tlf news

Vol. xxxii #1

September, 2011



Mission




Surfing Wikipedia I happened upon this entry:

A mission statement is a statement of the purpose of a company and organization. The mission statement should guide the actions of the organization, spell out its overall goal, provide a sense of direction, and guide decision-making. It provides the framework or context within which the company's strategies are formulated. Historically it is associated with Christian religious groups; indeed, for many years, a missionary was assumed to be a person on a specifically religious mission. The word "mission" dates from 1598, originally of Jesuits sending ("missio", Latin for "act of sending") members abroad.

I don't know if that etymology is trustworthy (the anonymous Wikipedist references an on-line etymological dictionary). Some time ago we came up with the following as the mission statement of teatro la fragua:

To awaken the creativity of the pueblo by means of the theatre, so the people can find their own solutions for their present predicament. The theatre thus becomes an educational alternative which can express to the same people and to the world the richness, the beauty and the power of Honduran and Central American values. This is an especially urgent task at this historical moment characterized by the phenomenon of economic and cultural globalization which marginalizes and excludes those cultures which are considered "inferior".

Goals are expressed in the mission statement itself, but it's worth while to think of at least some of them as independent entities. Giving ourselves a limit of five goals of the teatro, we came up with the following.

-Value education through theatre.

This would come primarily in the form of evangelization, but would never be limited to that.

-Help define national identity and community.

Shakespeare, Moliere, Lope de Vega, Goethe (among others) were central in the definition of European national identities. We hope to transfer the same function to Central America.

-Foment creative thinking.

A value in any context, but particularly necessary in a social context which demands creative thinking to come up with solutions to hopeless situations.

-To provide an educational alternative.

This is a goal of theatre in whatever context, but especially so in a context where the educational system is disastrous.

-To mirror the Honduran experience.

This comes from Hamlet, who defines "the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure."

We clearly are no longer an organization starting up, but have a long history of 32 years of experimentation in putting those goals into practice. In that time we have accomplished some things (apart from survival which is a major one to begin with). As an accompaniment to those five goals, what would be the top five achievements of teatro la fragua?

-To have developed an original theatrical style that springs from the Honduran reality.

teatro la fragua has developed a style that is immediately recognizable.

-Maintaining a steady theatrical company which has been a source of stable employment for Honduran artists for 32 years.

Even in the best of circumstances, a theatre company rarely lasts more than a few years.

-Creation of a whole branch of Honduran literature.

The scripts developed over the years by teatro la fragua.

-To have made art universally accessible to all segments of society without regard to economic status.

From the Metropolitan Opera to Spiderman, art is expensive and gravitates toward the upper stratum of society. teatro la fragua focuses on those without the economic resources to support a theatre company.

-Development of a style of workshop to teach theatrical and communication skills to youth of all economic and educational levels (including illiterates).

Workshops have been an important part of the work of the teatro from the beginning; these have mostly been oriented toward groups in the bottom spectrum of the society. They are not oriented toward producing actors so much as toward helping youngsters express themselves in public.

All that can seem very academic, bureaucratic and dry. Perhaps in the real world the most significant accomplishment would be:

-To have made a lot of children (and some adults) laugh.

And that is perhaps the most important "missio".




Return to the index of tlf news

Return to the home page of tlf

Contact teatro la fragua

Copyright © 2010 por teatro la fragua