Theater for the community in times of pandemic – El Tiempo Latino

By Verónica Rivera-Negrón | Youth Programs Coordinator, Community Services Department – City of Hyattsville

When 3-year-old Emma and I said goodbye that Thursday in March 2020, we said “see you next week.” A few hours later, I sent a message to the families of Creative Minds — the program for children between the ages of 1-3 offered by the City of Hyattsville — informing them that we would not be meeting until further notice due to the threat of COVID-19.

The time she spent in the program spending time with other children her age was important to Emma. But how could we continue to encourage creativity, play, learning, and socialization when we had to be physically distant?

Artists and educators Melissa Strova-Valencia and Karen Morales-Chacana, from Teatro La Bolsa, and Jennifer Ridgway, from Yard Dramas, asked the same question. In response, they decided to do what they do best: improvise and create. And under the auspices of Creative Minds, they developed plays in which more than 100 families have participated during the pandemic.

Local theater for the world
The next time I saw Emma it was through a computer. She was in the living room of her house with her mom and brother, while I was in my home office. Along with the digital screen that showed Emma’s family, there were fifty others showing families who, from their homes, connected to participate in the VirtuArtBag. This was a series of virtual, bilingual (English and Spanish) and interactive plays premiered by Teatro La Bolsa in April 2020.

Through acting, dancing, music, and puppets, Teatro La Bolsa recreated myths and stories based on Latin American folklore. One of the myths recreated was “Tren Tren Vilú and Cai Cai Vilú”, in collaboration with the Chilean group Teatro Hermanos Ibarra Roa. The actor Visnu Ibarra Roa, represented the serpent puppets, from his home in Santiago, Chile, while the actresses Strova-Valencia and Morales-Chacana served as narrators of the story from their homes in DC

The families that connected were mainly from DC, Maryland, and Virginia, but they also connected from Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Japan, and other countries.

Doing theater with the neighbors
While Teatro La Bolsa brought local talent to other states and countries, Yard Dramas focused on the Prince George’s County community.

Yard Dramas — which means “patio dramas” in Spanish — was born in the midst of the pandemic when Ridgway found herself unemployed. Needing to do something creative, she started telling stories to her 3-year-old neighbor. Ridgway would pull a wagon full of props into the front yard of the house and, through theater, music, and body movement, perform stories with the boy.

A year later, with the support of the City of Hyattsville, the program began to be offered to the public. During the summer mornings of 2021, families would flock to the parks and lay blankets on the lawns to enjoy storytelling alongside Ridgeway, as well as artists Penny Rusell and Morgan Charece. Ridgway, whose family has been with Prince George’s for generations, said the opportunity to focus on his local community has been significant.

Many of the families that participated in Yard Dramas were neighbors who happened to be in the park. We invited children, adolescents and adults alike to participate in the program. On one occasion, as part of a warm-up for the body, voice, and imagination, Ridgway asked participants to move and make sounds like toads. The young children were very shy and did not dare to participate, so one of the teenagers started acting like a toad to show them how to do it. Smiling, the little children began to imitate him. That same teenager ended up performing in front of the other families as they brought to life the fable of “The toad and the locus.”

Whether online or in person, with international or local participants, the work of Teatro La Bolsa and Yard Dramas makes this type of interaction and play possible between young and old.

These programs not only served families who needed healthy things to do together, but financially supported local artists. It is essential that governments support these kinds of initiatives. In a difficult reality, such as this pandemic has been, it is vitally important that we promote art and creativity in order to imagine a better world. Also, through art, we can share with our neighbors and create community even when we are physically distant.



eltiempolatino.com

Leave a Comment