Take the A Train- Nica to Manhattan

7/30/10
This week was more full of the arts for me than usual. On Monday, after turning in my informe to Jennifer and Gretchen I was invited to go with Amanda and 15 students to the Teatro Justo Rufino Garay. The Teatro Garay is one of the only two existing theatres in Managua (Julia you need to get down here and make some theatre magic!) We saw a play entitled “La Revuelta” (The Revolt) that, as an outsider in both culture and language, was a little difficult to follow but powerful nonetheless. Here is what the English translation of the program says:

“The theater Justo Rufino Garay is staging “The Revolt”, the text of the Argentine playwright Santiago Serrano, which exposes the drama of a timeless rural family, under the domination of a powerful domineering mother who loved her more than feared her.
Since this woman's physical disability is all powerful and becomes the burden of her children, her disability is idealized and mystified and she is able to dump her sadism on those around her. In the end, she is even able to commit murder in the name of "freedom."
Through this story of passion, vengeance, lack of principles and abandonment of ideals, "the struggle for power is stark, it gives opportunities for dialogue, nor to agree on certain points to be able to build something," says the author.
Lucero Millan, director of Justo Rufino Garay, in recent years has been sadly proving that Nicaragua is again a deeply polarized country, where the prevailing ideas silence the ideas of others. In this sense Millán mentions the definition of "fanaticism" and a heightened passion, unrestrained and persistent, particularly to a religious cause, political or otherwise, and a surpassing of rationality to the point of killing to defend their own beliefs.

Committed to society

‘We as a theater group are committed to the context in which we live and have the sole desire to help this society become increasingly open, democratic and tolerant to all, without distinction of social class, religion, political position, ideology , the ethnic, or the cultural; we need to contribute to a culture of tolerance and acceptance without any fear of the game and exchange of ideas, there needs to be a diversity of opinion and respect and consideration of differences, "he says.
Millán notes that the staging of The Revolt is a humble contribution of a group of artists to debate a central issue in Nicaragua today.
"We love Nicaragua, we love its people, are part of it, we need not spend so much energy into disunity, we think it is time to consider a joint project of nation that will benefit us all equally, which together contribute to creating a culture of tolerance,’ he stresses. “

I think that the most impressive part of this show was what occurred after. (Although the acting was incredibly powerful.) The director Lucero came to talk to the group along with the actors and discussed the issues and topics presented in the play. The students ,albeit young (I shouldn’t have thought their opinions would not have been as strong because of their age but for some reason I did), presented their opinions in very mature and thoughtful ways. Topics came up about the machismo culture and a stifling of the opinions of women in particular, and there was a lot of discussion about the respect of diverse opinions. I couldn’t help but think of my fellow Smith Fellow (ha) Julia the entire time, and how theatre really has unlimited potential to fuel social change. Unfortunately, the actors were quite upset with the group because there were only 15 people in attendance in a theatre that seats 100. The theatre was specifically opened on Monday afternoon for everyone in the neighborhood of Batahola (not just in the center). One of the actors mentioned that it was a disgrace to himself and the other actors to perform to so many empty seats, and in all honesty he was absolutely right. (This is a problem I’ve noticed a lot involving the Center. There are often incredible activities going on, but there is such a lack of publicizing and advertising that many people miss out on things.) It truly would have been an amazing experience to see 100 members of the Batahola Community express their opinions about the show; however, at the same time I feel that those 15 students and myself and Amanda really did get a lot out of the production.

In addition to theatre, concerts filled a significant amount of my schedule this week. On Sunday and Monday, because of a lack of time I only was able to catch the first half an hour of concerts put on by a visiting orchestra from Spain that was founded by Fr. Angel (one of the founders of CCBN) many years ago. However, I did have the opportunity to go to the Teatro Nacional Rubén Darío for the second time on Tuesday night (the first time I went was last week with my friend Erick to witness the final exams of his peers from UPoli who are Opera majors). The Teatro Nacional is the primary of the two theatres in Managua, and Nicaraguans are especially thankful and proud of the Teatro Nacional. The Teatro Nacional managed to survive the ’72 earthquake and the fall of the Somoza dictatorship. After the FSLN took over in 1979, instead of destroying the Teatro Nacional , which was designed by Mrs. Somoza after the Kennedy Center, the government decided to open the teatro to the general public and create a space to embrace the arts. Sitting in the Crystal Room of the theatre under giant chandeliers was certainly a surreal experience. The orchestra was magnificent, and so was the Chorus from the center (also founded by Fr. Angel). The fact that I can witness such beauty because of my connection to the center continues to astound me. The concert on Tuesday was followed by a Jazz concert on Wednesday night put on in the center by a few members of the orchestra. Even though I thought the Orchestra’s concert was impressive, the Jazz concert was truly something to behold. Just imagine: 7 Spanish musicians- trumpet, cello, percussion, flute, clarinet, OBOE, and a singer- playing the smoothest jazz you’ve ever heard. The woman who was singing had this great soulful voice- and they did songs like Duke Ellington’s “Take the A-Train” in English. Again, I was taken to places outside of Nicaragua, while at the same time being completely astounded by this crazy country and my crazy experience.