PROJECT TROUBADOR PERFORMANCE TOUR
of the DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, March 2011
18 SHOWS * 10 DAYS * OVER 3500 LAUGHING KIDS
Since 1978, the Connecticut arts organization, Project Troubador has been bridging cultural gaps by sending performance artists to developing areas of the world. Project Troubador has a long history of outreach to the Dominican Republic and we are grateful to PT and their supporters, for funding a large part of this trip. Pictured below are the three performers (left to right) Chris Yerlig, Henry Lappen, Ezzell Floraniña, with Eliot Osborn, Artistic Director of PT.
Here's a little background on the performers, all based in, or near, Amherst, Massachusetts:
'Henry The Juggler', silent comedian and graduate of California’s Dell’ Arte School for Physical Comedy, and has performed and taught all over North and Central America
Ezzell Floraniña, stilt dancing clown and educator of the deaf. She is Artistic Director of both ETTA International and The Rainbow Players.
Chris Yerlig, mime/magician, and host of this page on his website. His non-verbal antics have made people laugh, around the world.
Below are a couple of photos from our first show, in Habanero in western D.R.
We were also fortunate to have with us the support of Peter Jessop (pictured below), director of Integrity Development & Construction. Peter has assisted Habitat for Humanity, helping with humanitarian construction all over Central America. Peter drove the group, hauled gear, took photos. He also did a major part of the fundraising for the tour.
We arrived in the D.R. on March 18th, 2011, and drove west to La Hoya, near Barahona. We stayed with the D.R.-based representatives of
COPA (Community Partners), a marvelous Anglo-American charity, whose very caring and dedicated members have built and maintain two school-centered communities in the region.
Our first show, was for the children at the Habanero School, a ‘partnership’ school that COPA oversees close to their school campus in La Hoya. Pictured below are the Rev. Connie DiLeo (COPA-D.R. project director for 9 years till April 2011), Olivia Hill (Educational Advisor), and Ezzell. Many thanks to COPA for hosting us for the Barahona area segment, and for their continued commitment to helping the people of the D.R. Not only have their schools brought an education to over 900 children, but their projects have improved the lives of the general population in the communities they serve.
Below: our team with Patrick Howell, the new COPA-D.R. project director (right) and Elvis Perez (PTA President, Barahona school for the deaf) and his family. (Their hearing-impaired daughter, Evelyn, was not with them that evening. She is the girl laughing in the first picture).
Our show in La Hoya was for the school children and their families. Below Ezzell, whose colorful, eight foot high, 'Queen of Hearts' character, delighted children and adults alike. Here she engages a young volunteer.
Ezzell, who doesn't only have silent talents, joined Olivia in a few rounds of ‘Dona Nobis Pacem’ at the church service in La Hoya.
We spent an afternoon at the beach near Barahona, squeezing in a little R&R in our packed show schedule. But for Henry, relaxing can mean entertaining too.
We performed two shows at the COPA school in Bombita. Here is the library.
In the picture below, Henry has swapped roles with an audience member, to much amusement. Bombita is a ‘batey’, traditionally a community of sugar-cane workers of Haitian origin. Today less people work in the more mechanized sugar industry and work and income are scarce. COPA not only provides schooling to all the children but also a cooked meal each day…
…and Henry offered to light the kitchen stove.
Being silent performers our show goes over particularly well for deaf audiences. We performed in 4 schools for deaf children or where deaf children are present. This shot of deaf children interacting with Ezzell's puppet, Paulito, was taken at the Cristo Rey School in Barahona, the temporary home of the school for the deaf.
In 2008, Ezzell and Chris performed for the students at the crumbling school and left there determined to help. (Disabled people in the D.R. are treated poorly by the government and their schools receive little funding.) In late 2008 the school was closed completely and since then the students have been moving between temporary spaces. The old school building has continued to decline due to lack of funds and theft. Below: 'Peter at the Gate' and "They took the walls and windows too!".
