100% Aventura

Hello everyone!

"Adventure Faces"

A couple days ago, Vanessa and I decided we wanted an adventure. So, in talking to our good friend Luis who is a guide at one of the canopy zip-line tours, we got ourselves booked for a reservation at 100% Aventura yesterday morning. Before we left, we made certain promises to some of our friends. Dario made me promise 1) to do the Tarzan swing and 2) to not die. Michelle made us both promise that we would participate in and enjoy all 100% of the adventure. 80% or 90% would not do, but we were also not to go past 100% because we might die. Vanessa and I thought we could comply with all of these promises.

"Nice and harnessed up!"

We arrived at Aventure and found Luis behind the desk at reception. From this moment on, most people in our tour group thought we were creepy tourists trying to be friends with the tour guide because he kept pretending like he didn't know us. We thought it was clearly a joke; the rest of the group did not. We signed our lives away and got nice and harnessed up for the adventure. Before we walked out to the first baby zip-line, Luis walked by and said, "Good luck! You're going to need it," before promptly disappearing into the wilderness. I forgot to mention earlier that Luis is more monkey than human, so you never know when he's going to appear out of the darkness or a tree or something. That's why this job is perfect for him. At any rate, we did the two baby zip-lines and as we approached the third platform, guess who was there waiting for us! Our little monkey, Luis. This was when our reputation as creepy tourists escalated exponentially. When I got to the front of the line, I was joking around saying, "Oh hey! What's your name?" to which he responded, "Uh... Pablito!" A few of the other guides heard this, thought that we didn't know each other, and found this exchange rather amusing. Likewise, most of the other tourists were under the same impression as the other guides. Sarcasm and banter FAIL. Then, when Vanessa got to the front of the line, Luis started fumbling with her safety cable and harness saying, "Oh, sorry. It's my first day. I think this goes here?" as he attached her safety cable to his belt loop. Of course, this is a total lie since he has been working there almost four years, but the rest of the tour group behind Vanessa got more than a little ervous after that!

The Tarzan Swing Platform

The tour was absolutely amazing. As I have said in various posts prior to this one, Monteverde is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Everything is so green and lush, and when viewing the landscape from hundreds of meters above the ground you can see for miles. Sometimes, however, it is easy to get caught up in the beauty around you and forget that you are speeding through the forest on a cable and that you have to brake yourself. I am guilty of this, and one of the guides had to give me a hand (or an entire arm) at the end of one particularly fast cable. It didn't help that the gloves I was wearing were about four sizes too big, leaving the ends of the fingers to get tangled in the harness and cables. So, by the third or fourth cable I had already broken some promises; I had had about 110% of the adventure. By the end of the tour, that number was upped to about 120%. The last thing they have you do is the Tarzan swing in which you stand at the end of a very high hanging bridge, get attached to a single bungee cord on the front of your harness, and jump off. I wasn't scared at all to do this; it was absolutely not the first time I have looked over an edge thinking to myself, "I'm about to jump off this very high point, and I have no idea how the landing is going to happen." However, I did not expect my neck to snap backwards at the first pull of the bungee cord. Don't get me wrong, it was a great thrill, and I'd do it again, but I was in a little too much pain that afternoon and the next day!

See? Cute picture! Thanks, Judgey Tourist!

The tour was topped off by us meeting up with Luis on our walk back up to reception, confusing more tourists as he gave us huge hugs and kisses on the cheek, and solidifying our creepy reputation by asking another tourist to take our picture with him. But todo valió la pena because it's a really cute picture and I had a great time!

I'm choosing to leave out the details of my work days this past week because it's not worth ranting about on a blog. That's way too 2002 for me.

I think I'll post one more before I leave tomorrow morning. Can't wait to see those of you who are reading from Texas in just a few days!

Love,
Erin

Don't Feed the Plants!

Hey y'all!

"Don't Feed the Plants!"

So, the time has come (the walrus said)! We have finished our run of La Tiendita de los Horrores, and it was a complete success! Thursday was our opening night, and considering the dress rehearsal we had earlier that afternoon, we were completely shocked at the outcome. Our dress rehearsal ended at 5:00, and as a staff, we were still pretty worried about a lot of things in the show. But we accepted it and reminded ourselves that the organization's mission is not necessarily the final product of the musical. However, between 5:00 and our opening at 7:00, it seemed like our cast had about two extra weeks of rehearsal. I don't know how they did it, but it was incredible! We didn't even really give them notes. We just gave them food and a couple hours of rest. I think the biggest factor was that our opening night was standing room only. It was a huge confidence boost for the kids to know that so many people in this town were supporting them and appreciating what they love to do. This summer has taught me that kids and teenagers really do need to hear that their teachers, mentors, and family members support them.

Our sound system!

The rest of our shows were equally as wonderful. Alberto, our super-step-grandfather-volunteer, managed to get us a sound system for the show, a task I had been working on for over a week. However, being an extremely respected member of this community has its perks, whereas being a 19-year-old gringa doesn't exactly bring about the same clout. Nevertheless, we got the sound system and it helped our show immensely, so in the end, that's all that really matters. Hopefully one day I will also be a respected member of this community so that accomplishing these tasks will be a bit easier for me. Having this sound system meant that I was on sound board for all the shows. I had never run sound before, but since we only had 3-4 inputs at any given time, it wasn't that difficult. And that way I got to sit in the back of the audience and watch every show! Not a bad trade-off considering all the other interns had to be backstage doing set and costume changes.

The amazing cast of La Tiendita de los Horrores!

Another rather exciting aspect of the shows this year was the talk backs we had after each performance. We always had at least a few people stay after the show to have a little charla (chat) with our cast and staff, and some really great things came out of it. Throughout the rehearsal process we have been talking to the kids about the themes of the show and how they relate to their lives. One thing that kept coming up was that just like in Skid Row in Little Shop of Horrors, there's not a lot for teenagers to do but sit around and do nothing. This, of course, led to talks about underage drinking and drug use among teenagers, but it also led us to discuss what these young adults want to have available to them in Monteverde. The cast, completely unprovoked by the staff, came up with the idea of having a performing arts group where they could come on a weekly basis and be part of an acting group or a dance group just to give off some steam and do something productive with their time. The kids brought these ideas up to some of the parents and members of the community who stayed after the shows for talk backs, and everyone was completely supportive of the idea. They are planning to form a committee to draft a plan and go to the municipality to try and get funding and a location for it. This is really great  news for me because now I can see just how much interest there is in the community for something like my community arts center. And I am so fortunate that Rachel, one of our volunteers, is staying here until December not only to learn Spanish, but also to continue working for Far Corners on a weekly basis. She is going to be able to lay the groundwork for what I want to do in a couple of years when I am out of school. That way, by the time I get here, there will be a bit of a precedent for this idea and the kids will already be jazzed about it! Another exciting thing on the center's front took place last week, but I never blogged about it.

There was a professional dance company out of la Universidad de Costa Rica that came through Monteverde  last week. They were really awesome contemporary dancers and gave a workshop to my kids the morning of their performance. I took the workshop as well, and it was really fun! So that night Vanessa, Michelle, Dario, Luis, and I stayed after rehearsal for the dance show. A bunch of the kids also came a bit later to see what these dancers were all about. The show was really wonderful, but what I didn't know was that the theme of their national tour was spreading the performing arts throughout Costa Rica! They did a video presentation that showed clips from their different workshops they have been doing for the past month and some of the dancers talking about why it is so important for young people to participate in the arts. So, after the show, Dario and I went and talked to the director. I told her very briefly what we want to do here in Monteverde, and she was so supportive. She gave me her card and told me that she could help us apply for grants through UCR and that she was planning on coming back here in October to give a production workshop. Since I won't be here, Dario told me he'd keep his eyes open for this workshop and take lots of notes for me!

Everything this summer seems to be falling into place with my bigger picture. Everyone seems so supportive of what our goals are for FCCMT, and it's amazing how many people are willing to help.

So thank you all for reading about my adventures and my passion this summer. To those of you who have e-mailed me, I really appreciate your feedback and support. It really does mean the world to the volunteers here to know that we have support back at home in the States.

This may or may not be my last post for the summer. If anything it will probably be the last one directly relating to Far Corners because now that the show is done, we're really just striking the space and making it ready for the next group who wants to use it. I have some adventures planned for the rest of the week, so maybe I'll make a post or two about those with lots of pictures!

But for now, thanks for reading!

Erin

"Yeah, that's what a spiral is."

Hey y'all!


The last couple of days have been absolutely insane, and I can't wait to tell you about them!

Wednesday was a relatively good day. We had a run-through of Act II that went pretty well with a few fumbles, but I definitely left feeling confident about my choreography. Unfortunately, the director did not feel the same way and this resulted in quite a bit of tension between him and the cast and him and the rest of the staff. Consequently, our staff meeting post-rehearsal was very uncomfortable. Everyone was on edge and a couple people got very defensive very quickly. I never want to have a staff meeting like that ever again. The problem with our staff this year is a lack of communication, which we have talked about at length with very little progress in actually resolving the issue. I think this is one of the things that sometimes has to give as the staff grows larger and larger. All communication failures aside, our show is going to be amazing. In fact, I was just talking to Heynor, the barista at our favorite coffee joint, about the show. He told me he heard really good things about it last year and that he would definitely be joining us this year. I replied with, "Yeah, I was here last year, too, and this year's show is going to be even better!"

getting ready to sing an acoustic version of "Go Your Own Way"

Wednesday night was our weekly ritual of Common Cup Jam Sessions. This is literally the highlight of our week. After our frustrating staff meeting, I walked down the hill with Vanessa, Michelle, Rachel, Alvaro, and Andrey to Common Cup where we met up with Emily, Antonio, and Paul. We pushed all the tables in the cafe together and jammed out for about two hours. We've gotten to know Heynor and Ken, the owner, really well these past couple of months, so getting to jam with them and play great music is a really fun experience. After expending all of our energy singing and playing various instruments, we needed food. Luckily, there was one restaurant open in town at 10 PM on a Wednesday night - Natcha's Pizza! Which is actually no longer called Natcha's, but its name is not prominently displayed anywhere on the building, so we continue to refer to it as Natcha's. We bought a ton of pizza and ate it outside before parting ways to get some rest.

On Thursday we had a run-through of Act I, and I was overjoyed. We had spent a lot of the day working different sections of dances in the first act, and the effort really paid off. The kids did an amazing job. I smiled during Skid Row for the first time since we began rehearsing it! Everyone had so much positive energy and was totally invested in his or her character. This show is really starting to come to life. I can't wait till the production stops being our baby and goes into the hands of the kids. That's when the real magic always happens. For Oliver! I don't think that happened till opening night. This year with Little Shop of Horrors, however, I think that moment is going to come very soon. I'm waiting in anticipation. We'll see how our full show run-through goes this afternoon!

As for Thursday night, as far as I'm concerned, it still hasn't ended and it is 9:08 AM on Friday morning. After our staff meeting (which was much more constructive and pleasant than the previous one) we all went separate ways for dinner and then Vanessa, Michelle, and I along with some of our randomly acquired volunteers (Katie, Paul, Rachel, Emily) and cast member Antonio made our way back to the venue to keep working on plant puppet construction. Vanessa and I (mostly I...) sewed the trunk of the plant, which is about 6 feet tall, together by hand, stabilized the leaves we cut out of the fabric with wire, painted highlights on the leaves, and painted veins over all the leaves and the entire trunk of the plant. It's essentially finished with the exception of maybe another hour's worth of painting. Meanwhile, the rest of the group worked on the fourth and final plant. They constructed the skeleton of the top of the pod out of bamboo that Fiona's dad brought in by tying Boy Scout knots around each joint with the strongest string you've ever seen. Once that was finished, they took all the leaves and twigs that we stripped from the bamboo reeds and wove them into the skeleton so that the full shape could be realized. In the smaller puppets, Michelle used cotton batting to make the pod look nice and soft and fleshy, but since there's probably not enough batting in the town of Monteverde to cover this giant pod, we decided to be resourceful and environmentally friendly by using every part of the bamboo tree. It's basically like the Native Americans using every part of the buffalo.

While I'm playing up our productivity (and we were VERY productive!), we must remember that this all took place in the middle of the night at the end of a long week working with teenagers. Things got a little loopy. We started a quote wall which hopefully I will retrieve some samples from for your entertainment in my next post, and the sensibility of our speech exponentially declined as time passed. I believe that's what they call an inverse relationship in math. But I really can't talk. I haven't taken math since my senior year in high school. At around 5:30 AM we decided to call it quits. By then the only survivors were Michelle, Vanessa, Katie, Paul, and myself. So, obviously, we decided to walk up the terrible hill to Cerro Plano (almost to our venue from last year - REALLY FAR!) to the best view in town to watch the sunrise. Then the sun rose behind us and we missed it because there was a mountain in the way. And clouds. Welcome to the Cloud Forest. Either way it was a gorgeous view and after some of the clouds rolled along we could see the gulf. In Spanish there is a phrase that people commonly use to describe something they really like: "me encanta." Literally, this translates to "it enchants me." Well, literally speaking, me encanta Monteverde.

Keep following!

Love,
Erin

Closed for Renovation

Hey y'all!

Much like Mushnik's Skid Row Florists in Act I, Scene III of Little Shop of Horrors, we are currently Closed for Renovation! Our beautifully empty and large downstairs space is in the process of being transformed into a functioning theater as we speak. There is a crew of workers painting the walls and floors (hopefully removing any concrete dust!), mounting piping on the ceiling to create a light plot, and lining the walls with sheets of Styrofoam to deaden the horrible echo in our cavernous space. This means that hopefully by Tuesday Manolo and Alberto, two parent volunteers who are building our set for us, will be able to get into the space and start construction. Shortly thereafter, Alvaro should be able to get in and start painting the set with a small crew to transform the space into Skid Row and Mushniks' shop. So much will be happening in the next week to make this show a reality, and I cannot wait to see the results. It's times like these, however, that make me wish I had more of a background in technical theater. I want to be more useful in these very practical and essential areas of theater, especially with a non-profit such as FCCMT, but I lack that specific skill set. But hey, I can hang lights and roll marley like you wouldn't believe!

As of today, the show opens in 11 days. Every time I say this I have a slight heart attack, but yesterday Dario reminded me of something very true and comforting - all of my choreography is taught and most of it has been cleaned! I think last year with Oliver! we had such a big cast and so many production numbers that I was more concerned about actually getting the show finished and on its feet, but this year since we have a smaller cast and the dancing is more divided among the different characters, I have the luxury of being concerned about the execution of the choreography. It also helps that we generally have an older cast this year. The kids are able to pay more attention to detail and physicalize more complicated movements. I have also enjoyed this creative process as a choreographer more than last year because of the above reasons as well as the fact that I have a greater knowledge of the dance styles of this era than I did of those of Oliver!

the staff enjoying coffee at Don Juan's!

Enough about the show--today the majority of the staff had a great bonding day! We got up this morning and met up to go down to Don Juan Coffee Tour, Dario's uncle's company that he works for. His family owns a local coffee plantation and Dario works as a tour guide there. Last year he took Katherine and me on an informal tour with just the three of us, but today he took Vanessa, Michelle, Scott, Fabian, Sophia, Scott, and I along with four other tourists we didn't know on a real tour. It was so much fun! It's always interesting seeing your friends in different roles. I had never met Tour Guide Dario before. He's quite witty, charming, and unexpectedly knowledgeable about the coffee industry. The tour lasted about an hour and a half and then we spent about an hour hanging out at the cafe there drinking coffee and eating arroz con leche. After the tour, all of us except Dario (he had to keep working) went out to lunch and had some staff bonding time. It's really nice to take the day off and spend it with your co-workers in a more relaxed environment. Overall today has been a great day, and we still have a Cabaret rehearsal in our futures to put the cherry on top!

Keep following!

Love,
Erin

Relax, Sweetheart! It'll be easier.

Hey y'all!

While in the play Little Shop of Horrors, the quote, "Relax, Sweetheart. It'll be easier," is a pretty scandalous innuendo, when taken out of this context it really does apply to my last couple of days.

Tuesday I was feeling very stressed out. My body, mind, and spirit all felt weak from my illness and from the medications I have been taking. I went home in a daze, feeling very indifferent. I wasn't satisfied, I wasn't unsatisfied, I was just going along with the motions. Yesterday, Wednesday, however, was much better! I was still feeling a little wobbly from all my meds, but I was able to focus more and felt a bit stronger. I had more energy teaching, and I think the kids fed off of my energy pretty well. We also did a run-through of Act I yesterday evening which went much better than our last one. La Tiendita de los Horrores is finally starting to feel like a real show! The choreography is looking better and the continuity of the show is coming together. The kids are starting to pick up cues faster, although this still needs some work, and everyone is beginning to understand the order of events of the show. Last night's run-through made me really optimistic for the show!

After the run-through and a staff meeting, most of the staff (Lisa and Adrienne for a bit, Vanessa, Michelle, Rachel, Alvaro, Dario, and myself) went to Common Cup, our favorite coffee shop, for their after-hours jam session that occurs every Wednesday. Michelle brought her ukelele and sang a few of her original songs, and there were 3 guitarists as well as a guy with a harmonica. Plus the rest of us joined in on old classics like Blackbird by the Beatles, American Pie, and To Make You Feel My Love. It was just the relaxing evening I needed with friends. We're definitely going to make this a weekly tradition with the staff!

Among all the other great things that happened yesterday at rehearsal, we also had a full cast/staff discussion of the themes of the show and how they relate to our global community as well as the Monteverde community. This discussion took a turn to the subject of adolescents here in Monteverde not really having a place to hang out and just be teenagers. There are activities for younger kids and activities for adults, but there's not really a center for teenagers. Antonio, one of the students who is a cross-over between student and friend for me, was leading this discussion, and it ended up turning towards the, "What if we had a teen theater group here?" discussion. Lisa, Rachel, and I couldn't stop smiling. Michelle leaned her head on my shoulder almost tearing up with joy, and Vanessa even looked a little proud. When (not if, when) we get this community arts center on its feet, we'll have students who are passionate. This will happen.

Keep following! Thanks for your support, even if I don't know about it!

Love,
Erin

Catching Up

Hey y'all!


So, in my last post I whined about having choreographers' block, which is still very much true. However, I have figured out that it really doesn't matter; I'm almost completely done choreographing this show! In two weeks I have choreographed and taught every big dance number in this show--I have never worked so fast or diligently in my life! I'm really proud of myself and of the kids for keeping up with me. Sometimes I get frustrated because they forget things when we do run-throughs, but they really have learned a lot in a very short period of time. And we still have three weeks to get everything the way I want it! Of course I still have some choreographic work to do on one or two smaller, less involved numbers, and some of my big pieces don't have endings (or in the case of the Finale, a beginning...), but the bulk of the choreography is finished, taught, and in many cases, on its way to being cleaned. YAY!

walking to the staff meeting after lunch!

On Thursday we had a pretty calm day as far as work goes, which was nice for three reasons: 1) I wasn't yelling at kids and counting to 8 an ungodly number of times, 2) I got to spend my morning hanging out with Dario, and 3) we met up with Michelle, Vanessa, Rachel (our newest addition to the staff), and Alvaro for lunch! Dario and I met up in the morning with the intention of doing work, but after talking it over we realized that there actually wasn't much we could do to accomplish our goals that morning since certain businesses decided not to be open during their posted hours. Thanks, Monteverde and Tico Time. So, instead of working, we hung out in Common Cup, drank coffee, and exchanged music. After a couple of hours of that, we went to the center of Santa Elena for Cosecha's (an incredible fruit smoothie stand in town - great improvement!) with everyone else. After that we went up to the space for a staff meeting and a run-through of some mostly-finished scenes. Things are getting done fast, but we're starting to run out of time!

Happy Birthday, Alvaro!

Saturday was Alvaro's 18th birthday! Friday night he came out with us girls so we could celebrate with him and on Friday we got the whole cast to sing happy birthday to him. He's pretty shy, so it's hard to tell if it made him happy or incredibly uncomfortable. Michelle also had the idea to make him a card signed by the entire staff and to have all of us draw him pictures. This was a bit of a joke since he's an incredible artist and the rest of us, well, aren't, but I think he appreciated the gesture!

Michelle and Vanessa - my visitors when I was sick!

Even though everything has been going pretty well with the show, I have been sick lately, which isn't so much fun. Turns out I've been having an asthma attack for two weeks, plus the mold from the rain and dust from the performance space is making everything worse. As a result, Lisa wouldn't let me work today. So, I spent the day watching musicals in my room. Not a bad way to spend a sick day, but I would have much rather been in rehearsal with my staff and kids. Sophia took over my dance rehearsals today and apparently really worked on getting everything clean, which is so great. It's a really good thing I have an assistant choreographer this year!

Scott and Dario are down in San Jose for today and tomorrow getting us the hook-up with stage lights. Hopefully they'll come back more knowledgeable and with more resources than when they left!

Keep following :)

Erin

This I just added for fun - Dario (Seymour) and Adri (Audrey) in costume! 

Like life, choreography is hard.

Hey y'all!

Since last week, not a whole lot has changed. The kids are continuing to pick up choreography very quickly, and I have been able to really start cleaning some of the numbers already. I’ve also been sitting in on Scott and Lisa’s rehearsals, which both seem to be going well from a third party perspective. Our “coro especial” sounds great on the harmonies, and Scott’s blocking is really inventive. Monday we had a run-through of Act 1, Scene 1 which was a disaster, but now we know what we need to work on. The kids had never sang and danced at the same time before this rehearsal, so needless to say, not a whole lot of singing or dancing happened during either of the production numbers that happen at the beginning of the show. However, from now on we can work on doing both at the same time. I’m only afraid that once they start dancing they will lose their harmonies, but hopefully that won’t happen!

The biggest problem I’ve been facing lately actually has nothing to do with the kids. I’m having choreographer’s block. This happens to me every time I choreograph a show. The first few numbers come out great and diverse, but after the first three or four, I feel like everything starts to look the same. I try really hard to stick with the era of the show for the choreography because it’s just more fun and the music accompanies it better, but now I feel like I’ve used up all of my 1950’s-60’s doo-wop movement. I’m going to try and do more research on different female vocal groups of that style from the era like The Supremes and The Shangri-la’s to get some more inspiration, but as of right now, it’s a bit of a struggly process. Vanessa would tell me, “Life is hard.” I will amend this statement slightly: “Choreography is hard.”

Thanks for following!

Erin

The Big Picture

Well, I finally got to sit down and talk to Lisa and Adrienne for a few minutes about the community arts center and how it fits into Far Corners. They are totally on board to have it be a branch of FCCMT! This is great news for me. It means I don't have to start my own non-profit from scratch. So basically I can work with their board and do all the fundraising through them! I'm incredibly excited right now. Also, they invited me to their next board meeting which should be sometime in the next week to start talking through ideas and goals. This might actually happen!

Here are some pictures of the space we are currently using for our show that in my mind, as well as Lisa's, is slowly transforming into our community arts center.

The  storefront

Our HUGE space! Will eventually be our mainstage theater!

Right side of our future lobby

Left side of our future lobby

View from our storefront. This is the rest of the Centro Comercial de Monteverde.

Upstairs room! Future visual art gallery/studio space.

studio space

more studio space

more of the previous studio

dance studio!

really big dance studio! (same as above)

pretty clouds :)

the barista at our favorite coffee shop loves us :)

So basically we'd have our mainstage theater downstairs with four upstairs rooms that we can convert into various types of studios. I imagine the farthest back one to be a dance studio, the front one to be for visual art because it has a ton of natural light and could very easily look nice as an art gallery, and the other two could be for acting and music respectively.

I'm so excited about this space and that Lisa and Adrienne are on board to have it be part of Far Corners!!!

Artes Para el Alma

Hi, everyone!

Those of you who have been following my adventures since day one will notice some radical changes to the layout and content to the webpage as of last night. The most prominent one is the title of the blog, which is now a picture of a sign that hangs above the path that leads to our performance space from last year, Bromelia's Music Garden. The sign says, "Artes para el alma," which means "Arts for the soul." I thought this was a more relevant and appropriate title for my blog this year than "Community Arts in Monteverde."

Yes, I want to start a community arts center here, but as I have been going along my merry way this summer I have realized that this idea is more than just providing arts classes for people and putting up shows. The arts to me are more than just a career path or a hobby; they are my primary means of expression and self-awareness. It is incredible how much a person can learn about oneself through the study and practice of any genre of art, be it performing or visual. It may be cliche to say that art is a way of life, but cliches exist because they are true. My goal with this project is to encourage people here in Monteverde and Santa Elena to experiment with the arts. Maybe someone will come in, try a few classes, and decide that the arts really don't suit them. That is totally fine with me. At least that person had the opportunity to try it. And maybe someone else comes in, takes one painting class, and realizes that painting is his or her calling, but it was never previously available for them to take classes, practice, experiment, and master it. There are so many possibilities that could exist through this center, and I just want to make them available to everyone here the way they were always available to me.

I have danced all my life, but I always knew that if I decided one day that I didn't want to do it anymore, I could stop. And I knew that everyone would be supportive of that decision. Maybe they would be a little confused or concerned, but it was my choice whether I wanted to dance or not. Coming to Monteverde last year made me think about the reverse situation. What if I had never taken that first ballet or jazz class? What would I be doing with my life? I don't even know. I can only imagine that there is a little girl here who may be an amazing dancer some day, but without a local studio or teacher, she will never discover this about herself. The decision is out of her hands because the opportunity doesn't even exist. I look at Dario, this guy with an incredible voice who knows that without Lisa Burns and FCCMT, he would never have known it. He would never have played the piano or cello, either. And now, on August 6th and 7th, he has college theater auditions. What would Dario be doing with his life if he had never met Lisa? I don't think he knows the answer to that question. Of course, these are extreme examples of people who want to devote their lives to their chosen art, but that is just the point. We chose it. We had the opportunity to choose.

This is not to say that the center will be aimed towards people who want to become professional artists, although that certainly would be encouraged there. It would also exist to foster a community of artists here in Monteverde who create for fun and for the pure experience of doing something creative--"arts for the soul." The arts are proven to help kids make better grades in school, encourage collaboration in problem-solving and projects for people of all ages, and I think they create an environment that promotes peace and understanding among everyone involved. There is a certain amount of respect that exists in such artist communities, and I think it is a beautiful thing to spread to all parts of the world.

If anyone following has read any recent research on these topics, send them along (ECLafferty@gmail.com)! I have some in my archives, but I'm always looking for more.

Keep following!
Erin

Gritaras Si Entras en el Ensayo!

Hello, again!


I have done some reflecting over our casting process, and I decided to do so here, as well. I feel that I have now further articulated what I was trying to say in my last post. Maybe now I will make more sense.

Casting is one of the most interesting and most frustrating things about being on the production staff of a show, especially an FCCMT show in which we have many different goals to keep in mind. At Far Corners we have a few major goals in putting on this show: 1) to teach kids about musical theatre, 2) to put on a great show, 3) to inspire kids to try something new and take risks in the arts, and 4) to get the entire community engaged in an artistic endeavor. While all of these are great goals and goals in which I believe whole-heartedly, they are not always compatible at different stages of the production. In casting, for example, it is difficult to balance putting on the best possible show and giving kids the opportunity to try something new and take risks. We have some kids who have done almost every FCCMT show since the organization began and are, therefore, more trained in musical theatre than others. Technically speaking, these kids are the ones who should be getting the lead roles. However, because we are an educational organization, we also want to give different kids the chance to explore their own artistic abilities even if they may not have as much experience as someone else. Balancing our cast and our goals as an organization can be very tricky, and it makes the casting process a bit of a headache.

All headaches aside, I am extremely happy with the cast we have put together. It is a smaller cast this year, especially since we put the age limit on the production, but I think that means this show has the capacity to be even tighter than last year. I hope it will also allow the students to get to know each other on a more personal level. We expanded the original cast delineations to include more of an ensemble while also maintaining the three Greek chorus figures—Ronnette, Chiffon, and Crystal. I’m excited about this aspect of our cast because it means that the more “production number” songs will have a stronger sound and bigger dancing, but the songs that don’t require more than just the three main chorus girls can stay small, simple, and clean. The less cleaning I have to do, the better!

On Monday we really began rehearsing. Lisa had all kinds of singing sessions upstairs while Scott and I occupied the main floor with blocking and choreography rehearsals. I can’t speak for Lisa or Scott, but I am already impressed with the speed at which people are picking things up and their positive responses to the show. I had a dance rehearsal with the girls playing Ronnette, Chiffon, and Crystal to start teaching them the Prologue, and they learned the first minute of it in under an hour, including cleaning time. Of course, it’s not perfect, but they got farther in the dance and with more enthusiasm than I expected them to. And today we finished that dance (it's about 3 minutes of choreography) in another hour-long rehearsal. I also began teaching the Dentist dance to Antonio, Sofia, Kelly, and Nati. It is already looking hilarious. Antonio is great and moving well, and the girls are catching on just as quickly as they did with the Prologue dance. I'm very optimistic for the rest of the summer! We also finished the read-through of the play from where we left off on Saturday, and at least the principals seem really jazzed about the show and are really anxious to keep learning! Plus, today I was able to sit in on more blocking rehearsals, and things are looking really good. Scott is really good at engaging the kids and getting them excited for their scenes. Some of our actors could still come out of their shells more, but it's only day two of rehearsals! And the fact that I'm already being nit-picky about character choices bodes very well.

---

We also had our first informal cabaret rehearsal! On Sunday night, Vanessa, Sophia, and I made the trek to Bajo del Cementerio to the house that Dario is saying in for the summer which just so happens to have a piano. We did some singing and song-searching, but after Sophia left, the three remaining artists decided they were, indeed, starving artists. After hunting around the most eclectically decorated house I have ever seen, we finally found something edible--egg noodles, garlic, and butter! Let the cooking commence! It was a strange meal, but made better with great company and a good sense of humor. We also managed to leave the kitchen cleaner than it was when we found it. This was not a particularly difficult task since it wasn’t very clean in the first place and has been occupied solely by a 17-year-old boy for the last two weeks, but Vanessa and I were still proud of this fact.

This year’s staff and cast have a very different vibe from those of last year, but I feel like this summer is going to be so great. With a bigger staff, we are able to get so much more done more quickly and efficiently, and with a smaller cast, I think we will be able to keep the actors more focused and get the show cleaner faster. And to top it all off, with our amazing rehearsal and performance space, we can keep singing rehearsals separate from blocking and dancing rehearsals, which amounts to fewer distractions for the kids and staff members alike! To sum it all up, I am so excited for our show this summer and cannot wait to see how it turns out!

The Prologue

Hello, everyone!


As you all know, Thursday was our day of callbacks, which means that we had to cast the show on Friday. Casting is never a fun process. It hurts your head, and once you finally think you have everyone in the right place, someone comes in and messes everything up.

Here's how it went down for us:

Thursday night we were all pretty much in agreement about how we would cast the show if we were forced to make our decision right then and there. It would have been something like this:
     Seymour - Jonathan
     Orin - Antonio
     Audrey - Adriana
     Mushnik - Trevor
     Plant - Dario
     Bernstein/Luce/Snip - Jaden
     Customers/Mr. Martin - Luis Eladio
This was essentially what I wanted.

This is what we ended up with:
     Seymour - Dario
     Orin - Antonio
     Audrey - Adriana
     Mushnik - Trevor
     Plant - Luis Eladio
     Bernstein/Luce/Snip - Jaden
     Customers/Mr. Martin - Jonathan
While I am also quite content with this cast, I will explain what happened in our meetings and what I thought about the available options.

Jonathan is about 6'3" or 6'4", lanky, and a ginger. He's half Tico, but he looks straight up gringo even though he's never left the country of Costa Rica. He has the perfect look for a Seymour, and he acted it very well. He has a nice voice, but it could use some work. Dario, on the other hand, is 100% Tico, about 5'7", and has the most amazing voice you've ever heard. He can sing just about anything, and we all knew that. I wanted him to be the Plant because I thought it would be a challenge for him. Dario is one of my best friends, and I know for a fact that as Seymour, he is essentially playing himself: a slightly awkward, super sweet, optimistic guy. Of course, Dario doesn't have a giant human-eating plant to deal with, but as far as character traits, there aren't too many differences. The Plant, however, is tough, raw, and a bit of a bully. Watching Dario do his audition for the Plant was hilarious, and I could tell it was making him work a bit creatively. And he also has the range and power in his singing voice to make the plant come to life and completely overpower Jonathan as Seymour.

We were pretty content to have this be the case. However, we decided that we wanted Jonathan and Trevor to come in on Friday afternoon (we were considering Trevor for Seymour, as well) to learn one last song to test their vocal ranges. Both of them did very well! I was still happy with having Jonathan as our Seymour, Trevor as Mushnik, and Dario as the Plant. After Trevor and Jonathan left, Lisa, Scott, and I started talking things over, and Lisa called Dario over to the piano. (Dario is a fellow intern as well as an actor in the play.) She handed him the music and made him sing the same piece the other two sang even though he was completely cold. Jonathan and Trevor probably worked on the piece for upwards of half an hour, while Dario belted it out without warming up at all and after drinking a Coke (any kind of carbonated drink is really bad for the voice - the caffeine and the bubbles dehydrate your vocal chords). Even under those conditions, his voice was still incredible and he acted the part better than the other two. We had no choice but to completely start from scratch with him as Seymour. After that, I pretty much stayed quiet as far as casting the men because there was a huge part of me that didn't want to give Dario Seymour. He has been FCCMT's star since he was 12, and there are many different arguments that go back and forth on why he should or shouldn't continue this trend:
     1. He's shown incredible dedication to the organization.
     2. Musical theatre is his passion and he wants to pursue it as a career.
     3. He's had a lot of opportunities to grow and shine - maybe we should let someone else have a chance?
     4. He's the best singer we have - from a technical standpoint he should get the lead.
     5. The Plant would be a bigger challenge for him as an actor and singer.
     6. He has great stage presence - it would be a shame to put him off stage with a microphone.
     7. He's doing a ton of work for the organization as the show's Co-Producer - he would have to spend less time in rehearsals/learning lines as The Plant because he could have a script backstage.
As you all can probably see, we had a long, long talk about him and where he should belong. And we finally ended up with a cast list. It was a bit of a frustrating process, but in the end I didn't really get much say in it. I got a lot of say in who was cast as Ronnette, Chiffon, Crystal, and Orin because they all need to be able to dance, but as far as the debate between Plant and Seymour for Dario, dance really isn't a question in casting.

Overall, I am very happy with our cast. I know everyone will do an amazing job. It was really more from an educational standpoint that I was fighting having Dario as Seymour. At any rate, I am very confident in our cast and how the entire show will turn out.

Yesterday we had our first rehearsal with the entire cast. It was basically a day-long introduction to how the rest of the summer will go. We did a quick talk-through of the show, which was exhausting not only because I know the show better than any of the other staff members so that responsibility fell largely to me, but also because I was doing it entirely in Spanish. I have no trouble holding conversation in Spanish or writing a 15-page research paper in Spanish, but giving the plot of an entire musical while trying to be entertaining to a group of kids ages 12-18 in a second language is difficult. Either way, I made it through and did a fair job, I think. Scott, Lisa, and I also each took a 30-minute block to do a quick introduction into our specialty. They were basically like mini-master classes. Vanessa got to take all the kids upstairs and make them all try on various different costumes, and Scott, Fabian, and I got the principals together for a read-through of the show. It was an exciting day and hopefully we won't lose any participants!

Keep following and thanks for sticking it out through that super-long post!

Love,
Erin

P.S. Some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

We have men! 6 of them! From left to right: Trevor (Mushnik), Antonio (Orin), Jonathan (Customers/Mr. Martin), Andrey (Ensemble), Dario (Seymour). Not shown: Luis Eladio (Audrey II).

We found an Audrey II in the wild!

Clouds are pretty in the mountains here :)

From when Alvaro and I went to the Farmers' Market at 6 AM to publicize the show/children's programs. Alvaro drew the plant and title of the show by hand - he's truly an amazing artist!

FCCMT Staff! As of right now. More to come. Top Row from Left to Right: Alvaro (Art Director), Dario (Co-Producer, Press Director), Scott (Director), Lisa (Program Director, FCCMT Founder, Music Director), Adrienne (Producer). Bottom Row from Left to Right: Vanessa (Costume Designer), Me (Choreographer, Development Director), Sophia (Assistant Choreographer)

Me teaching our audition dance at Escuela Los Llanos!

Call Back in the Morning, Will You?

Hi, everybody!



As many of you probably know, I like word plays, which is exactly what the title of this post is! I am very proud of it. Not only is "call back in the morning, will you?" a line in a song from Little Shop of Horrors, it is also in reference to the fact that yesterday was our day of callback auditions! Check out how clever I am! :)

I am actually really satisfied with our cast this year. It's not a huge cast and not nearly as big as last year, but it doesn't need to be for this show, and I prefer small casts anyway. That's probably why Little Shop is still my favorite show that I have ever done. And the best part is that we have just about as many boys as girls! Even better? We have 6 whole men with changed voices! This is great news. Especially since we only acquired two of them last night! I'm really excited about those two, Antonio and Luis Eladio, though, because they have been in shows in the past, and I have met and hung out with them, but I'm really looking forward to getting to know them better this summer. We also have some strong girls and some younger ones who show great promise.

I made up a new dance for callbacks to see how far I could push the girls we are looking at for Ronnette, Chiffon, and Crystal. It was much more stylized (think The Supremes) than the first dance was, and it was definitely more feminine. They did pretty well! It makes me really optimistic for the dancing in this show. The girls are, of course, quite unpolished, but with five weeks I know we can get to where I want them to be. I'm getting really excited for this group!

Working with FCCMT is stressful and exhausting, but it's also so rewarding and eye-opening. Sometimes the kids don't seem to understand why we push them so hard. They don't see what we see as far as their potential. Each of these kids has an area within musical theater in which they are already beginning to shine, so we want to push them even further and see where they can get in these next five weeks. And when they finally reach their potential, it's an amazing feeling for everyone involved because they realize it, too. It's times like those that I know my dream to have a community arts center here is worth it. There is talent and passion here that is yet untapped in most of the kids who come through FCCMT. However, there's even more simmering under the surfaces of countless other kids in the area who are simply unfamiliar with the performing or visual arts and, therefore, are not immediately willing to try it. My hope is that when my center opens, people will participate in the arts from a younger age and grow up with it the way my friends and I did. It's an opportunity that I think everyone should have available to them, even if it's not really their thing. They should at least get the chance to give it a shot.

Some food for thought.

Cast list to come!

Erin

So Many Schools, So Little Time!

Hello, everyone!


My apologies for not posting for a few days! There honestly has not been much to update about! We've continued holding auditions and recruiting at the public high school as well as at all the elementary schools in the area. Recruitment is incredibly important and a great way to get the word out about us, but it is a lot of work. Dario and I have walked the entire vicinity of Monteverde probably about 6 or 7 times since Monday. While Monteverde is not a very populous area, it is very spread out, and it is spread out vertically across a mountain.

We have been recruiting heavily at the Escuela Santa Elena, Escuela Los Llanos, Escuela Cerro Plano, and Centro Educativo Aventista. These schools span the entirety of the area, from the very outskirts to the couple of town centers on the mountain. And none of them is very close to any of the others. I have developed a great case of shin splints which will probably not heal any time soon because I am still constantly hiking up and down all over the place. I also stepped on a tack in the Salon Parroquial during auditions on Monday morning, and it went all the way into my foot. So the ball of my left foot is still a little sore from that, but it is definitely less of an issue than my shins.

However, being the optimist of the group, I am trying to think of how strong I am getting by doing all this hiking and about how important it is for the organization that we do as much of our recruitment and public relations projects face-to-face rather than by phone. I think it shows our dedication to the project, and it's nice for people to be able to put faces to names in this town where everyone knows everyone and nothing remains a secret! Additionally, Dario can't walk ten steps without singing, so I am building better lung capacity and diaphragm control!

Tomorrow we are holding our callback auditions and will be finalizing our cast list on Friday, as well as returning to a couple of the elementary schools to hold more auditions! This means that Saturday we are having our first rehearsal with our entire cast and hopefully hooking them on the show and the story so that no one drops out within the first week!

Wish us luck!

Erin

Audiciones... A Continuacion

On Thursday night Vanessa, our costume designer, arrived. She seems really nice, though I've only spent a total of about two hours with her thus far. I'm looking forward to getting to know her. She's another volunteer around my age. She's a rising senior in college and is 21 years old. This should be a fun group.

Yesterday, we continued to hold auditions. Only one person came, but we're still optimistic! We're still advertising and we know kids from last year who are planning on coming either today or at the beginning of next week. I'm not worried yet. I have also become the optimistic member of the group. Anytime someone says something negative I have to counter it. I don't know why this became my job. I think it's because I've spent so much time telling Dario to calm down y que no se preocupe. Lisa, too. They both worry too much. But that's why they're good at what they do!

It is now 9 AM and I have been up since 5. My day has barely started. I met Alvaro, our artistic director and set designer and all-around helper, at the colegio at 6 and we set up shop at the farmers' market. When I left about 10 minutes ago, we had talked to about 10 interested people. Hopefully he and Sophia will have better luck these next few hours.

After I finish up here, I am heading over to the Salon Parroquial to continue with the audition process. Hopefully more people show up! Then this afternoon we are continuing staff training/orientation/bonding. It's difficult, though, because not everyone is here. Only 5 of our staffers from the States are here, and Dario is here but he works Fridays and Saturdays, which means it's hard to make time for the staff to do things on their own. But again, I'm the optimistic one, so everything will work out! Plus, Scott gets here tomorrow, and I'm assuming that means that things will kick into high gear then. Not that I haven't been working hard enough or constantly already...

My newest job is typing up the entire English libretto of Little Shop of Horrors. I have just finished Scene 4, which amounts to 35 pages on Microsoft Word. It is quite a process. Lisa gave me the option of delegating this task (I get to delegate things! That means I'm a senior staff member!), but now that I'm so far into it, I don't want to pass it off to someone and have the formatting get messed up. I may have relaxed a lot from my experiences here in Monteverde, but some things about my obsessiveness will never change.

The staff is getting polo shirts! I'm super jazzed. It makes me feel really official. And like it's a real job. :)

And apparently Lisa is not coming back to Monteverde next summer... She and Michelle Boesch from last year are planning on going to China to do a MTC (Musical Theater Connections, a branch of FCCMT) program. So, that means that Adrienne, Dario, and I are in charge of the program next summer - I was not informed of this! Adrienne mentioned it in passing yesterday. I can't decide if that is exciting or terrifying. Either way, I'm glad to know that I'm a valued member of this staff and organization now.

More to come, as always. Still working on getting myself organized to hit the ground running on my own project. Right now FCCMT is seriously my life. I haven't done anything social or fun other than playing cards with Fiorella and Joycel at the house. And even then it's between things I have to do for work. But hopefully as more staff members show up and I get to concentrate solely on choreography and my musical theater workshop more time will free up for me to start making stronger connections with local artists, teachers, and business owners in the area. I'm already becoming pretty good friends with the guy who owns the coffee shop from which I blog and work almost every day. Maybe he'll be a local supporter.

If anyone has anything they want to say to me or advice to give, but doesn't want to make an account on blogger to comment on my posts, feel free to e-mail me! I check it even more often than I check my blog, which is saying something! ECLafferty@gmail.com

Keep following!

Love,

Erin

Audiciones!

Hello everyone!


We have had some really busy days already, and it's only the first week!

We've begun the extremely difficult and frustrating process of recruitment. We really want more of the kids at the public high school to come participate in our program. In years past, most of our participants have been students at the CEC or MFS, the two private bilingual schools in Monteverde. That is really due to the fact that about 5 or 6 years ago, Lisa taught music at the CEC, so her musicals and programs were organized through the school. However, now that she has her own independent organization and has more Spanish-speaking volunteers, she and the rest of the staff really wants to include kids from every school possible. It's a great way for them to make new friends and to foster a community of performing artists in Monteverde - something that I am clearly very passionate about! Unfortunately, many of the kids at the colegio (the public high school) see Far Corners as a gringo organization only for the bilingual students of the private schools. And they just really don't know what to think of musical theater. Last year we were lucky enough to get maybe 6 or 8 to show up to auditions, but our retention rate throughout the summer was very low; only Andrey stayed on through the entire run of the show. He's helping us a bit with recruitment, but unfortunately he thinks it's a bit of a moot point with his classmates. In his words, "todos los estudiantes en el colegio son brutos." I'll let y'all look that one up. :) It's good practice.

Sometimes we forget that the Tico lifestyle is very different from the one we've become accustomed to in the States where we are given specific times for appointments or auditions, we show up on time, we do exactly as we're told, and we appreciate the structure and organization. That just simply is not what kids are used to here! Not to say that one is better than the other, but the process does require some compromising on both sides. Needless to say, auditions are an interesting process here. Luckily our director, Scott, has not yet arrived. He is a self-proclaimed Nazi of punctuality and shamer of latecomers. The audition process would probably be very frustrating for him. However, on our first day we got about 8 kids. 3 of them were new to our program which is so exciting! We really love that the word is getting out about us and what we do. We'll see how may show up today and throughout next week!

I had a little meeting with the man at the Ministry of Agriculture (anyone else think of Harry Potter?) this morning to discuss advertising at the Farmers' Market tomorrow morning. He was more than happy to oblige. This may not sound like a huge deal, but believe me it's an amazing venue for publicity! Practically the entire town goes to the Farmers' Market every Saturday morning. Unfortunately for me, that means I have to be at the colegio at 6 AM tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

Keep following!

Love,
Erin

A Side-Note...

Yesterday while I was with Dario and Sophia we walked up to the Centro Comercial de Monteverde, the town's mostly vacant mall, to check out our performance space! The room is huge! It is going to be such a wonderful place to have our show if we can get it fixed up with a little platform for the shop and maybe even a rudimentary stage. I am so excited after seeing where the magic will take place this summer.

This is also the mall where I hope to inquire about space for the community arts facility that will hopefully be realized in the next few years. For those of you who do not know about the bigger picture I have here in Monteverde, here's a little introduction to my vision:

I want to create a place for the people of Monteverde that will be an artistic and creative outlet. Essentially a place were everyone can come and experience art in some way, whether that be through visual art, music, dance, acting, or anything else one could possibly think of. I want to support and encourage every art form in this town. Currently there are no art classes being taught in either the public or private schools, and for many kids, FCCMT's yearly musical is the only exposure they get to art all year. Ideally, the community arts center will be fully staffed and functioning all year round. There are some people here who teach music or dance, but on a private and not very regular basis. Most of them teach out of their homes and only have a few regular students. My goal is to meet with them sometime this summer and encourage them to support my idea to have a centralized art center. I would want them to be regular teachers at the center and open their studios to a greater number of students. I also have a couple of people from the States who are willing to come down and lend a hand, but of course, I don't know how committed they are or for how long they are willing to stay here.

Obviously funding is an issue as well as physical space. Learning about how businesses operate here is one of my many goals for the summer, as well as figuring out how leasing works with the mall space. This is where I ask for your help. If you are knowledgeable in any of these areas, please let me know! I would love to hear from experts in things that I know very little about. This summer for me is all about learning and laying the groundwork for this center that I think will be a huge asset to this community.

Keep following!

Love,
Erin

Day Number 1

Hello, again!


Well, after over 24 hours of traveling, I have finally made it to beautiful Monteverde. I couldn't stop smiling the entire last half hour of the terrifying bus ride up the mountain. This is just one of those places that touches a place in your heart and nothing else ever comes quite close to it. I am so excited to be spending my second summer in a row here.

In about half an hour, I will be reunited with Dario, one of my best friends I made last year, and I will be meeting my assistant choreographer, Sophia. I know very little about Sophia other than her background is mostly jazz dancing and that we are the same age. I think we'll make a good match judging from our very limited correspondence thus far. Lisa, FCCMT's founder and director, won't be getting here until tomorrow, so Sophia, Dario, and I will be taking care of some logistical things this afternoon. It's kind of a relief to immediately have work to do. As much as I love my host family and am glad to be with them for the second year in a row, I really love working here.

Keep following! I'll be posting again soon.

Introduction

Hello everyone!


I am blogging from Monteverde, Costa Rica for the second summer in a row working with Far Corners Community Musical Theatre. Just like last year, I will be posting about my daily activities and work with the youth population here. However, in the past year I've come up with some new ideas for myself and Monteverde, which I hope you will read about as well. In my next post I will expand more on what those ideas are, but this is just an introduction to the blog itself.

Please know that I want feedback! If anyone has any ideas on how to improve my ideas or how I'm going about realizing my goals, please, please let me know. Also, if you are interested in helping me or supporting the cause in any way, please contact me!

Thanks for following and supporting,
Erin