El Horno

On Thursday, after my regular routine at school and comida at home, I went to a play right across from the Benito Juarez park in the uniquely named Juarez theater. It was a large, red building with a modern design compared to the majority of the buildings in the city. I found out about the play through the school, and when they described where to go, I knew exactly where they meant.

There were a lot of people waiting outside when I got there. I even saw Belen , Betty's roommate, when I got there. She and I talked for a while. There were two other teachers involved in the production, one of them was in charge of costumes and stage managing, and the other was one of the actresses seen in the pictures. I didn't take a lot of photos on Thursday, thinking I would have time for any last minutes shots on Friday.

I ended up sitting with two of my classmates. There were two other Cabrillo students that went to see it, but I think it was really difficult for them to understand.  The play was called "El Horno" ("The Oven"), and notice the oven is not in the same place in the two photos, the table never moves. It was written by a local Oaxacan man as a part of the theater workshops of the community. 
We were told ahead of time that the play was surreal and not to take every word they said in the play literally. I was glad that I knew that before I went because I was able to pay attention to the symbolism. I understood most of the dialogue, which made it easier to follow the details that weren't as obvious. At the end of the play I had a pretty clear idea of the various images and symbols that were used in the dialogue and on the set. I spoke with the teacher who invited us, Paco, after the show to confirm my thinking. He told me that I understood a lot of the ideas and he thought I was pretty right on about symbolism. It's encouraging to know that my oral comprehension and critical thinking in Spanish were good enough to comprehend something on this level. 

This was one of the best pieces of art I saw in Oaxaca, even compared to all the artisians in town selling their pottery, weaving, paintings, embroidery, jewelry and alebrijes. Well, maybe that's an overstatement, but it was a good production, and it was more creative than all the same kinds of artesian arts and crafts that are sold on every street corner. As many of you know, I am also a long-time fan of theater, so perhaps I have favoritism for the theater arts.

After the show, I went to a pizza restaurant with a friend from Cabrillo, Derek. I got to see one of the greatest classmates I had, Tomás, for the last time that night. He was a young man from Finland who had lived in Oaxaca for the last 6 months and was dating a teacher from the school. He was always very kind to me, and the only student in my class anywhere close to my age. It was great to say goodbye to him one last time because he was one of the best people I met in Oaxaca.