Video of EVR - 10 MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL

EAST VALLEY REPERTORY THEATER

10 MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL

...just a quick view of the event...more coming!

East Valley Rep - 10 Minute Play Festival

There was a full house at Coachella Valley Art Center to watch the second and final performance of "Tacos, Teardrops and Tequila", East Valley Rep's 10-Minute Play Festival. According to the audience during the Q&A session after the performance, the plays were entertaining, humorous and sometimes touching. Some audience members were teary-eyed during a couple of the plays. Stand-outs were "It's Not Right" (about abortion), "Happy Anniversary"(dealing with Alzheimer's) and "Meet Your Meat" (about veganism). All pieces were definitely thought-provoking. It's a wonderful start for a new theatre company.

By Carlos Garcia - Artistic Director EAST VALLEY REP

Yo Soy Teatro by Roy Garza

 By Roy Garza

“Yo soy Joaquín,

perdido en un mundo de confusión:

I am Joaquín, lost in a world of confusion,”

Someone once said the first way to find your sense of direction is to acknowledge you are lost, take in the information around you, and use it to make sense of your position. Makes sense, no? For a week in Mecca, about 20 participants questioned their position in their respective communities. Issues of Ageism, Poverty, Documentation, Ecological Health, and Gender Binaries. Storytelling, sharing through poetry, art, and theater became our way of piecing together our story as a community together. Each year F.I.R.M.E.’s (Film Inquiry Research and Media Education) approach has been different in delivery through video, printmaking, journalism, and even photography. It has however remained the same in contextualizing, questioning and giving voice to the stories all around no matter the medium.                         

Students performing their craft

Performing while also delivering a strong message

Here I am taking a nice pic with a student

This past summer our program shifted mediums once again and encompassed performance, writing and photography. The critical analysis provided in these sessions had participants dig deep, starting, as we all do, with Identity and through a progression of poetry and games built out our perspectives to our inter-connectivity and interrelations. While most people will gladly watch a performance, it is difficult to imagine oneself as the performer. Although Augusto Boal introduces us all as performers in daily life through Theater of the Oppressed theories it can be intimidating to perform for an audience. To allow ourselves to be comfortable, a series of games helped to begin questioning ourselves, our lives, and our families. These games were at the core of the week-long camp. Posing as statues, shouting and whispering poetry.  Everyone who started on day one stuck through and performed amazingly after only one week. The final presentations were brilliant representations in four performance styles the groups were randomly assigned. Silent Theater, Poetry, Song and Teatro Campesino-style presentations. 

Maria Galaviz a true multi-tasker, great cook, baker, poetry teacher, etc

Presenting Crisalida with an award for all their participation

As a final presentation all of the groups performed throughout Mecca in Guerilla Style street theater as they came up to unsuspecting audiences. “ Callense Cabrones nos traen arte!” Shouted a day laborer outside as he quieted the crowd of men awaiting work outside of the supermarket in Mecca. (“Shut up, they are bringing us art!”), Despite the 118 degree weather the performances all went well. To wrap up our storytelling camp all our participants, sponsors and families broke bread and celebrated our communities' interconnections and the individual stories in between.   

The Award Presenters (myself) Roy & Benito

Yo Soy Teatro award recipients

Projects, Projects, Projects: Lots of cool things in the works

by David Gonzalez

 Projects, Projects, Projects! Lots of cool things in the works.

The past two weeks have been abuzz planning the implementation of Year Two projects.  Program Manager Moises Huerta and I are working diligently -- assembling the pieces, setting priorities, setting deadlines, filling in the gaps, and learning how to manage the resources we have to get the many projects done.

The POST-IT wall -- a work in progress.

Once again it was a joy to be a guest instructor at Jacalyn Garcia-Lopez's "Intro to Art" class at COD/INDIO.  Jacalyn is standing next to me in the first row.

Great meetings this week with singer/songwriter Giselle Woo (left), Chris Sanchez and Sofia Enriquez -- they'll be painting a Crisalida supported mural in Coachella once the heat comes down a bit.

A milestone!  We now have an official signed contract with CVHC to provide arts services!

Good planning session with Francisco Rodriguez who will be spearheading a public poetry project -- look out for the Crisalida Van projecting poetry onto a wall near you!

ROWLOW, THE GIANT, and CHACE - brainstorming performances and workshops in EAST VALLEY venues this year.

A New Poetry Workshop is Launched in INDIO

 by David Gonzalez

We are delighted that poet Maria Galaviz has started a new poetry workshop at Bill Shinsky's wonderful Coachella Valley Arts Center.  New and experienced writers gather each week to explore writing themes and techniques.

It was a joy to be a guest teacher this night...fun prompts led to laughter and fresh approaches to language.

AND...Maria starts each workshop with delicious homemade food.

“Tacos, Teardrops, and Tequila” NEW EAST VALLEY THEATRE LAUNCHES WITH A “TEN-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL ON SEPTEMBER 25 AND 26

 by David Gonzalez

NEW EAST VALLEY THEATRE LAUNCHES WITH A “TEN-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL" ON SEPTEMBER 25 AND 26 

at Coachella Valley Arts Center

Not long ago the idea for a local theatre company was a twinkling in the eye of Carlos Garcia, then there were active dreams, then brainstorming, planning, and last Spring the EVR launched with two new bi-lingual play readings.  And now the EVR is back with an exciting program of short new theatre pieces written by, directed, and acted largely by East Valley community members.

Playwright Laura Aranjo and EVR Artistic Director Carlos Garcia prepare scripts for auditions.

Hopefuls prepare their audition.

Carlos and David G - dueling, (actually collaborating) computers during a strategic planning session.

PRESS RELEASE

East Valley Rep, a new theatrical venture located in the eastern end of the Coachella Valley, will launch its first full production, “Tacos, Teardrops and Tequila,” a Ten-Minute Play Festival, on September 25 and 26 at 7pm at the Coachella Valley Art Center, 45140 Towne Street, Indio.

“Starting a new theatre company is a daunting adventure,” said artistic director Carlos Garcia. “So we recruited adventurous playwrights and actors seeking the challenge of staging a theatrical production of original works. The result is “Tacos, Teardrops and Tequila.”

Seven playwrights participated in playwrighting workshops in August creating seven ten-minute plays addressing issues such as abortion, mental illness, immigration, Alzheimer’s, funeral planning, veganism and homophobia. “Some are funny, some are sad, but all are entertaining and they demonstrate the talent of Coachella Valley residents,” said Garcia.

The writing workshops were supported in part by the Crisalida Arts Project, which is spearheaded by New York performer David Gonzalez in partnership with the McCallum Theatre and funded through a grant from the James Irvine Foundation. Mr. Gonzalez will be moderating a Questions and Answers session immediately following the performances. 

Tickets for the festival are $10 per person. It is recommended for mature audiences only. The material is not suitable for children. Please contact carlos@eastvalleyrep.com to make reservations or for more information about the program and/or the theatre company.

VISIT THE EVR @ https://www.facebook.com/evr.happenings

Poetry & Short Story Workshop

By Moises Huerta

 Thoughts & Poems by Maria Galaviz and Her Students

One day I was invited to a workshop that was being given by poet & writer David Gonzalez.
On that occasion he asked if someone knew of a person who could teach workshops on poetry and short stories and I answered that I could.
In that moment I did not understand the great challenge that I was about to embark on; you see my experience only consisted of teaching poetry to children.

Building a dream.
 
The building of our dream started when I invited a group of women to write poetry and short stories.
And they all asked, "What is that? I can't do that! I don't like poetry! I can't learn anything! I am too old!"
I smiled and I told them that life begins at 50.

I asked them if they loved someone or something;
if they liked to see the sun rise!
if they liked the rain!
if they loved nature, their children, their grandchildren, their mate.
And they all answered "yes".
And I told them, "Put all those feelings on paper and that is poetry."

The turning over of all our feelings from our heart and mind on to paper nourishes our heart and our soul and frees us of our demons.

These are some thoughts of our female & male poets after 16 classes and having the most marvelous view of our salted lake (Salton Sea) which was and will be an endless fountain of inspiration for any artist.

                                 Purepecha Native Art/Crafts


Maria~Rios: 
You are like the air that I breathe 
The air is felt but it can't be seen 
Just like your heart, it can't be seen 
but I feel that great love in me.

Irma~Soto: 
The dreams of my children are also mine 
The joys they give me are my dreams 
The love that is theirs is my life 
Wherever they go I will be there.

Maria~Pozas: 
I have a bright star name Jaquelin 
that is the light in my eyes. 
My beautiful child you are all mine.
 
Maria~Galaviz: 
I want the sea to continue its song 
I want the sky to rain like before 
I want birds singing in the sky 
I want the stars to shine in the night
 
Maria~Ortega: 
The youth in your skin is coming to an end 
but not that of your soul 
that will always be young and beautiful 
and you will always have a lovely soul.

Arturo~Castellanos: 
In the fields you learn much 
Not only to work the grape  
but rather life itself. 
One passes time alone 
Talking to the grape and 
you learn much about yourself.

These thoughts are examples of beautiful poems that we wrote with all our hearts despite the fact that the majority of the students would arrive to class on many occasions directly from working 8 or 10 hours in the field under the hot desert sun.

They would arrive with a sack of inspiration! with an immense joy! and an enviable vibe that would fill the room and it was contagious.
And we shared a plate of food but mainly we shared a great friendship and together we built family ties that will last a lifetime. For all that and more I thank you.
Likewise the whole group gives thanks:

North Shore Poetry Graduating Students

     
To Crisalida for giving us the opportunity for our art to be born, to flourish and mature in the same way a butterfly does. 

To McCallum Theatre for bestowing the grant that allowed us to cover all of our needs which made it possible for us to produce art in the East Coachella Valley.

To David Gonzalez, poet and writer, for guiding us in our search and flourishing of dormant art in the East Coachella Valley.

But the desert awoke with its beauty                                               with its beautiful light of its radiant sun                                           with its mountains that have the color                                           same as that of its inhabitants                                                         warm and smiling, hardworking and productive 
but above all in one beautiful word 
that contains everything, 
human.
 
Author: Maria Galaviz

Taller de Poesias & Cuentos Cortos

 
By Moises Huerta

Pensamientos y Poesias de
Maria Galaviz y Sus Estudiantes 
 
Un dia fui invitada a un taller, que estaba impartiendo el poeta y escritor, David Gonzalez.
En esa ocasion pregunto si alguien conocia a alguna persona, quien pudiera impartir talleres de poesia y cuentos cortos, y yo le conteste que yo podria darlos.
En ese momento no comprendi el gran reto que estaba apunto de vivir pues mi experiencia solo consistia en enseñar a hacer poesia a niños.

Construyendo un sueño.
La construccion de nuestro sueño comenzo cuando invite a un grupo de señoras a hacer poesia y cuentos cortos.
Y todas preguntaron
!que es eso!
!yo no puedo hacer eso!
!no me gusta la poesia!
!yo no puedo aprender nada!
!ya estoy vieja!
Yo sonrei y les dije que la vida empiesa a los 50.

Les pregunte si amaban a alguien o  a algo
!si les gustaba ver salir el sol !
!si les gustaba la lluvia!
!si amaban la naturaleza, a sus hijos, nietos, y a sus parejas.
Y todas contestaron que si,
Y yo les dije "Pongan todos esos sentimientos en papel y eso es poesia."

El volcar todos nuestros sentimientos de nuestro corazon y mente, en un papel nos alimenta nuestro corazon y nuestra alma, y nos libera de nuestros demonios.

Estos son algunos pensamientos de nuestras poetizas y poetas despues de 16 clases.
Tuvimos la vista mas maravillosa de nuestra laguna salada (Salton Sea) que fue y sera una fuente inagotable de inspiración para    cualquier artista. 

Artesania Purepecha

Maria~Rios:                                                                                                Tu eres como el aire que respiro.
El aire se siente. Pero no se deja ver. 
Asi como tu corazon 
No se ve, pero siento ese gran amor por mi

Irma~Soto: 
Los sueños de mis hijo son los mios 
Las alegrias que me dan son mis sueños 
El amor de ellos son mi vida 
Donde vayan ellos yo estare alli.

Maria~Pozas: 
Tengo un lucero llamado Jaquelin 
Que es la luz de mis hojos 
Mi niña hermosa eres todo para mi.
 
Maria~Galaviz: 
Quiero que el mar siga su cancion 
Quiero que el cielo llueva como antes 
Quiero en el cielo pajaros cantando 
Quiero que en la noche brillen las estrellas.
 
Maria~Ortega: 
Se esta terminando la juventud de tu piel. 
Pero no la de tu alma. 
Que por siempre sera joven y hermosa. 
Y siempre tendras un alma bella.

Arturo~Castellanos: 
En los files se aprende mucho. 
No solo a trabajar la uva. 
Si no de la vida misma. 
Uno pasa tiempo solo. 
Hablando con la uva. 
Y aprendes mucho de ti mismo.

Estos pensamientos son una muestra de poesias hermosas que hicimos con todo nuestro corazon .
Apesar de que la mayoria de las personas llegaban a las clases en muchas ocasiones directo de trabajar 8 o 10 horas en el campo bajo el quemante sol del desierto.

Llegaban con un costal de inspiracion! Con una alegria inmenza! Y una vibra envidiable, que llenaba el salon y era contagiosa. Y compartiamos un plato de comida, pero sobre todo compartimos una gran amistad. Y todos juntos construimos lazos familiares que duraran toda una vida. Por todo eso y mas les doy las gracias. Asi como todo el grupo les da las gracias.
 


 
A Crisalida: Por darnos la oportunidad de que nuestro arte naciera, floreciera y madurara tal como lo hace una mariposa.

A McCallum Theatre: Por otorgarnos la beca que nos permitio cubrir todas nuestras necesidades, que nos permitieron producir arte en el Este del Valle de Coachella.

A David Gonzalez: Poeta y escritor por guiarnos en nuestra busqueda y florecimiento del arte dormido en el Este del Valle de Coachella.

Pero el desierto despertó 
Con su belleza 
Con su hermosa luz de su radiante sol 
Con sus montañas que tienen el color 
igual a la piel de sus habitantes. 
Calidos y sonrientes, trabajadores y productivos. 
Pero sobre todo en una palabra 
hermosa que encierra todo, 
Humanos.

Autor:Maria Galaviz.