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