tlf news

Vol. xxvii #2

June, 2006




Firefly Footlights

Lauren Lansing




The annual Holy Week tour had been planned for weeks: five days and five towns along the Caribbean coast where churches and community centers would be our stages. We would present El Asesinato de Jesús which teatro la fragua has staged for 20 years and has become a ritual both for the actors and many communities around Honduras.

We arrived in Trujillo, our first and furthest stop, after 6 hours of driving. Trujillo is one of the best kept secrets in Honduras, free of tourists but full of historical sights and calm beaches. Veteran actor Yuma and Edy, our director, suggested we have a look around. Actress Heidi, an Australian volunteer, and I -- gringa sound technician -- were eager to turn into tourists again after several months of hard work in the teatro. So we all headed straight to the Fort of Santa Barbara, where Spanish conquistadors protected gold and silver exports from Caribbean pirates.

Trujillo marks the spot where Christopher Columbus landed on his third voyage to the Americas, and the first time he touched mainland America. Columbus found the water in this area extremely deep and he called it the Golfo de Honduras, or the Gulf of the Depths. There were internecine fights for possession of the bay between Hernán Cortés and his deputy Trujillo; the latter eventually won the right to form the town that became the first capital of Honduras. The town gained prominence as a port for export of gold and silver mined in the center of the country, but it was easy prey for pirates: thus the Spanish built the fort that still stands today.

The small building delicately lit with yellow light, surrounded by lawns of long grass and grand walkways of stone, seemed like the perfect place to perform our show. Our set: a row of rusty cannons and the Bay of Trujillo.

Heidi and I were in awe. We began chattering that we should do the show at the fort, testing the acoustics and marking out where people would stand, and an enthusiastic Edy said the priest of our host church agreed. As giddy six-year-olds who had just found a secret place for a new clubhouse, we ran to tell the others how cool it would be to perform there--not only a historical location, but a different and new challenge for the actors and crew to whom the same old churches and community centers had become routine over the last 20 years.

Our mouths drooled with descriptions and projections, but one clear contradiction rang out: "I don't want to perform in the fort. I will only perform in the church!" stubbornly repeated Yuma! I stopped in my tracks, and turned toward him to judge if he was joking, as I have discovered that nearly everything that leaves Yuma's mouth is only meant to get a rise out of people. But I looked him in the eye; sure enough he honestly wanted to perform in the church. I asked him why and he could only say that he was used to it and liked it there. I couldn't believe what I was hearing: one of the most open minded people in the teatro wanted to stick with the worn out tradition. Heidi and I exaggerated our descriptions to convince Yuma and some of the younger guys that were following his lead, that it would be worth the effort. But Yuma continued his revolt.

Arguing and bickering, we all headed back to the religious center where we were staying, and decided to take a vote. Heidi and I vigorously raised our hands, glancing around to find our comrades who had been in the fort with us and those that had been saying they would perform in either space. We hoped they would have some guts and vote their own opinion instead of following the too-influential leader. But sure enough, the gringas were the only two with hands raised high. When asked who wanted to perform in the church, three raised their hands including Yuma. Heidi and I couldn't believe that the rest didn't want to vote. We passed around a Dementor suck-out-your-soul stare at the traitors. We asked for a new vote after restating in our democratic gringa attitude that the guys should vote for how they feel, not how someone told them. So we took another vote: only one vote was added to the support of the fort, making the results 3 to 3. The wimps who didn't vote sat on the sidelines awaiting the fate of the presentation.

Now that it was a tie, Yuma said he was going to call in Edy to make the final decision as the director of the show. Edy, all high and mighty, came in and said, "Since I am in charge, I decide that we perform in the church!" Heidi and I couldn't believe our ears! After the whole evening discussing with Edy what a great experience it would be for us to perform in a new space, he ruined it all.

With the decision finally made, some content and others more than furious, we all needed some fresh air to cool the emotions, so we headed out to the beach, Heidi and I huffing and puffing about how angry we were and accusing the younger guys of not sticking up for themselves. As we walked, Yuma asked me if I was mad at him, and I shouted "YES!" I couldn't believe that my loveable Yuma who is normally up for fun had changed the first day of our tour into a horrible regression to the tedious rather than a move toward the creative, the path the teatro usually chooses. Tromping to the beach, several groups continued arguing. Tony, Joel and Rigo fought about why they didn't raise their hands. Brice argued about how the others all followed someone else rather than choosing what they wanted. Chito and Heidi argued about why we should work to change and move forward with the teatro. I talked with Heidi in English about the only thing I saw as the bright side of this ridiculous situation: that everyone was actually discussing things that had been brewing for some time.

The salty beach air did calm people down a bit, but by the time we headed back to the center for bed there was still a frustrated fizzle in the air.

The next morning we woke for breakfast and then piled out into the street to be led by Edy to the stupid church. Heidi and I stomped along behind. We were ready to turn left to the church, but Edy took a right and stopped in front of the Fort. There, Yuma waited with the truck full of stage equipment and an "I tricked you so badly" grin on his face. We couldn't believe it! Might we actually be stopping here because we were performing here? We looked around and that very same grin spread through the whole group. The two white girls were the only ones with masterly-fooled dropped jaw. The whole fight had been constructed by Yuma, Edy and the group just to mess with the gullible gringas. Yuma was up to his normal trickery and joking. We would perform in the fort!

We spent the day in the scorching sun setting up sound and light equipment, and rehearsing around cannons and prickly weeds. Finally we were ready. The cool night was our natural air-conditioning and the fireflies our footlights. The fort filled early, almost 1000 people lining the stone walls, sitting, standing, and wandering. The salty wind blew the shirts, hair and skirts of our actors: a nuisance to our actors but a great visual affect for the viewing public. The weather cooperated; the rain was held off by a smiling God eager to see our performance. The eerie lights illuminated the actors and beamed into the nothingness of air and ocean. The full sound of music and voices reverberated off stone walls mixing with ancient shadows of pirates and conquistadors. The rapt audience, especially the wide-eyed children who lined the front of the stage, paid full attention to every word and movement. At the bows, applause roared through fort like the echoes of cannon fire.

So, after all the arguing and all the hard work, the teatro and its actors took another leap, following the goals of teatro la fragua for the past 27 years, changing with varied conditions and helping the community to change as well. For the rest of the week we performed in Bonito Oriental's run-down community hall, in Tocoa's echo-y cultural center, in Sonaguera's elementary school cafeteria: all perfectly good spaces to get out the word and artistry of teatro la fragua. But none provided the beauty and challenge of the Fort of Santa Barbara. And none taught the whole group the benefits and achievements of sticking up for the better choice to progress forward. And of course none of them presented an opportunity for another of Yuma's grand tricks.


[Lauren Lansing comes to teatro la fragua from Denver, Colorado. In June 2005, she graduated from the Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre and a minor in journalism. Her principle focus is the area of children's educational theatre, with an emphasis in multicultural storytelling. Lauren will be working with teatro la fragua for the year, to study the technique of the teatro and the Honduran culture.]





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