Hey Everyone! Justin and Leigh here with an update from the first full day of camp. At this point we’ve been awake for about 18 hours of pure fgdddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd… sorry just briefly fell asleep.
To start off the day, you might say we rocked our bodies with an hour of introduction to warm ups, theatre yoga, and movement exercises, in an effort to become more familiar with how we use our bodies as we move about the stage. You might also say that we spent an hour imitating monkeys and jaguars. After a drink of water, we moved on to take a first look at our individual scripts. Participants were introduced to the table work process as each play completed a read-through by the actors. Local health promoters made an appearance to shed light on the idea that monetary resources can be replaced by creativity in promoting practices that lead to healthier communities, such as improving water collection, treatment, and storage.
We then enjoyed a hearty lunch to prepare us for a collective four hours of intensive rehearsals. For the most part these young actors had never before participated in any rehearsal, much less multiple steps of the rehearsal process, crammed into a single day. Despite the staggering amount of work that was set before them, we were somewhat surprised to see just how well they could handle the pressure, follow stage directions, and even contribute intuitive suggestions of their own that we “professionals” hadn’t considered. We also made sure to include physically stimulating games (dragon tag), and other activities directed at reinforcing team building exercises, stage movements, and general healthy practices such as hand washing.
The long day was concluded with spirit awards for those three most animated actors and words of reflection about the day’s lessons. And so to leave you, for now, on a nice little note, here’s a few translated quotes from some of our participants during the “what did you learn?” exercise.
“Today I learned about respect and how it’s important to understand other people in order to work together for a healthier community.” – Jose Pablo
“I learned that my character has HIV, but that doesn’t define him as a person.” - Fidel
“I learned that my female character can be intense.” -Astry
-Justin & Leigh
Amber rocks a nagua (the indigenous dress) while updating the blog!
Team Building: Human knot...this took awhile to get sorted out!
Dragon Tag! Watch your tail...
More human knots!