met some AWESOME artists at Caja Ludica (Pandora's Box) in Guate, who are running a physical theatre program for street kids.  This is a truly inspiring program (apparently that's the word of the day!)
• Tomorrow we have a workshop with teenaged philosophy students!

Friday is the final performance for the girls at Oasis, and then Saturday we return to the States. I cant believe how time has flown.

See you soon!

Olivia

Four Parables: Guatemala Update 2

Check out Olivia's second Guatemala update from June 4.

Hello all!

Greetings from Antigua. This week and next will be a bit mad- we have a show to create with the girls, Guatemalan artists to meet, and some volunteer work here in Antigua. This morning we worked with malnourished babies- the kids today were up to 7, but none looked older than  4.  Sunday we are serving dinner at a local homeless shelter.  Ida (of Ida's Hjelpefond) always provides at least two hot meals at the shelter when she is here, and I am fortunate to overlap with one.

A wonderful moment in rehearsal.

But....drumroll...the big news is about the play! The girls at Oasis had homework to come up with a short piece about lack of love, and we got some great stuff.  Yesterday, the girls workshopped the four parables they made about 'la falta de amor', turning them into fairy tales with strong messages.  

Tale 1: A little girl lives with her mother in the mountains. They are a very poor family, so she goes out to beg for food and to forage in the basura (the trash dump). Underneath old clothes, wrappers, and other discarded items she finds a broken doll. She sees that although it is broken, it can be made better.  So she picks it up (after a little game of Dead and Alive) and takes it home. Her mother is appalled, but the girl convinces her and they fix it up, clean it off, and sell it for more money. This becomes their lucrative business- selling remade dolls to local children.

Tale 2: There are four animals in the forest- a proud and fierce lion, a big strong bear, a small ant who does not think well of himself or anyone else, and a wise worm. The ant, lion and bear are fighting about a beautiful flower, each speaking too loud to hear the others. The worm comes upon this ruckus, and asks what they are doing. When he hears, he notes that the flowers are common in the forest and that each animal could have more than one flower if they work at it. After pondering that, the animals all agree that they should all enjoy the flower and dedicate themselves to cultivating even more.

Tale 3: There is a town in the mountains where everyone fights and nobody cares about one another.  Gangs fight for power, and the town is a mess. Three friends come to town, see the situation, and know that they can do something about it. They go to each person individually, offering love and friendship instead of fighting. Eventually they convince the whole town that it is better to meet together in faith than fight.

Tale 4: There is one tree in the forest who stands alone. It is proud of itself, thinking itself the strongest and best tree around. One day, a woodcutter comes along and cuts it down easily.  Then the woodcutter goes to a grove nearby, where all the trees have grown together.  He tries and he tries to cut the trees down, but he can't - the trees are united!

The trees.

The girls have started blocking these stories.  We have four directors/authors who have some distinct ideas about what they want to say and how they want to say it.  Christina and I found a framing device: two sisters reading each other these stories from a book of parables to calm one another down.  







I am so proud of these girls for their focus, for these incredible thoughts, and their strength. I wish you could all hear the conversation we had yesterday about the messages and themes of these stories. I was blown away.

More to come!
Olivia

Lions, Tigers, Clowns, and a Cricket: Guatemala Update

From May 20-June 16, Bond Street Theatre artists Christina, Ilanna, and Olivia were in Guatemala to work with girls in Oasis Orphanage, thanks to Ida's Hjelpefond and the Davis Projects for Peace.  Olivia writes from the field in San Lucas and Antigua.

Hello all!
I made it to Guatemala- and am already entranced by the country.  Guatemala is wonderful, and the work is wonderful too.

The masks.

First thing when I arrived, the 17 girls who participated in the first two weeks of workshops with Ilanna and Christina performed what they had learned for all the Oasis staff and residents. Thee 5 youngest ones are not continuing to devise the final show due to scheduling. so they all put together a presentation of what they had been learning - Commedia stands, Dead or Alive, silly handshakes, and a dance with animal masks made with balloons and papier mache. The ladies made lions, tigers, a lizard, an elephant, and a cow.  They danced to "Send Me On My Way," which caused all the girls to shout out, "MATILDA!" It was a lot of fun, and certainly a community affair!

Ilanna, Christina, and Marlita (the cricket puppet).

After the girls' performance, Ilanna and Christina performed the Spanish language show they devised in Guatemala.  It is the story of a cricket, Marlita, who finds the clowns to ask them to bring her to the sea and fulfill her life-long dream.  When they make it to the sea, there is a dangerous storm that threatens to destroy the cricket's home town!  She and the clowns must rush back to her pueblo to warn the community about the incoming storm- and they make it just in time.  It is loosely based on a Mayan folktale about a singing cricket, and Ilanna and Christina have turned it into a fun, interactive, and very funny show appropriate for all ages.  The Oasis ladies loved it.

The problem tree.

Then we got right to work with the12 older girls. We made a problem tree to examine the issues in the community, and I simply could not believe how wise these young ladies are. Most are actually not orphans, but have been removed from their biological homes due to sexual abuse.  Instead of delving into self destructive behavior they have found an incredible positivity.

They identified "la falta de amor"'- lack of love- as the main problem in the community. They noted how the roots of the problem and its manifestations are cyclical, and it is so easy to get trapped in that cycle from an early age. The way out from such abuse and oppression must begin with the individual, and then move outward to the family and to the world. These girls blow my mind.

We gave them a little homework: come up with a 1 or 2 minute piece about lack of love. We see their work on Wednesday, and start to turn it into a show. I know they will bring in great material to mine for the final piece.

One more quick fun fact- we are staying at a home stay called La Familia in Antigua, which has a bunch of rooms. The current La Familia residents include: the Guatemalan couple who owns and runs it, their youngest son, 2 Norwegians (Ida, our project partner, and a social worker named Turid), 3 BST actor-educators, and 3 Seminary students from Virginia. We are certainly a motley bunch!

More soon,
Olivia

Actors on Stage: Jalalabad Update 8

Michael writes from Jalalabad, where the team is working with Nangarhar Provincial Theatre.

A scene from the men's show, The Law of the Jungle

As of this writing our male and female teams of the Nangahar Provincial Theatre have three performances each under their shalwar kameezes!   As of this morning our women's team has performed at the Support Center for Widows, the AFCECO safe house for children, and this morning at the Nangarhar Women’s Prison.   I saw the show yesterday at AFCECO, and I was very impressed with their performance and the reception they received by the women and children.  Considering they have never appeared on stage before, and the challenges they face as women performing at all, they are doing an exemplary job.  Two new actresses in particular, YYY and ZZZ, are amazing (yeah, I'm not sure about using their names yet -- there is still a veil of secrecy).

Last Tuesday the men's team performed for the National Police Department in Jalalabad.  It turns out that the base commander, Abdullah Sanakzay, saw our Kabul team performing for ANCOP last October and quickly set up the performance for a meeting of all the regional commanders.  It was pretty impressive.  The team has also preformed at the Juvenile Correction Center and the Jalalabad Hospital Drug-Addiction Center, all very diverse and appreciative audiences.

This is our post-performance "photo-op" with the head of the police information department (basically the press department - he's the one in the uniform).  When we first met him he seemed aloof and official, like they all do, and then when he heard that we were a team of actors he completely softened up: turns out he used to be an actor too!  And make-up artist and poet!  He studied Persian poetry at Kabul University during the war years, and was particularly impressed that we worked with Anisa Wahab in our production of "Beyond the Mirror".  Of course, there's little money on the Afghan stage (or poetry cafes) and so he fell back on police work.  He's now a big fan.

I can't believe we're in the last leg of this project.  We'll be leaving Jalalabad for Kabul on May 1 or 2, and then spending the remainder of our stay in Kabul working with Papyrus Theatre until our flight out on the 11th (many thanks to CEC Artslink for the support of Papyrus phase).

Watch this space...

Love from Jalalabad,

Michael and Joanna

Women Against Women, Women for Women

Zan Zid Zan, Zan Barai Zan (Women Against Women, Women For Women) is the name of the play to be performed by the women’s troupe of the Nangarhar Theater Company. It goes up tomorrow at the Support Center for Widows. The script for this incredible play was essentially written by the six young pioneers of the women’s troupe. The story centers around two girls, Freshta and Nafisa, and their families as they negotiate decisions around education, early marriage and how to respond to gossiping neighbors.

The problem tree that the women created.

Freshta has just graduated from high school and been accepted into the medical program at Kabul University. She is the first person from her school to be granted admission into this highly competitive program, which usually happens only through nepotism and not merit. At the start of the show, Freshta’s parents, who are also educated, are fully supportive of their daughter until two neighborhood gossips purposefully sabotage their plans. The pair of backbiters, who ban their own daughters from going to school, spread rumors about Freshta and how her moral character is being corrupted through education, from dressing immodestly to running off with boys.  Her father overhears this and, worried about the family’s honor and reputation, suddenly reconsiders his approval.

Meanwhile, Freshta’s friend and neighbor, 12 year-old Nafisa is facing her own challenges. Her father, who is illiterate and poor, decides to marry her off to a very wealthy man, who is 40 years-old and already married with children.  He reasons that this would rescue their family from poverty. He forbids Nafisa from going to school, dismisses the desperate pleas of his wife against the marriage and violently abuses both of them.  Freshta learns about her young friend’s trials and seeks the help of one of her former teachers, a staunch advocate of women’s rights. The teacher visits Nafisa’s father at home and tries to convince him to cancel the marriage and allow his daughter to complete her studies. She points out girls’ rights to education and its merits, as specified in the Koran, and the minimum age (18) for a girl to marry, as written in Afghan civil law. Nafisa’s father is not persuaded. Meanwhile, the two gossips continue with their chatter and sabotage.

The mothers then intervene on behalf of their daughters and seek the moral guidance of the mullah.  He agrees to help.  One day, when all the men gather in the masjid for the mullah’s routine talk, he speaks about education and marriage. He reminds the men that it’s a farz or moral duty of every Muslim to seek education, both men and women. And that the Koran also decrees that a girl should be of mature age to marry and cannot be forced to do so against her will. Eventually, the fathers have a change of heart and allow their daughters to go to school. The girls are overjoyed and celebrate. The two back-biters also reassess their behavior and realize that it’s un-Islamic to gossip and that, as the idiom goes, gossiping about someone amounts to eating the corpse of your own brother.

The schedule of performances in Jalalabad is as follows:

4/23 – The Support Center for Widows
4/25 – AFCECO Safe House for Children
4/26 – Jalalabad Women’s Prison
4/27 – Women’s shura (council) in Surkhrod district
4/29 – Afghan Women’s Educational Center (AWEC), Behsud district

May we break a leg tomorrow! Stay tuned…

Sahar