More! Part 1: Pereira and Back

Last Thursday, after morning classes in Manizales, Lena and I rode the bus for about an hour to Pereira. I mentioned the place in the last blog I posted. It’s a large, hot, bustling city with shoe stores galore. Everywhere I looked, women were wearing stylish, expressive, super-high-heels. The shoes told me that Pereira was a town with some clout. It’s true. Pereira the department capital of Risaralda, but I digress.

Lena and I arrived, checked into our hotel and then headed out with our host, Lena. There are two Lenas in today’s blog. The Lena I know best, and traveled with, is the person who won a grant which covered most of the means for Theatre Amoeba and me to workshop in Colombia. She’s the Director of Cultural Activities at the Colombo Americano in Manizales, and she has facilitated my every move as I work and live here. (Plus, she invited me to the termales (hot springs) over the weekend.) She’s my hero, but I digress again.

The other Lena, the one who works in Pereira, led us to their branch of the Colombo Americano. We got to work right away. I taught a wonderful abbreviated workshop to approximately 15 incredible young people. They were the finest students. They’re part of Access, a scholarship program at the Colombo created for students from financially disadvantaged communities. They were so great! And smart! And nice!

Students devising sound effects in Pereira.

The next morning, I led a second workshop for adult students from an advanced class. Split into two groups, these English language sponges created original short performances in roughly two hours! Way to go guys! One story way a dark comedy about a car accident, and the other was a tribute to comic book/movie, The Fantastic Four. Immediately after class, Lena and I high-tailed it back to Manizales in time for an afternoon workshop. Whooosh!

Brian paints a Monster House!

 

Jumping to Saturday, I had a wonderful morning working on a poster with a boy named Brian. He was the only student from his class who could come or remembered to come to school that day!  He made a really cool poster for a story he and his friend’s wrote based on the movie, Monster House. Lena and I got to help him paint. We were all very, very, into it.

 

I hope you enjoyed looking at pictures and reading about Theatre Amoeba and CreAction in Colombia. I really enjoyed catching up with you tonight. I wish I could share every detail of the workshops I’m leading here. I’ll be in touch again soon to fill you in on Part 2 of More!