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