Day 4- More Boulder

From September 19, 2008

Day 4. We had no scheduled meeting with Naropa, but we felt this school would be interested in our project, so we just did what we do everywhere- showed up and hoped to make a connection.

When things are supposed to happen, they do. Cara, the co-chair of the theatre department, just happened to be there at 3:00 on a Friday afternoon and had a few minutes for us! We had a great time talking with her and we think this will be a great opportunity for the students here.

All in all, Boulder turned out to be a great time. We worked really hard, and we also stopped to play. Check out my personal blog for all the behind the scenes Boulder Fun!

Day 5 and 6 are the weekend, so check out the personal blog for those details, and we’ll be back on Day 7, when we meet with students from Fort Lewis College in Durango!

Special thanks to our Boulder hosts, Melissa and Rachel. We had a great time in your lovely home and hope to get back to Boulder soon! Best wishes!

See you in Durango,

Mary K. (and Jesse)

Contact DAT

Day 3- Boulder, Colorado

From September 18, 2008

So here we are in Boulder and we’ve had a really busy day! We drove up from Denver, because with another trip to Durango that has been added to our schedule it ended up being the cheapest thing to do.

We met with Bruce Bergner the Interim Chair of the Theatre Department at University of Colorado, Boulder and we had a great meeting. I think the students from that program will really benefit from this trip and I’m anxious to talk to them personally when they start hearing about the project. (So students, CONTACT US HERE.)

We’re also being hosted by a very nice family in Boulder, a connection made thanks toglobalfreeloaders, and we’ve been treated very well by them and everyone we’re meeting.

So tomorrow we’re going to look into another school in Boulder that we haven’t been able to make contact with just yet. Wish us luck and we’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.

~Jesse and Mary K.

Click here for our personal Dramatic Adventures

Mary K and Jesse at CU Boulder

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Day 2- what are you doing exactly?

From September 17, 2008

College Tour 2008

So, it occured to me that some people might not understand what exactly it is we’re doing on this crazy college tour. I want to take a few minutes and explain things…

Basically, Jesse and I are traveling around the country to talk to colleges, universities, faculty and students about the ACTion:Ecuador Project.

ACTion: Ecuador is a 24-day journey and a once in a lifetime opportunity to share what they’re learning about theatre, explore new surroundings and grow as an artist and a human being– all at the same time! ACTion: Ecuador is an exploration of many unique and interesting parts of an intriguing country which just happens to sit on the equator, at the center of the world!

We are traveling around to over 20 cities in over 10 states between now and the end of December. We might be coming to Your Town!

Here are some extras about the trip that people might not know:

~we’re not staying in hotels! In order to save company money and make the trip as inexpensive as possible for students, we are staying with friends, family and couch surfing everywhere we go.

~November 12th-December 12th will be spent on a road trip from Baltimore to California and back.

~We’ll be podcasting once a week to update the status of our trip. We will talk about fun things we’ve seen of done and interesting people we’ve talked to. Of course, we’ll also update you on students and schools who come on board. If you’re not signed up for the PODCAST <- click there and sign up. You’ll find videos from Zimbabwe and Ecuador, as well as College Tour updates.

So click on all the fun links in this blog:

ACTion:Ecuador, College Tour, Podcast, DAT

We’re excited to get started and we’ll meet with a school in Boulder CO tomorrow!

Updates soon,

Mary K.

CONTACT DAT

Day 1 Denver

From September 16, 2008

Mary and Jesse in Colorado (2007)

We’ve arrived in Denver and we’re excited to get started talking to people about DAT and ACTion:Ecuador!

Jesse and I travel to Boulder on Thursday to meet with professors from University of Colorado, Boulder, and that is just the beginning. I’ll update more schools as we go.

Our hosts, Dan and Isa Sauve (2007)

Today is also Jesse’s birthday, so we’ll be enjoying some cupcakes in his honor later on thanks to our hosts, Dan and Isa Sauve.

If you’re in the Denver area and want to meet with us to talk about DAT or ACTion:Ecuador, or another project,CONTACT US. We’d love to hear from you.

Updates soon,

Mary K.

Managing Director

CONTACT DAT

For Personal blogs from Mary K, click here

Comment

From September 14, 2008

Hi again from DAT, we’ve got a lot of exciting things happening right now.

1st- we hired the first two Directors for the Action Project. We’re so excited to welcome Jennifer Wren and Jon Campbell to our team of traveling artists. Many many details on these two amazing artist to come.

2nd- we’re gearing up for the College Tour. Jesse and I leave on Monday (tomorrow) to start our journey and will be in Denver on Tuesday, and Boulder on Thursday, and then back to Denver the following week. We hope to talk with at least 7 programs (school or theatre companies) while we’re there and have meetings set up with 4 (we have plenty of time, we’ll be there from the 17th-26th of September). If you know any schools in Denver, or in any of the places on the College Tour that you think might be interested in meeting with us and learning about the program, let us know.

Also- if you know of some schools in places we won’t be going, send us some contact people and we’d be happy to send along some brochures to you to talk to the schools or for us or we’ll even just send the brochures to them.

This is a different kind of project than DAT has ever done. It’s going to take all of us to band together to make this a huge success. In doing so we will not only effect DAT’s traveling artist staff, and the lives of the 128 Theatre Students who come on the trip, but we will also make a huge change for the people in Quilotoa, Esmeraldas, El Pilche and Isla San Cristobal.

This project will help so many people, and if we all band together, it will be a success!

3rd- Are you reading this right now? Have you read other posts and looked at the cool photos?

Then leave us a comment!!!! Let me know who’s out there listening so I can gear my info to what you care about!

Thanks for reading, and supporting us, and helping us continue our goals of ACTing to EMPOWER VOICES!.

Looking forward to your comments,

Mary K.

Managing Director

CONTACT DAT

Thanks to WHIZ-FREEDOM!

From September 2, 2008

This is a blog for EVERYONE, although, we’re going to start talking about a topic that every WOMEN understands…

Squating!

We’ve all been in a situation where we needed to use the restroom and there wasn’t a good option near by. Sometimes, you just can’t hold it.

Take Mary-

Mary’s a normal person, she drinks water and then she has to tinkle. Mary found herself in an uncomfortable situation one day while working with school kids in Ecuador. Mary needed to tinkle, and the nearby facilities were not up to… her standards of cleanliness. Let us add- Mary is very sensitive to bad smells, and couldn’t even overcome her sensitivities to use the toilet, so she decided to squat outside. This is the result, tinkle on her shoe.

Unfortunately, Mary forgot something at home. Something that would have saved her the embarrassment of walking around the rest of the day wearing a sprinkle from her tinkle. She forgot her Whiz!www.whizaway.com

The glorious staff at Whiz Freedom had donated this amazing product to Dramatic Adventure Theatre for the trip to Ecuador and the result is this: These four female traveling artists have discovered a product that will be in their lives forever!

Now, unfortunately, Mary was without her beloved Whiz while in Ecuador, but since our return, she hasn’t been without it for one day. Not only has she used it while in the bushes, but she’s also used it many times in her home city of New York.

“You would think a city as big as NY would have proper facilities,” Mary says, “but that’s not always the case. I’ve used my Whiz at port-a-potties and other dirty places, as well as restrooms where there isn’t enough space to sit down comfortably.”

Mary received her Whiz as a birthday gift and used it for 4 months before the team departed for Ecuador, but the rest of the girls took a little warming up.

Lydia was the first one to try. She used in the first week in Quito after we saw an adaptation of The Merchant of Venice. We didn’t think she’d do, she thought it was crazy, but she just bit the bullet, what was the worst that could happen? She’d pee on herself? Oh well. She went for it, and boy is she glad she did!

“When I first looked at my Whiz Easy in my travel backpack, I thought to myself, hmm I don’t think I’ll be using this,” Lydia says. “Sealed in its plastic pouch, the electric purple pee funnel just didn’t seem like something I would have the guts to try. Then, we landed in Ecuador. I thought, I’m adventerous, I’m confident in my womanhood, I can try something daring. So in a little dirty stall in Quito Ecuador, I ventured into new territory — I used my Whiz Easy. Admitedly, it was awkward at first with numerous questions and experiments to achieve the utmost efficiency. But with a few days, I felt like a pro. That little purple plastic wonder not only saved me from the tiny, shockingly unsanitized stalls of the cities, but more importantly, the countless variety of rainforest ground critters (particularly the Amazonian bullet ants whose bites apparently feel akin to a bulletwound). I have indeed entered a new phase of womanhood when I can pee like a man! Thanks Whiz Easy”

Leslie, with her WHIZ, on a hike in Mindo

Leslie was the next one to try. It took her until Quilotoa, three and a half weeks in. We were walking the mile or so it took to get to the school where we working. A group of girls went off the road a bit to relieve themselves. Leslie tried to use her Whiz, but just couldn’t take the idea of standing up. What if she peed all over her pants? She’d have to spend the rest of the day in them. She decided to squat. Later that day, she went for it, and not a moment too soon.

“I was apprehensive at first. I approached the use of this seemingly innocuous purple funnel with the same trepidation as one would exercise when jumping off a cliff or, say, confronting a gorilla. So much so, that I braved the dirty bathrooms, covered in germs—exposed my bare ass for the entire world to see whilst squatting amidst unknown plants, burrs, twigs in an unfamiliar country.

“When I found myself working with school children in the Andes mountains, where plumbing and running water (being a new fangled and recent edition to the community) made taking a tinkle an everyday battle with all that is germ-ey and unhygienic in this world. (That’s right, it was just like any other school in the world; kids just don’t flush…or wash their hands!) Though I was nervous at first, I realized, as I felt the warm liquid slide through the (very sanitary) whiz ez funnel in one perfect stream into the gaping hole of an Andean toilet, that it was the best invention ever and my new best friend. From that point on I carried mywhiz ez as a badge of honor. Whether in my bag walking through the streets of the capital or in my back pocket during a trek through the jungle, I was never without my plastic, purple friend. In fact, now that I am back in New York City, I find myself seriously considering carrying the whiz around on a Friday or Saturday when confronted with odiously long lines at the Ladies bathrooms. How easy would it be to just jump into the men’s line!” – Leslie

Rachel was the last one to experiment with her Whiz. Although she carried it with her everyday, it wasn’t until the Galapagos, on Isla Isabella, a whopping FIVE-WEEKS into our trip, when Rachel finally bit the bullet and tried out this crazy contraption.

“I decided to go for it and use my whiz easy after getting off a really bumpy boat ride. I walked down a planked path until I got to a secluded bridge and to my utter amazement, I succeeded in peeing off the side of the bridge without taking any of my clothes off. I try not to think about all the times I could have made my life easier with the whiz, and I try only instead to think about how happy I am to have it in my future.”- Rachel

Although it took a little getting used to, the girls had an amazing time with their Whiz Freedoms and are so grateful to everyone at the company for donating them and for supporting our project.

Thanks Whiz Freedom!

OOOOH, I just found a BONUS (Jonas). Here’s one of Mary using the WHIZ over the side of a boat:

when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go!

Uncle Tim

From August 15, 2008

I’d like to send out a big THANK YOU from the DAT team to our wonderful Translator/ Friend/ Guide/ Brother/ Problem Solver/ Crazy Uncle Tim!

Tim traveled with us throughout Ecuador, planning things, helping us talk to people, solving many a “crisis”, and just plain being fun to hang out with.

He popped into our trip and kept popping up, saving the day, for the whole 2 months we were in the country.

So, let’s try this on for size:

Muchas Gracias Timateo. Tu eres el mejor persona para ayudar nuestro grupo por todo tiempo estamos en el pais de Ecuador. Muchas Gracias por tu presencia en nuestro grupo. Te quierimos, y nada persona mas de Maria! Tu eres me hermano favorito, muchas gracias!

Hope that was correct! Thank you again so so much!

Contact DAT

Flight 360

From July 6, 2008

Here are some great show shots from our play!

The girls, backstage

Ta-da

ooh, the stars in Ecuador

Mi gut esta muy fuerte!

Bruce

Galapagos

You must look!

The Doctor

eww- the first make-up in two months

And then there’s the AFTER PARTY! (aka- the “real” world)

Andy and Leslie

Cleve and Rachel w/ Rach’s sister Jacqueline

Jeremy and Lydia w/ a friend, Ashley, in the back

Jesse and Mary K

hanging out…

and having FUN!

More photos of the show will be added to our photobucket page. For more information about the show, click “Flight 360“.

Contact DAT

Mindo

From June 21, 2008

We rehearsed in Quito for two weeks, and as we were preparing to say goodbye to Ecuador, our director Jesse realized we needed to have one last excursion to really say goodbye the right way. He look us too Mindo, a small town in the heart of Ecuador’s cloud forest.

Of course, rehearsal didn’t stop, but we also had a chance to take part in some really fun excursions.

a visit to the coffee farm

zip lining (upside down) over the canopy

tubing

waterfalls

relaxing hammocks (this was also our rehearsal space)

An incredible orchid farm

and a crazy cool aquarium!

Mindo was so relaxing, which is why we’ve decided to send the ACTion:Ecuadorstudents there to decompress from their trip and get their pieces ready for performance.

Contact DAT

Las Islas Galapagos

From June 8, 2008

Where to even begin? These are the most amazing islands with the most amazing animals and landscape and on and on, we could boast about the Galapagos Islands for hours, but let’s just get to the point- what we did while we were there.

We arrived in the Galapagos on the Isla Santa Cruz, the most famous, I would say, and populated of the islands. We had to book it down to Puerto Ayora to make it to the first boat that would take us to Isla Isabella, where we would spend our first few days.

First boat ride (stranger, Jeremy, Tim, stranger) on the way to Isla Isabella

We had a great time in Isabella, here are a few of the things we did:

had fun on the boat (and DID NOT get sick!)

Looked all over for a good hostel

The girls looked adorable after swimming with the sea lions

like this big guy!

these girls played with their snorkel gear

and got tan

while Rachel beat the boys into the water to swim with the sharks!

We met marine iguana (only found on the Galapagos Islands)

here they are, the color of hard lava

we all got the chance to hold a 7 month old GIANT turtle! (not so giant at 7 months)

walked on the beautiful beach (that’s the reflection!)

looked at boobies…

Tons more things happened on Isabella, but let’s move on to Santa Cruz.

So, we took the only boat, the 6 am boat, to Santa Cruz. Unfortunately, we were out of motion sickness pills, so we decided to just skip breakfast and suffer through it as quickly as possible, then we would buy more pills on the large island of Santa Cruz. Oh my goodness, were we in trouble!

Without getting into too much detail (and if you’re a sicko and want more details, I’ll be happy to give you every gruesome one as they are etched into my memory forever)… so, without getting into too much detail, one passenger started to get sick on the boat, which sent the whole team in motion.

I believe Jesse was the first to act, he (and Tim who was second) had to look out when in motion, and the boat was totally closed in. No way to see out, no way to get fresh air. They were each over the side, peeking through to stop themselves from throwing up more. Mary was next, and was arguably the most dramatic of the sicko’s, as she threw up her body weight and kept switching back and forth between the two sides, which were occupied by the Baxter boys. Leslie remained the most dry on the boat, shielded by her Otavalo cowboy hat, and kept her eyes shut to focus on other things and not on the motion. Jeremy needed fresh air and continued to lift up the plastic siding to stick his face out, despite being told repeatedly by the driver to put it down, that he was letting in water. Lydia kept her head in Jeremy’s lap with her hands over her ears and her eyes closed so not to hear any of the craziness going on around her. Rachel was arguably in the worst shape of the group. Normally calm and completely composed, she began balling her eyes out. It was torture for her not to have control over the way she was feeling.

As if this doesn’t sound crazy enough, the boat ride, which is normally about 2 to 2 ½ hours took a whopping 3 ½ hours because we kept getting stopped by the engine not getting enough gas. There was a leak and the piece that connects the gas tube to the engine wasn’t working properly- this meant the entire boat smelled of gasoline. It was a very small boat and the weight distribution was very important, if one person was on the wrong side, the whole thing would tip over. The worst tip was when we ALMOST capsized! Leslie and Rachel were flung to the opposite side landing in Lydia’s lap. Remember I said Mary was the most dramatic of the sickos? At the time of the near capsize, Mary was over the edge vomiting- the entire top half of her body went into the water, and she was saved only by Jesse, who woke up from his sicko coma for a brief second to grab her leg and save the day… then he went right back into it.

When we FINALLY got to shore, we sat on the ground at the dock (some of us laid there) for about 30 minutes before we could get up and move on to the next part of the day. You see, the plan was to stay there for a few hours, then take ANOTHER BOAT RIDE over to San Cristobal! We needed food, we needed drugs, we needed to feel better before we could even THINK about getting on another one!

After food we did feel better. We split up; Tim, Jeremy and Lydia went to tortuga bay:

Jesse, Mary, Rachel and Leslie went to the Charles Darwin Research Center to see the TURTLES!

Then it was back to the boat. Armed with drugs this time, and on a much nicer boat, we had a great time!

we all had a much better time on this boat!

Everyone had out their ipods, they were relaxing- you would have thought we were on vacation! (Although, give us a break, this was the “vacation” part of our trip and we still had rehearsal and learned as much as we could about the islands for the play. Leslie even spent time at the computer lab EVERY DAY writing parts of the script.)

So now we had arrived on Isla San Cristobal (where the students will be going duringACTion:Ecuador). This is the oldest of the islands we visited, but it certainly was lively! We had spent the whole day traveling to San Cristobal, so we arrived at dusk- this was the perfect time to first see the sea lions getting ready for bed on the beach!

a SMALL number of sea lions on the beach

Here are some of the things we did on San Cristobal that the students will be able to do during ACTion: Ecuador:

The Truck Tour begins with great views of the island

Followed by a hike around this crater lake (the only source of fresh water on any of the islands)

A trip to the islands own turtle breeding facility where you’ll see turtles from eggs to giants of about 70 years old

and finally to a secluded beach

The students will also go on a boat tour:

we snorkeled with sea lions again

they were really friendly!

and we swam with sharks through this passage of Kicker Rock

and finally to another secluded beach where we sprayed each other down with bug spray, the horse flies were awful!

As if these adventures weren’t enough, we also had rehearsal- because we are serious artists!

Like I said in the beginning, we could go on and on about our time in the Galapagos, and I guess I sort-of did, but we really had an amazing time, as it is an amazing place, and we are happy to give you any tips if you’re planning a trip there yourself, just let us know 

Contact DAT

La Selva- an adventure like no other

From May 31, 2008

After the “big decent” from our time in Quilotoa, we boarded another bus on our first time east of Quito, to the Orient of Ecuador- the jungle! We traveled for 9 hours, from dawn ’til dark and finally arrived at our hostel, La Mission, where we had what felt like a first class experience. There was an amazing pool with a really fun water slide and spider monkey’s everywhere were kept as pets.

the view from our hostel

The monkeys LOVED Rachel’s backpack!

and they learned pretty quickly that Mary was in charge of the food bag that day!

After playing with the monkeys all morning, we boarded a fast canoe to take us along the Napo River and into the heart of the El Pilche community, where we would be working at a school the following day.

Here are some photos of the boat ride:

walking down to the boat

mystery fruit

high water along the napo

saying goodbye to some boat friends, who we meet again tomorrow at the school

After the boat ride, we walk for about 15 minutes to the other side of this bank to get to the lake where we met another set of canoes who take us to the lodge:

the walk to la selva

Jesse and Mary, with Leslie at the front, on the canoe ride through to La Selva

Finally, we made it to the beautiful La Selva Jungle Lodge!

The Beautiful Lodge

We were greeted with an amazing spread of delicious foods and didn’t stop eating amazing foods for as long as we were there! Soon after our arrival, we met our guide, Rodrigo, who took us immediately on a hike through the forest and on another canoe ride to a place where he *I’m not kidding* CLIMBED UP A TREE TO POKE A SLOTH WITH A STICK SO THAT IT WOULD MOVE AND WE COULD SEE IT- I knew right then, this was going to be an adventure like no other!

zoom in

the trees Rodrigo climbed to poke the sloth

We talk about Rodrigo’s climb in the play, “Flight 360″, and people may have doubted the reality of that story- but it was true! Every word.

The play also talked about our adventure with the El Pilche community school. We were originally brought in to help the community in a medical area, that’s what they so desperately needed. The WMN foundation, which supports the community through the help of La Selva Jungle Lodge, asked us to bring supplies for the village, as they live 2 hours down river from the nearest town, Coca. We collected 237 toothbrushes thanks to Dr. Simon Rosenburg and his gracious staff for dumping one of their drawers full of toothbrush give-aways into our DAT tote bag!

We arrived in the El Pilche community full of questions- how are we going to make this workshop work?

We only have one day to:

-share a hygiene play we created to teach the kids how to brush their teeth.

-send all 100 children into the medical clinic to get measured for future doctor visits.

-uh… do our normal workshops?

How were we going to accomplish all of that? Well, Jesse, our director, came up with a great plan. We were armed, we were ready… then our Meir presence made the plan not executable. Everyone wanted to come see what these crazy visitors were up to! It was mass chaos- we did the play twice because some kids came and more came later, we tried to workshop our normal exercises, but it became too difficult with the age group because we had kids from ¾ all the way up to 16. Luckily, the most important task was complete- all 62 of the children present, including the babies, were seen by Carmen (leader of the WMN foundation and our guide and supporter) Leslie and Lydia (who helped in the clinic) and now all 62 children have the beginnings of a medical chart.

For this fact, and because the kids are just so darn cute, we will be traveling back to La Selva with the ACTion:Ecuador next year with the students. We hope to continue the work we started with the community on an artistic and a health level, bringing supplies (and hopefully a doctor) as well as getting to know the children and learning from them.

Here are some photos of our crazy day at La Selva:

Carmen applies toothpaste so the kids can brush their teeth

What ‘cha writin’ Leslie?

Leslie tells the best stories

Lydia watches the kids brush

Jesse leads a warm-up

Mary and Jesse pow-wow *this isn’t working, we have to adapt"

Rachel checks on Lydia and Leslie working in the clinic

Mary fills up her water bottle in front of an interested audience

Jaime was really friendly, but she didn’t want to come home with us :

Jeremy spotted an anaconda! (but don’t tell Rachel! ~It was only a branch Rach!~)

Group Shot- with a lot, but not all, of the attendees

A thank you to Dr. Simon Rosenberg for all his support

Dr. Simon Rosenberg

After our amazing day with the El Pilche community we went back to La Selva Jungle Lodge for another day of exploring in the jungle. Our guide, Rodrigo, grew up in this area and was a great resource for our play, what were the issues facing this part of the country. One underlying theme reoccurred here- emigration. The people are leaving, they are finding their way to bigger cities where they can make money, and in the process, they are losing their unique skills.

Rodrigo had skillful eyes, he could see things in the jungle and point them out to us.

He taught us to climb trees

Found crazy animals to show us

Gave us crazy tattoos with a piece of fruit

Took us piranha fishing

And we got to eat piranha for lunch!

We had such an amazing time in the jungle, and we really can’t thank La Selva Jungle Lodge enough for all of their support and guidance. They gave us an opportunity to travel to a place that seemed unreachable, helped us reach communities in a way that seemed impossible and was only possible because of their support. We can never thank them enough for giving us a chance to open our eyes to this unique community.

DAT will return to La Selva in June and July of 2009 with ACTion:Ecuador, the student project. If you’re interested in the La Selva portion of that trip, click here.

Contact DAT

Quilotoa- the big climb

From May 27, 2008

Our last day in Esmeraldas was full of fun. After working with Teatro La Catanga, we were invited to the directors house for a lovely lunch of home made Esmeraldian fare. It was great to spend more time getting to know these people. The girls had their hair braided by a friend of one of the actors, and we relaxed while watching some videos of their plays.

Jeremy and Rachel (the fighters) goofing off while we were vegging out

Our meal was over, and we still had to wait until our bus departed for Quito at 11 pm. So we had our first (and possibly only) “veg” day. We were ready to move on to our next adventure, but we were tired and had experienced so much already. Although Rachel and Leslie continued to venture out in the city, the rest of us hung out in a hotel room, pigging out on junk food and watching episodes of American Idle with Spanish subtitles. That was a rare treat, as it was hard to find TV with English subtitles even.

At 10:30 pm, we finally walked the few blocks to the bus station and boarded our overnight bus that would take us to Quito where we would catch another bus to Quilotoa. We cuddled up with our blankets to sleep the night away. Those of us who could sleep did, until the bus was stopped at about 3:30 or 4 in the morning. The police came on the bus and made everyone get off… we didn’t, we just stayed still and waited for further instruction. Apparently it was only a routine check point, and we were just asked to show our id’s, which was fine, except Rachel had left hers under the bus in her backpack. It turned out fine, the police didn’t even make us get it, but we learned a good lesson- keep your passport on you at all times when you’re traveling.

Mary, sick over the edge, while Jesse looks back at Lydia (taking the photo) probably trying not to laugh at this craziness.

We learned an even harder lesson that night. You know how people talk about altitude sickness? Well, let’s just say, that’s not a joke. We weren’t feeling well before we left Esmeraldas, and after climbing 13,000 feet in about 12 hours- we were feeling much worse.

Unfortunately, because of our big climb up to Quilotoa, we all felt a little sick during the whole time we were there.

BUT, that didn’t take away for one second, the richness of our experience there. We met some of the most amazing people and we were welcomed with open arms, and our cause was supported by everyone we met. (Except maybe the old woman with the sheep who cursed us in Quechuan when someone took out a camera… yikes.)

Leslie, the playwright, teaching the basic elements of a story

During our time there, we taught Engish for four days to a secondary school about 2 miles away from the actual town of Quilotoa, and we mixed some theatre terms and skills in with the teaching. The children we so eager to learn, it made our jobs much easier. We even learned some quechuan words from them, with the use of the childrens game “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”. It was a lot of fun!

We also had a short opportunity to work with another school in the area, a little closer to the main town of Quilotoa. It was fun too, the students caught on so quickly and we so smart! On a more somber note- it seems that these are the kids who would probably leave this small town for college and eventually life in a bigger city, such as Quito. Hopefully the work on the Quilotoa Community Center can, in a small way, prevent some of that from happening.

Quilotoa was such a fun community, with so much happening while we were there!

First: THE BULL FIGHT

The Boys (Tim in Black, Jeremy in Green, and Jesse in Gray) in the pit with the bulls

The Girls in the ring with the bulls- spelling D A T (from left, Leslie, Lydia, Mary, Rachel)

THE MASKED DANCE

Jesse played along

Mary tried not to play along.

THE WILD DOGS

Rachel and Leslie show the tools they used to defend themselves from their wild dog encounter

THE BEAUTIFUL QUILOTOA CRATER LAKE

an evening shot of the lake

visit the website to find out how you can get involved!

We experienced so much in Quilotoa and can’t wait to get back next year for theACTion: Ecuador Project. The students will be helping to build a community center for the Quilotoa community that will house medical facilities as well as an artistic and educational learning center. The people of Quilotoa have asked us to return to help them in this endever and we are more than willing!

If you’re interested in theQuilotoa portion of the ACTion: Ecuador Project, click here.

Contact DAT

Rockin’ out in Esmeraldas!

From May 17, 2008

After having a great time in Otavalo, we took a long bus ride down to the coast to warm up a bit… and boy was it hot! The whole team lives in New York City, so we’re used to hot and humid summers, but after almost 2-weeks in the Andes, the humidity of the coast was a shock to our system.

The colors of the town of Esmeraldas are so vibrant. They were unlike anything we’d seen on a building in Ecuador. Every bit of building was painted a different shade of excitement. The structures wear the personalities of Esmeraldians on their walls, and it’s lovely to experience it!

We did so much in our short week in Esmeraldas- it was finally time to get to “work”. First, we were interviewed by a local newspaper and television station.

Then we workshoped with students from the Unidad Educativa Bellas Artes school for the arts, with the help of our translator, Holly.

Man oh man, it was hot out there on the pavement!

And we collected their stories.

We also worked with Teatro La Catanga, a local professional theatre company with fantastic ideas and vision, with the help of our translator Edwardo.

We met so many interesting people in Esmeraldas.

Including this man, who was painting a naked women from head to toe.

And this sweet puppy!

Who Mary had to get out of the cage!

We also took an overnight trip to a beach town in Sua.

We drank fresh juice every day made of amazing fruit we’d never heard of.

And danced as much as we could to the fantastic Marimba and Salsa music coming from every speaker in the whole city!

We really had an amazing time in Esmeraldas. We plan to return with the ACTion: Ecuador Project next summer, the students are bound to have a blast!

If you’d like to find out more about the Esmeraldas portion of the ACTion: Ecuador Project, click here.

Contact DAT

OH Otavalo!

From May 11, 2008

Well, we made it through our first week in Quito, we can say a few more things in Spanish after our wonderful class with the best teacher in the world, Aurra! We then journeyed to the beautiful mountain town of Otavalo.

Otavalo is known for the enormous Saturday Market. This is a photo of the Market, which continues all week, on a Sunday. On Saturday, however, the streets put this amazing site to shame.

Men, Women, and children line the streets, selling their goods tolocals and tourists alike.

The markets stretch throughout the town, winding down every road, on every available space.

They sell everything imaginable, from fruits and veggies, to basic household needs, gifts made of wood, metal, fabric, plastic- if it’s available in Ecuador, you’ll find it in Otavalo!

We explored the market all day long, meeting people, taking pictures, buying gifts.

We even ran into our translator, Tim, among the crowds of people. We had left our cell phone on the bus, and he was unable to call us, but he walked around the market and walked right up to one of the groups. It was truly shocking, and was a behavior we came to expect from Tim. Without warning, whenever we needed him, he’d be there. He became more than a part of our group. He became a part of our family. Here he is admiring a gift, a doll purchased for his niece.

We also ran into Mary’s future self:

After the Market, we had a chance to go and visit our first (of many) crater lakes.

We climbed almost half way around the opening before our director, Jesse, found a nice little spot for rehearsal.

After the rehearsal on the rim, we went to dinner at this little spot overlooking the crater. Jesse and Tim decided to split a dinner… this is what they picked… guinea pig!

Also in Otavalo, Jeremy spotted a nice little hippy breakfast joint (pun intended). We ate there twice and it was delish!

We only spent 3 days in Otavalo, but they were a blast, and we really learned a lot about Ecuador… and it’s tourists. Can’t wait to get back!

Quito, Quito

From May 9, 2008 

We first landed in Quito, Ecuador on April 30th. Full of excitement, we were unfortunately split up at the airport to stay in different houses… this just couldn’t be! Although we loved our hosts, we wanted more than anything to spend time getting to know these strangers we would be spending 55 days with.

In broken spanish, we told our new Ecuadorian families that we would have to part, and after two nights in the city, moved into the Hostal Rincon Familiar, a place where we would call “home base” for the next two months.

This photos is a night time view from our Quito Home.

And oh, oh, oh-no the RAIN! It rained like clockwork at 2:45p.m. every day, we were caught in the rain everyday for the first four days, that is, until we started learning the pattern.

We visited old sights like The Virgin of Quito (the only image of the virgin that depicts her with wings

The San Francisco historic Monosory and Catholic Art school

Teatro Bolivar

The Basilica (ask nicely and we’ll get a piece from Leslie illustrating her account of being saved from death by a friendly Ecuadorian in the Basilica)

We took some time to meet with Ana, an actor from El Patio de Comedias. We saw a show a few days later and it was very fun to see what’s happening in the theatre world in Ecuador right now. Even though we didn’t speak spanish, we were able to understand the meaning without needing the words, which makes for some wonderful theatre!

We had a great time in Quito and enjoyed stopping there in between everyone of our other adventures. Stay tuned for more!

The Ecuador Project

From April 30, 2008

Dramatic Adventure Theatre has returned home from Ecuador! We had an amazing experience and we’d love to update you on all of our adventures. Please stay tuned for more and more accounts of our exciting trip as we spend the next few months reflecting on our time there.

Please comment if you’d like more information about different stories. Feel free to ask for an account from a specific person as well!

Here is the Ecuador Project team:

Jesse Baxter -Director

Leslie Fields- Playwright

Mary K. Redington- Road Manager/Actor

Rachel Martsolf- Actor

Lydia Perez-Carpenter- Actor

for access to Lydia’s Ecuador blog, updated on the ground, please visit:

http://lydiapc.blogspot.com/

Jeremy Feldman- Actor

We’re so glad to introduce ourselves to you and we’re all anxious to tell you some great stories about our trip to Ecuador.

OLD BLOG: Welcome to Harare, by Lisa

From November 18, 2007

Current mood:  artistic
Category: Travel and Places

OLD BLOG: Welcome to Harare ,by Lisa
(our welcome to the country and preparing for our first workshop)

Hey everyone -

Hope all of you are good! Just a quick update from Harare, Zimbabwe. It’s been a crazy ride! After 16 hours on flights, separated by 12 hours in London, we finally arrived in Zimbabwe. Surprisingly, we had no trouble getting through customs, but were rather treated with extra respect and quickly courted through to the arrivals hall where we were met by Sindah, our host from the Brethren in Christ Church (BICC) – the overseer of all BICC churches in Harare. Sindah carried a huge sign with “JESSE” written on it.

He took us to his flat where his wife had made a delicious african meal 101 (americanized, but still with the traditional “sadza” which is the staple here – a thick porridge made from corn meal). Sindah lives in a small 2 bedroom flat with his wife and their two daughters. The living room was crammed with huge couches, a tv, and a large dining table in one corner – everything too big for the space. Because of the limited space, we’re not staying with him, but with families in the suburbs who have also been very welcoming.

I don’t have time to write about all of my impressions so far right now, but they have been overwhelming and I am filling pages after pages in my journal. The people here are so friendly!

Tonight we have our first workshop – about 50 people have shown interest, but according to Zimbabwean customs that could mean that anywhere between 5 and 100 people show up! REgardless, it will be very interesting and we’ve worked out a program that will hopefully make them excited about theater and playwriting.

Ok.. no more time, but tomorrow we leave Harare for more adventures in the country side – I’m sure we’ll see an entirely different zimbabwe there!

lots of love,
 Lisa

Dramatic Adventures in Zim Part 2: The Harare singers.

From November 15, 2007

Current mood:  nostalgic
Category: Travel and Places

Dramatic Adventures that can’t be ignored: Each individual workshop, every one was different. DAT invites all the Zimbabwe team members to add on there own experience of each workshop.

Team Member Mary

When we first got to Zimbabwe, we didn’t know what to expect at all! Likewise, when we started to put together the material for our first workshop in Harare… what would that night turn out to be? We had no idea. Jesse, the only man, was being called our leader, while Kathleen, our LEADER when it came to the artistic side of things, was not getting any more acknowledgment from our hosts than just another lady visitor; we didn’t know where to start.

We worked on different game plans, separating the group of ?50? (who knew how many there would be) by age, gender, height; we came up with game after game, in fact, some games, that stuck with us for the rest of the trip, were made up from 3 or 4 other games we’ve encountered over all our combined years of theatre experience. We wanted to be prepared for anything, even Lulu, the 5-year-old daughter of one of our hosts, helped with a version of “the sound and movement game”, in which person A makes a movement with a sound and person B repeats that movement and sound then comes up with new ones to pass to person C and so on.

So, we were as ready as we could be, except, maybe we were a little colder in the church than we would have liked. We were late, but so was everyone else, so it worked out perfectly. We started meeting people as they arrived and it turned into a great group of about 25 people ranging in age from 7 to late 40′s. We separated in to groups, I (Mary) took the younger people (ages 7-19) and I’m not sure how the other two groups were separated, but there were 3 groups in the end.

My group went into another room and we all started chatting… well, I started chatting and they would respond with one or two words for the most part. We played some games; I practically had to drag people out of their seats. I could hear hearty laughter coming from the other groups, I kept thinking, ‘what am I doing wrong?’ I kept telling myself that it was just the age. Teenagers in America would have been even worse, at least these kids are listening to me. So, we forged on… one by one, game by game, they started to loosen up; some much more than others.

Eventually I ran out of games. I went to check and see where everyone else was and I realized I needed to come up with more things to do. I gave the group a choice, another game of mine, or something of theirs. One girl suggested that the group sing songs. Sounded good to me… till they wanted me to go first.

Now, I’m not a bad singer, in fact, I can carry a tune no problem, so I thought, ok, I’ll sing and just get it over with… I sang Amazing Grace. Then these kids started singing…

They were some of the best singers I have ever heard in my life! I mean, one right after another, better, better, better! Oh, it just took my breath away! (I was really glad I had gone first so I didn’t have to follow them!)

When we got back into the large group, everyone was loose and comfortable so we played another group game, which went 10 times better the second time around, and we sang a group song.

Still, months later, I have tears in my eyes thinking about this. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever witnessed. It was like God or Spirit or whatever higher being you believe in, was right in that room listening to our lifted voices.

We’ve all said, one of the most amazing things in Zimbabwe that we witnessed is the amount of hope and love that flows through these people through such a difficult time. When they are together like this, voices lifted to the heavens, you can feel the power of their prayer in the room.

The lesson I learned from this first workshop, when saying goodbye to my group who felt so close to me and were so loving, was that I needed to just be myself with these people from the other side of the world and if I would- if I opened my heart to them, they would not only open up to me, they would also leave a mark on my heart that I would be proud to carry with my for the rest of my days!

A’s in Zim Part 1: Wild Lions in Hwange

From September 27, 2007

Current mood:  nostalgic
Category: Travel and Places

Dramatic Adventures in Zimbabwe Part 1: Wild Lions in Hwange

In order to read this story you need to see the whole picture. In Zimbabwe, the driver sits on the right side of the car. Also, Oscar was driving, Mary was in the front seat, and the back seat from Left to right was Jesse, Kathleen, Lisa.

as witnessed by Mary:

Well, we were off to a nice start on our second day of “Vacation” and our first day at Hwange National Park. We were totally excited to get into the park and see all the wild animals. We woke up at 5:30 am so we could go into the park at 6… that was our first mis-adventure, the park didn’t open until 6:30. So we waited there, by the gate, walking around to see the animals who were walking by to get their first morning drink from the local watering hole. We saw Zebra, Giraffe, Impala, and wild dogs all from afar as they walked in the field on the other side of the gate.

FINALLY, it was time to go in! As Oscar drove into the park we started to see more and more animals up close. Giraffe are beautiful, and, contrary to what I originally thought, Zebra’s have no trouble blending their black and white stipes into the African terrain. We were stopped by an Ostrach in the road and later by a herd of Cape Buffalo. At the first watering hole we stopped at we saw hippos who were either mating or doing a choreographed dance; my three partners in crime (although, I’m not a criminal, so maybe I shouldn’t be included in this) decided to walk past the “do not cross” sign, right past the huge piles of Elephant dung that were as tall as their knees and right up to the water where the hippos were enjoying their morning swim. I almost had a heart attach before they were safely back in the car!

After play time with the hippos(at about 8:20), we skirted around a little more, following signs to the Shumba (Lion) Picnic where Oscar thought there would be a nice veiw… we didn’t get very far before Oscar stopped the car. He reversed about 15 feet and turned off the engine and, like was so common for Oscar, sat back in his chair with folded arms and turned to me and smiled…

“There’s a Lion” he said.

“What, where, how did you see it?” we were more than excited!

Off in the distance on the right of the car we all spotted the so called “Lion”. It looked like a stump! After sitting there for a minute, straining to get the best view from our seats Oscar said he would move the car so we could get a better look…

NOTHING… the car wouldn’t start!

So here we are, the car won’t start, so we’re stuck 20 feet away from a stump… which might be a Lion.

About 20 minutes pass, the Lion/stump hasn’t moved one muscle. (If you’ll recall, Jesse was on the left side of the car, opposite the Lion.) Jesse decides to open the door, thinking the noise would get the Lion, if it was a Lion, to run off. He opens his door and a water bottle falls out; he quickly picks it up and slams the door… no movement from the Lion/stump.

Another few minutes pass, Oscar has figured out the problem with the vehicle, but there is no way to get out and fix it with a Lion standing right there… Jesse again opens the door and steps onto the ledge of the truck. He looks hard at the Lion/stump (I was looking behind him to see if there was anything coming from that direction) after a few seconds, he stepped down to tell us that he was sure it was only a stump; as he was stepping down, he slipped a little causing a new type of noise.

All doubt about the Lion/stump was removed as the Lion jumped up and charged with a roar at poor Jesse! He scrambled back into the car and the Lion stood there all 8 feet of him, about 10 feet away, watching us.

NOT OVER YET, FOLKS…

The Lion stood there, intimidating us for a few minutes before he started walking away slowly. After about 45 minutes, he was far enough away for Oscar to attempt what Jesse did, this time on the SAME SIDE OF THE CAR as the Lion.

Before this trip I wasn’t aware that Lions, both male and female, travel in pairs; luckily, Oscar was aware of this. He cautiously got out of the truck and looked around for the second Lion. This guy wasn’t hard to spot. He jumped out and roared at Oscar, who scrambled back into the truck. The second Lion was a bit smaller and darker than the first, so he hid out of sight of the four passengers after he charged, but, luckily, Oscar could still see him.

Around 10:30 (we’d been in this spot for about 2 hours), the second Lion was far enough away for Oscar to get out and fix the starter connection. The three girls were all watching out in different directions while Jesse stood outside with a coat… we’d heard a story of a women who protected herself from an attack by a bear when she threw a coat over its eyes…

Sigh… we made it out of there alive! Oscar told the guard at the gate of our exciting encounter then we all went to take a nap. Later that evening, we went out again to see the animals taking their last sips at the watering hole. At the gate on the way in, the evening guard started to tell Oscar a story about a group of people who escaped from Lions that very morning… turns out, the morning guard had told the afternoon guard and they were both telling visitors to the park our story all day!

Just another Dramatic Adventure with DAT 

On a side note:

We also had the great privilege to see a rare female Lion on her way back from hunting. She was crossing the street and we had to stop in the road to wait for her to cross. At about 6 feet long, she was the most beautiful animal I have ever seen! I wish we had gotten a photo, it just happened so fast.

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more Dramatic Adventure’s from Zimbabwe to be posted here at www.myspace.com/dramaticadventure.

Peace,
Mary K

old BLOGS from BULAWAYO

From August 30, 2007

Current mood:  nostalgic
Category: Travel and Places

The Dramatic Adventure Theatre team is back in the US. We had a hard time posting blogs while in Zimbabwe. So, over the next few days we’ll be posting some blogs we wish we could have posted. Here’s a blog we wanted to post on the 4th of July:

Salybonani from a freezing cold Buluwayo…!

We definitely didn’t believe that it actually would be cold here, despite our research and all the warnings. But for future reference – it is definitely a possibility. There’s a snow storm in Johannesburg, SA at the moment, and the left over cold winds seem to be passing straight through Buluwayo!

But we’re staying warm, by keeping busy! We are currently working with Amakhosi theater, which is essentially the national theater of Zimbabwe and it is amazing to be here. The group of kids we’re working with now are very talented and love to clown around – their improvisations are often hilarious! It’s great to see how they have bonded as a team – they are so supportive of each other and always up for participating in whatever crazy excercises we come up with. We’re about to start more writing with them and we’re very excited to see what stories come to life!

Names… names is another interesting matter here in Zimbabwe. It’s very common to give names with meanings – If you’re lucky you get a nice one like “Adorable,” “Handsome,” “ThinkGrace,” “Trustworthy,” “Precious,” or “Marvelous!”

The situation is still tough here, and food is scarce. The line for bread is now about an hour long and you’re lucky if you get more than a loaf. People literally cue around the block to get some. There’s no sugar, flour, oil, corn flour and close to no petrol (gas)… All those things are some of the challenges that the people here deal with, but still, their daily lives go on and spirits are somehow kept high.

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more.

Happy 4th of July to you all!

THE DAT TEAM
(Lisa, Kathleen, Mary, & Jesse)