Friday, 18 September

Today we left Honduras and find ourselves in Morelia. An amazing day: everything came off as planned. We flew from San Pedro Sula to Mexico City; there was a chauffeur waiting for us, one Luis Becerra, a very pleasant guy (as all the chauffeurs I have encountered from the Ministry of Culture). We are in the Hotel Catedral, a colonial building right on the main plaza. We arrived about 10:30, I so haven't had time to experience the city, but it's obvious the colonial portion is beautiful.

Saturday, 19 September

In the morning we did a workshop of theatrical criticism given by Vivian Martínez, a Cuban who is the editor of the journal Conjunto, published by the Casa de las Américas in La Habana - I had met her several years ago when I was on the jury of the Casa de las Américas prize. She asked us (Edy and Chito were also there) to give something of an exposition of tlf, especially in terms of how we have managed to survive for 30 years. In the afternoon Walter and I went to see the theatre where we will do Pinter Monday night; it's a lovely theatre (Teatro Ocampo), but the lighting system is not too special - I doubt that we will be able to do much with it.

At night saw a show by a group from Bolivia at that same theatre. I didn't really understand it.

Monday, 21 September

Today was quite a day.

Here in Mexico we did our first show of the Pinter this evening, and spent all day rehearsing and setting up. I was in the light booth and couldn't really feel from there what the audience reaction was. One good sign was that they got all the jokes, which means they were paying attention.

The show itself was permeated and overshadowed by what is happening at home. Mel is back in the country all of a sudden; Lula has given him permission to use and stay in the Brazilian embassy. He showed up all of a sudden, it seems, and took Micheletti completely by surprise. (I suspect he crossed from Nicaragua into some area of Olancho, which is his home territory - maybe by helicopter).

Micheletti decreed a curfew from 4 p.m. on - they announced it at 3:30, according to Tiempo, which caused chaos everywhere as people tried to get home in time. In the evening they decreed a 24-hour curfew tomorrow. All airports are closed. We got the news about 3:00 p.m. from Vivian Martínez, who had seen it in the page of the Cuban newspaper Granma.

This definitely changes the game plan in a big way.

It was a very emotional experience to do the Pinter in these circumstances - it reminded me of the time we did Romero in Cleveland, the day that Bush started bombing in Afganistan in 2001.

Tuesday 22 September

Today was a relaxed day here in Morelia. I slept in. Edy called home in the morning and we learned that Chito is now a grandfather - his daughter Carol had her baby yesterday. I called Carol later in the day to congratulate her and she sounded great and very happy - sounds like both she and the baby are well.

We went to the kindergarten where we will do Tío Coyote tomorrow to see the space.

The news from home is anything but relaxed. The de factos cut off electricity, water and phones to the Brazilian embassy (though they have a generator and cell-phones - water will undoubtedly be the big problem). The military broke up the huge crowd outside the embassy, supporters of Mel; reports give three dead and quite a few wounded, as well as many arrested and held in a stadium in Tegucigalpa - near 200 was one figure I saw. Shades of Pinochet. The curfew was officially extended till tomorrow nation-wide.

I get the impression that Mel is going to try to set up the government in exile from the Embassy.

The U.N. is planning an emergency session of the Security Council. Airports remain closed to head off any attempt of the U.N. or the O.A.S. to send people in, it seems. Micheletti continues in his pose of challenging the entire world, all of whom are wrong; only he and his cronies have the truth.

Wednesday, 23 September

In the morning we did Tío Coyote in the kindergarten. It was fun - the kids were great. I went to a lecture in the afternoon given by a guy with whom I am becoming friends, Oscar García, who is professor of dramatic literature at the UNAM. His lecture was a survey of contemporary trends in Latin American dramatic writing. Quite interesting.

The show at night was by a group from D.F.; what I guess would be classified as "experimental" or "vanguard". Edy liked it; I thought it was boring.

As far as we could tell, today was something of a breathing space back home; the curfew was suspended for a few hours so people could buy food; the news is that supermarkets and any place that sells food were jammed. Both Lula of Brazil and Bachelet of Chile, as well as other L.A. presidents, included in their addresses in the U.N. General Assembly today the insistence that Mel be restored to power. (All the presidents - including Obama - are there for some sort of thing about climate change).

Chito talked to his daughter Carol, who had made him a grandfather on Monday; a couple of weeks earlier than expected, but all seems to be fine with both mother and daughter.

Here are a couple of the reviews of Pinter from the local papers today:

http://www.provincia.com.mx/index.php?module=displaystory&st ory_id=6627&format=html

http://www.lajornadamichoacan.com.mx/2009/09/23/index.php?section =cultura&article=012n2cul

Thursday 24 September

Here's the state of things according to the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/world/americas/24honduras.html? ref=world

According to Tiempo, the curfew is suspended again during the day today. The shots we have found on the internet look pretty awful, but most of the violence is in Tegucigalpa, with some in San Pedro Sula - Progreso seems fairly calm, as far as we can see from here.>

Just in: things seem to be heating up in Progreso, contradicting what I just wrote a few minutes ago: Esteban just got news that a classmate of his in the University has been killed, and Radio Progreso just sent out a note that the military are converging on their installations. Here is the Radio Progreso note:

A las 10 de la mañana, es decir hace una hora y 14 minutos, nos alertaron que contingentes militares estaban desplazándose hacia las instalaciones de Radios Progreso, en el centro de la ciudad de El Progreso, en el norte del país.

Eso ocurrió momentos después que varios tipos vestidos con ropa color azul y lentes oscuros estaban inspeccionando las afueras de la radio, esa situación fue advertida por personal de la radio, por lo que ellos abandonaron el lugar en un carro tipo busito color blanco.

El Frente de Resistencia contra el golpe, ya está en las instalaciones de la radio, defendiendo la radio que consideran suya.

Les advertimos, esperando que con la denuncia oportuna, no se ejecute esta amenaza, por ello les pedimos que lo den a conocer a todo el mundo y especialmente a los organismos de derechos humanos para advertir este nuevo intento de callar a Radio Progreso, emisora de la Compañía de Jesús, que en su trayectoria de 53 años ya ha sido silenciada en dos oportunidades por los militares, la más reciente el 28 de junio de 2009, el día del golpe de Estado.

Thought you might be interested in the comments of Margo Wickesser (who is acting with us) which gives more detail about how things are going here:

Hola amigos,

After 4 hot days of rehearsal at Teatro la Fragua in El Progreso, Honduras, we arrived last night in the delightfully COOL city of Morelia, Mexico. This is the first leg of a three-city series of theater festivals. On Saturday we head to Colima for another festival and we finish up after a festival in Mexico City on Oct. 5.

Our show was developed by Jack Warner sj, artistic director of Teatro la Fragua for 30 years (and an old classmate of mine). It is basically a series of short dramatic pieces by Harold Pinter. Interlaced among Pinter's pieces are germane sections of his acceptance speech when he won the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature in 2005. It's funny and satirical and sad and doesn't pull any punches as far as US and British war-mongering in other nations is concerned. 

We are in fabulous digs; a 17th century convent-turned-4 star hotel on the colonial cathedral plaza. There are a variety of theater groups here from Bolivia, Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico and of course, Honduras. Mornings are devoted to a variety of talks (criticism in the theater, teatro feminista, Latin American dramatic literature, etc.) There are workshops in the afternoon and performances at night. We actors, directors, designers and dramaturgs gather on the rooftop terrace of our hotel for dinner after the evenings' performances. Informally, we've been treated to the music of Bolivia ("cuecas") and all manner of regional songs and dances by the performers themselves. Fantastic.

We've seen a play each night and they have all been interesting, especially from my gringa first-world perspective: a visually gorgeous piece about the cultural and spiritual importance of "maiz" to the Purépecha Indians in the Yucatán, a play about the violent marginalization of women in Northern Mexico (Coahuila). And of course, what theater festival would be complete without an utterly ridiculous, 60's-style, in-yer-face, Puerto Rican surrealist play, complete with nudity, audience assault, urination on stage (and on the actor), multi-media nonsense, a real-live two-headed girlfriend, copulation with a piano...I had to go chug a frickin` Margarita afterwards. Tonight is another performance art piece about "el Mamut" ( you got me).Tomorrow night there will be a play about the current generational clash among the Maya in Mexico and Guatemala. From the sublime to the profane here in ol' Mexico...

Monday night.

We were well-rehearsed and our show went well. Actually, we smoked 'em. We played in a gigantic re-fitted 17th century church (with all the bells and whistles of a modern theater) to a nearly full house. We've talked informally with  many of the theater artists here about Pinter, as his work is seldom seen in Latin America. They seem to think that doing Pinter is difficult; I dunno...I think its easy. Every pause or silence is a threat and a new beat; with all the freedom in the world everywhere else to make choices--that kind of structure is a dream for an actor.

A curfew was decreed country-wide in Honduras yesterday and remains in effect all day Weds. because the deposed president, Mel Zelaya, has been able to get back into the country and is currently under the protection of the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa. After the curtain call, our principal actor, Edy Barahona, dedicated our performance to Honduras' current struggle for democracy. It was a powerful ending to our piece, which is largely about truth in art, politics, classicism and imperialism. It has provoked a lot of discussion here among Latin Americans here who understand repression by the elite and military only too well. The Honduran actors seem a little down today, I don't blame them.

For those among you who are hispanohablantes, there are also a couple of links to the reviews we received, mostly positive, in the newpapers here. I am not including the link to the review in La Voz de Michoacan, an ultra-right wing rag that didn't understand the piece at all and referred to our actors as non-professionals This could not be further from the truth; many  of the actors have been with the company since it's inception and likely have more experience in theater/acting than almost all of the actors here. They are not hip nor college-educated, nor dressed like bohemian artists, but are, rather, professional, disciplined, talented and highly trained performers. They don't look typically artsy I suppose and they aren't super sophisticated perhaps, but acting-wise, they leave the rest of 'em here in their dust.

http://www.lajornadamichoacan.com.mx/2009/09/23/index.php?section =cultura&article=012n2cul

 http://www.provincia.com.mx/index.php?module=displaystory&st ory_id=6627&format=html

Coming tomorrow or the next will be a newsletter written by our artistic director, Jack Warner, which will provide a little context about the state of seige in Honduras.

That's all for now amigos. More to come...

Abrazos,

Margo

Friday, 25 September

A show of Tío Coyote this morning in a school for deaf-mute kids here in Morelia. It was a fascinating and very moving experience - as far as I can remember, it's the first time we've had a deaf-mute audience.

Melistas are charging that the golpistas are shooting some sort of poison gas into the Brazilian Embassy.

Saturday, 26 September

We are now in Colima. We closed out our participation in the Morelia festival with a round-table discussion this morning amongst all the directors. The van from Colima showed up just before eating. It's a long drive - we left about 3:30 and got here about 9:30. So far, nothing here has turned out as I had understood plans, but we shall see what happens tomorrow. They have us in some Holiday Inn-type hotel - the gang is happy because it has a pool, but it's one of those international blah things could be anywhere. I'm disappointed because the colonial city here is supposed to be interesting.

Sunday, 27 September

A very full day: Tío Coyote in a zoological park in the afternoon and Pinter in the Teatro Hidalgo at night (both in Colima).

The Tío Coyote was in a nice open-air arena theatre space in a really well-designed zoo - the Mexicans are great in the design of public spaces. The theatre reminded me of one in the St. Louis Zoo where (at least in some ancient historical period) they did animal shows. The troupe was fascinated by the zoo. I only saw the last few minutes of the show - Walter and I were setting lights in the Teatro Hidalgo.

Teatro Hidalgo is a lovely restored theatre built in 1883; it's a four-tiered horseshoe, beautifully restored and equipped with the latest high-tech lighting and stage machinery - a lot of toys to play with, although we didn't have time to explore the possibilities very far.

It rained in the evening so we weren't full; but it was a very good and receptive audience.

Monday, 28 September

We have the day off today, and we can all use it.

It seems that things are heating up again at home. On Saturday Micheletti decreed a State of Siege for 45 days - which means no demonstrations of any kind, and that the police and military have a free hand to do whatever they want.

Micheletti has issued an ultimatum to Brazil to get Mel out of the Embassy; Lula has replied that he does not take orders from golpistas (Brazil's history of coups certainly influences their official attitude).

This morning the de facto government closed Radio Globo and Channel 36, the two media outlets in Tegucigalpa who have been with the Resistencia. I'm not sure from here what is going on with Radio Progreso - there have been death threats (via cell-phone messages) to the director, Ismael Moreno sj, and accusations of sabotage of equipment. As far as I can get, the FM is off the air due to some sort of voltage irregularity, but the AM is still broadcasting. I would imagine they worry less about what is aired in Progreso than what is aired in Tegucigalpa.

Yesterday (Sunday) a delegation from the OAS arrived in Tegucigalpa; they were refused entrance to the country, and after being detained for several hours were sent back to Miami.

On top of that, the golpista government has said it will refuse entry to ambassadors of Spain, Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela; in effect, breaking off diplomatic relations with those countries - although that's a bit complicated since they don't recognize the de facto government. The isolation from the international community continues to get more and more intense.

As one report put it: "Una crisis que no deja de empeorar" - a crisis that never quits getting worse.

Thursday, 1 October

Tuesday we drove to Guadalajara and had a couple of hours of tourism, mostly dedicated (in my case) to the frescoes of Orozco in the Hospicio Cabañas - something marvelous which deserves a lot more time and study - put it on your "must do some day" list. Then we flew from Guadalajara to Mexico City.

It was raining when we got in, but Gabriel had a pair of vans waiting for us which took us to the first-night hotel, Hotel Premier near the Zona Rosa. Not recommended (among other things, the building is leaning over to one side and all the floors tilt, not unlike the Cathedral).

But then on Wednesday morning we made a quick change to the Holiday Inn Zócalo - a real quick change because we had to get to the theatre to set up and focus and program lights and rehearse for the night's show of Pinter. It took a while (and a bit of help from Juan Meliá, the head of theatre for the Ministry of Culture), and a lot of work to get good lighting. So it was a tiring day but the show (in the Teatro El Galeón, part of the complex of theatres behind the Auditorio Nacional) came off pretty well to a full house (capacity about 200, the same as in tlf at home). Edy was frustrated because a cleaning lady moved a costume piece that he had set for a change - he had to grab something off a costume rack to substitute in a rush, and his rhythm was off for a couple of scenes as a result. The audience was extremely attentive and got all the jokes. We have seen that the Pinter has a very urban sensibility - we are never going to get a more urban audience than in Mexico City.

Things at home seem to be in kind of a holding pattern for the moment.

Today (Thursday) Margo and I did a bit of tourism in the Zócalo. It was the first time I have seen the inside of the Cathedral without it being full of scaffolding, and we had a serious time with the ruins of the Templo Mayor and the wonderful new museum that has been installed there.

Saturday, 3 October

We did our last show of the tour at noon today: Tío Coyote in a small stage in the tent which houses a fair of theatrical books in the Centro Cultural del Bosque. It was a great audience, people who were clearly educated theatre-goers, and the troupe rose to the occasion and gave what was probably the best performance of the tour - it has to be remembered as one of the classic shows.

News from the home front: Micheletti met with Insulza of the OAS sometime this week, as far as I can tell in Palmerola, the gringo air base near Comayagua. A group from the OAS is in Tegucigalpa (seems like they let them enter this time) preparing for another group of foreign ministers who will arrive on Wednesday next. Even Micheletti's own cohorts seem to be thinking he went to far with this last dictatorial decree (something that definitely showed his true mettle), and there seems to be a lot of pressure from all sides to get rid of the State of Seige.

Sunday, 4 October

Today was a pleasant final day of the trip, which I turned into a museum day. An El Greco exhibit in the Palacio de Bellas Artes in the morning, combined with a turn around the Rivera / Orozco / Siqueiros murals on the third level. And in the afternoon the National Art Museum, where I had never been before; I highly recommend it on your next trip to Mexico City.

With Esteban, Tony and Carlos Mario we went to Gabriel Negrete's apartment in the evening, where his sister treated us to a great home-cooked Mexican meal.

La Jornada today had heavy coverage of the situation at home. It confirmed that Micheletti and Insulza met at Palmerola on Tuesday last; also that the U.S. ambassador is pulling strings behind the scenes. There are a lot of indications that the State of Seige may be lifted soon - even Micheletti's allies seem to think it's going too far.

Monday, 5 October.

We all got up at six, the chofers from the Ministry arrived a bit before seven; by 8:30 we were ticketed and by one in the afternoon I was home. Tired but satisfied. Things went well.

At home, it looks like the tension is lifting a bit--the State of Seige was officially lifted today. The feeling seems to be that this week is going to be decisive - perhaps by means of the OAS mission who will arrive on Wednesday. It is clear that everybody is sick of this situation.

Here's a take on where we are now:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8291214.stm

Here's Margo's take on the last few days:

Hola friends,

We are returning tomorrow morning to Honduras and I fly back to Chicago on Tueday. Our performance in the balmy, tropical city of Colima went well although I had to snark my way through the Pinter in Spanish due to a MEXICAN SIZED cold. (Try to envision this.) We also performed in Teatro Galeon in Mexico City (moderate snarking) in the impressive Centro Cultural del Bosque in Chapultepec Park. There are 7 theaters in this complex, a 2000 seat auditorium, two art galleries, a ballet company...gorgeous.

Our first night in Mexico City was a little sketchy. As we all gathered at breakfast in the hotel restaurant the next morning I noticed that nobody looked particularly rested. After comparing notes we concurred that the hotel had a massive mosquito infestation that kept absolutely everyone awake, swatting at the little buggers all night. We changed hotels and are currently staying in lodgings that overlook the zocalo (central plaza) which is the original colonial (and current) seat of government. In this huge plaza are buildings from the 1500`s that contain the murals of Diego Rivera and Orozco and an enormous colonial cathedral. Off to the side is the Templo Mayor which was, until the arrival of Cortez, the original seat of the Aztec government. Only a small part of it has been excavated since all the surrounding buildings were built in the 1500s on TOP of the ruins of the Aztec city and are of course, priceless. They have found a ball court under the cathedral ( which may explain why it is sinking). I wonder what else down there.

I have had 3 days free. As most of you know, I won a Fulbright this year and will be returning to Honduras in January for a year to teach acting at the National Pedagogical University in Tegucigalpa. Part of the grant includes funds for texts and teaching materials to be left in the host country so I am taking advantage of being here to scour the city for plays, drama theory and practice, childrens theater, pedagogy, voice, stagecraft and whatever else I can find for the impoverished university library in Honduras. Cannot locate this stuff in Spanish in the US.

In 2 or 3 hours I could lay waste to several theater bookstores in the US and call it a day. In Mexico City this has been a herculean task but I have prevailed and feel pretty good about the texts they will receive. I will be spending almost all my time writing curriculum between now and the time I leave. I`m also going to take a Mask class and will be auditing a Meisner class in October and November, just for good measure. I will most definitely keep everyone up to date on Margo`s Adventures in Honduras, Part II.

By the way, there is no curfew at this moment in Honduras so we will fly in with no problem. Just keep good thoughts for democracy.

Abrazos,

Margo