El Magico de Teatro

 Well I ever do this again? Well… I believe that it was a great expereince for the kids and definetely a learning opportunity for me. My hope is that the kids who participated will pass on the experience. My dream for the whole endevour will come true if one of them organizes their own theater production out of the desire to share their experiences with others. If someone comes to me and wants to do that, I will help them. But I will never do this again on my own!

After a year in country, I still despise the song lyrics encouraging Dominican youth to go in search of an Americana for the sole purpose of acquiring a visa. Crassness and degradation aside, how sad is that an entire nation believes life will magically be better over the Atlantic Ocean? – I would say. How awful that they’d do anything to leave this place but nothing to fix it – I would opine. And though to a certain extent, it’s hard to brush those feelings aside while submersed in the struggle of this country’s development, I have come to appreciate a fundamental similarity between us Peace Corps volunteers and the Dominicans we work with: There isn’t one of us that could claim we never wanted to see what’s over the rainbow.

An easy escape from the drudgery of life, a taste of the more colorful side, an adventure. The desire to achieve such things should be familiar to us all, as here we are on a tropical island leaving the woes of the American economy behind. Both us and the youth that surround us here on this island of palm trees and mangoes have a lot in common with a certain little girl from Kansas dressed in a blue-checkered dress with ruby shoes. I did my senior thesis on the Wonderful Wizard of Oz and it’s adaptations, so I should know the pervasiveness of the story, if not the sentiments. Which is why I was blown off my feet to hear that not one of my students had heard of Dorothy Gale or the Wizard of Oz.

One thing lead to another and eventually I had a full scale production of “El Mago de Oz” on my hands. I managed to get a copy of the script from a wonderful woman in Indiana and translate it after what seemed a lifetime with my dictionary and some local help. This same woman told me that she would be willing to buy my translated copy and vua-la, El Cedro had $225 US dollars to get started on their very first full-length theater production.

          

Originally I tried to work with the Liceo kids. But if I thought high school kids were lacking in motivation in the states, I had another thing coming. So after a semester of trails and failures with them, I talked to the Director of the Escuela Basica who said that he was so much behind the implementation of a theater program that he would support the kids being taken out of class once or twice a week for rehearsals. The teachers then recommended the kids who demonstrated a certain level of dedication and ability, I interviewed them, had them read a few lines from the script, and a few days later had a cast of 25 seventh and eighth graders.

One of my main goals for this project is to stimulate critical thinking within my students. Now, how would one do that with a theater production, you might say. Well, let me just relate a small part of a group discussion we had during a cold read of the script.

“One of the things that makes a story interesting is that each character has his or her own motivations,” I said. “So what do you think are some of our characters’ motivations?”

“The Espantapájaros wants a brain,” one student said.

“And el Hombre de Hojalata wants a heart,” another said.

“Dorothea wants to go home and el León quiere valor,” continued a third.

“But what about the Wizard?” I asked.

After a few moments of looking through the pages of the script for an answer, one boy finally ventured “el quiere respeto.”

And there we had it. The was enough to turn the conversation into an introspection of the lies and deceptions of the Wizard, a real-life comparison to politicos y gente famosa, and an analysis of what respect actually means. One girl said she first respected the Wizard when the four friends entered his chamber and were frightened of him, because fear equals respect. Another girl refuted that she respected him only after he started to tell the truth, that each of the four had what they were looking for all along. A third student stated that he respected him only at the beginning, before we had ever seen him, when he was a lot like Dios.

I can’t express how refreshing it was to see them so involved in the conversation, to have found something that reallyinspires my kids and gives them a reason to come to school. It is a huge challenge, and a lot of work, but I know it will vale la pena. One of the reasons I chose to do the “Wizard of Oz” is because of the variety of themes and complexities it offers. The search for respect or the traits you already posses is only one of them. So I hope for many more group discussions to come amidst the acting lessons, set design and, of course, the fundraising.

“El Mago de Oz” won’t be as chalk-ful of musical numbers as the original, but we will include a few tunes, such as “El Rumbo a Oz,” you know it, “Oh, vamos para ve-er, el magico mago de Oz…” and “Sigue el Camino Amarillo.” We’re building Oz from the ground up and invite all who are interested in visiting el mundo sobre el arcoiris to come June 2nd or 3rd to witness the magic. (Maybe a K2K grant to bring along some kids?)

If you’re interested in following this yellow-brick road, please contact me for details. If you want a copy of the script, let me know. I’m also working on putting together that thing we PCVs love so much – you guessed it – a manual! So if you’re interested in helping with that, definitely speak up.

Love, Courage, and Ruby Slippers,
Your volunteer in El Cedro,
Elisa

The above text was written during the first few weeks of rehersals for the play and published in the official Peace Corps DR magazine, “The Gringo Grita.” I was on cloud nine and dreaming of theatrical perfection. As the weeks and months went by, I eventually began to come back down to earth and realize that perfection is extreamly relative. Translating the play was easy, motivating the students to continue coming was very difficult. The only reason I ever managed to get this thing off the ground and on the stage was because of the school’s principal, who I consider an angel for all intents and purposes.

 After three months of preperation and practice, we had premiered at the school on Friday, June 3. I wish I could say it went off without a hitch, but that just wouldn’t be  Dominican style! When I say it went well, I mean it. It went well when you consider that these kids, this community has never before seen or put together a full length stage production. So the fact that they forgot two scenes was – well – it was what it was.The second night went wonderfuly. It is taped and on DVD following a 5 minute mini-documentary about the kids’ experiences and is currently being thrown at local TV stations in hopes of them airing it.