Conexion April 2021 web

¿QUE PASA TALLY?
THEATER WITH A MISSION
Loco for Love Virtual
Festival: A Technical and
Theatrical Success
By Mia Jackson
Amanda Fernández-Acosta, Ben Gunter, Idy Codington, and the rest of the Theater with a Mission
company open an outdoor performance of El Retablo: Where Only the Pure See Miracles
“You took me back to my childhood
today.”
Though the Zoom participant’s video
was turned off, the other attendees
could feel her keen mixture of nostalgia
and admiration as she shared fond
memories of her grandparents. Just 30
minutes into the start of Theater with
a Mission’s (TWAM) Loco for Love
Virtual Festival, viewers were turning on
mics and forging connections between
each historical presentation and their
own past experiences. Their widespread
excitement to share in a celebration
of Spanish Florida and exchange their
own stories made Loco for Love not
only an expertly curated educational
program, but a lively space for
conversation among the most passionate
of individuals.
Given the up-close, interactive nature
of Theater with a Mission’s previous
Loco for Love festivals, it would be
easy to expect potential pitfalls from
a virtual adaptation. But from the first
introductory sounds of a fife and drum,
it was clear that TWAM’s directors and
contributors made strategic decisions
toward the festival’s functional success,
and implemented them with their
trademark flair for drama. In addition to
high video and sound quality, TWAM
assigned important roles to their players
who would each keep the festival
moving in specific ways.
The hosts, Shakespeare and
Cervantes (played respectively by Phil
Croton and Ben Gunter), introduced
attendees to each event and kept the
www.conexionflorida.com
festivities on schedule. Announcer Anita
Miller provided bilingual technical
instructions for any unfamiliar Zoom
users, and the Dramaturg Provocateur
(Aaron Ellis) assisted in managing
the constant flow of chat messages
and ensuring that no question went
unanswered. Despite Zoom’s infamous
penchant for lags and hiccups, the
TWAM team offered a carefully
thought-out blend of professionalism
and themed entertainment that assured
audiences they were in well-prepared
hands.
During his presentation alongside dance expert
Nena Couch, fencing master Ian Borden explains
the differences between historic Spanish,
English, and Italian swords.
Throughout the day, a variety of
scholars, artisans, performers, and
musicians presented on their specialties
and invited attendees to travel back
to Spanish Florida through hands-on
activities. The Dragoncillo Puppet
Troupe opened the virtual festival with
two hilarious and charming tutorials
on how younger viewers can make
their own sock and shadow puppets.
Puppeteers Jason and Knight Yancey
appeared for a live Q&A session,
where they discussed everything from
the history of puppets and theater in
the Spanish Golden Age to their own
traveling shows around the U.S.
By the end of their presentation,
Dragoncillo had gained quite a few new
fans, with requests for more puppet
shows and exclusive t-shirts. The
Yanceys’ creativity and craftsmanship
sparked an engaging conversation
amongst the youngest and oldest of
Loco for Love attendees alike, and
built a bridge between generations for
many. Participants remarked that with
YouTube and Tik Tok, there are endless
possibilities for “old-school” activities
like puppet shows to find their newest
audiences.
The first act of the festival concluded
with a performance of TWAM’s original
bilingual production, El Retablo:
Where Only the Pure See Miracles.
Despite their deactivated videos and
muted microphones, audience members
bellowed “OOO, San Ignoramus!” in
the chat each time a gong rang, just as
they would have in person. The longer
the day went on, the more TWAM
proved that any historic encounter and
theatrical experience could be adapted
with some creativity. Attendees were
eager to create an atmosphere of
welcome participation and enthusiasm
that could be felt even in a virtual space.
The conversation was never livelier
than in Act 2, when dueling master Ian
Borden and dancing expert Nena Couch
gave live demonstrations of fancy
footwork and complex choreography.
Their combined decades of scholarship
in historic Spanish dancing and sword
fighting came to life on the screen as
they discussed the intersections of
technique and terminology, and their
evolution into modern practices since
the Spanish Golden Age. Participants
drew their own parallels to various
forms of Spanish dance and sport,
including bullfighting. The session
was a seamless combination of
entertainment and education that gave
viewers an inside look at investigating
Florida’s past from the perspective of
performers and scholars.
Through presentations by a
Muscogee storyteller, dramatizations
of Free African life in the 1820s, and
performances by Spanish and French
musicians, Loco for Love explored the
multiculturalism of Florida’s history,
and celebrated the diversity still present
in Florida’s indigenous populations and
communities of color. But TWAM took
advantage of the virtual platform this
year to make an unprecedented move
toward incorporating international
artists.
Logging in all the way from
México, surprise guest Efe Tres Teatro
performed two one-act plays written
by Miguel de Cervantes himself. The
Jason and Page Knight of Dragoncillo Puppet Troupe demonstrate how to make show-worthy sock
puppets using household materials such as felt and cardboard.
Mexican theater company performed
both plays as one-man shows entirely
in Spanish, and made impressive use
of technology to create a unique virtual
experience for the audience. The first
play implemented a variety of camera
filters to distinguish between different
characters, and the second utilized a
complex set-up of multiple devices to
create the appearance of different stage
entrances and exits. The nearly 2,000-
mile distance was made obsolete as
participants conversed across nations.
After six plays, eight hours of
festivities, and 20 different presenters,
the Loco for Love Virtual Festival
concluded with reluctant farewells
and promises for more. Though every
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