That is exactly what happened today. I had a student scheduled for 9:30 who didn't respond to my calls or show up to class. I got a text message from the theatre saying, meet us and we'll all go in a busetta (a van) to Parrita (a town about a half hour away). We're leaving in 5 minutes.
They were performing a short children's show for El Dia Internacional De Los Libros (the international book day) which I didn't even know existed. The play was starring two of my very own improv students :] which made me really happy because they are involved in the theatre because of the group that I started. It was adorable and the kids loved it. It was called The Lost Books or something like that and was about how if you don't read books, they die - along with all of the stories and characters in them.
This type of theatre outreach is soooooo important everywhere, but especially here. Reading, here, is not a common pastime. Most houses don't even have any books. Quepos doesn't have a library. The fact that this theme of reading is even being presented is exciting.
On the way home, I had a conversation with one of the actresses about how I first saw theatre when I was really little at a mall and how I fell in love with it all the way back then. We talked about how, now, these little kids are seeing theatre and how that may inspire them in ways we will never know.
The type of work that I really feel passionate about is happening here in these little towns. And I get to be a little part of it and that makes me feel very blessed.
The quote that the school had on the invitations to the play that were really bookmarks:
"Un libro abierto es un cerebro que habla;
cerrado, un amigo que espera;
olvidado, un alma que perdona;
destruido, un corazón que llora..." - proverbio hindu
"An open book is a brain that speaks;
closed, a friend that waits;
forgotten, a soul that forgives,
destroyed, a heart that weeps."
Very cool....very special.
ReplyDeleteNeat that you were instrumental
and something to be really proud of...!