Fuente Ovejuna lives

Well this play we're doing is becoming more and more real the more time we spend here. The army is in town now to roust school kids because the government has some information that there is gang presence in schools. This affects our students greatly because they have greater potential to be harassed by over zealous cops and/or soldiers for being out late or not in the neighbourhood they live in. Especially now that we've given the guys who play the bad guys in the show, haircuts that make them look like gang members.

For those of you who don't know the story of Fuente Ovejuna, the very abridged version is this:

Spanish Kingdom at war. Knights of the Calatrava were war lords who fight for Spain and reap the riches and rewards from towns that they 'own' when they are back in Spain. This one particular Dude, Gomez, takes too much advantage of this village named Fuente Ovejuna and they all turn against him and kill him. The whole town sticks together and decides to tell the inquisition that ensues that they all killed him rather than hang anyone out to dry. They ultimately are successful and the King of Spain apologizes for the behaviour of this soldier of his....the end.

So...everyone in Suchitoto knows pretty much everyone. Sometimes you do see some guys hanging around on the corner just chilling out because they are too old for school and might not have a job but they are locals and not causing trouble or going to. Now the army is here who don't know these people. Everyone who looks suspicious is fair game. But they are the 'good guys'. The government has empowered the army as police over the last few months to show that they are being active in protecting the citizens from gang activity. Same old politics as back home I suppose. Trying to put on a good show for the electorate, and as long as more voters believe the hype than the ones who get unduly searched and harrased then it's considered a win.

Addendum: Just to be clear for the sake of our Moms, we saw three soldiers in the square in town. That's it. The country s not locked down, there is no new violence, no one is being taken away to jail or anything.

Other than that, the show is going well. Last night we completed all of the lighting and sound cues and it's looking and sounding great if I can say so myself. Katherine is busy painting and detailing and Bonnie and Zoila seem to have everything under control. Loreen has had a bit of a cold but she seems past it now and we think Raquel will We all go home every night. The day after tomorrow we will do a cue-to-cue. The students exposition is coming together. They are all very eager and anxious. They'd work all night if we didn't make them go home for the night.

So I'm going to go help Marvin hang his lights for the expo now...

Eso es todo por hora.