Things went well in San Anto. TEATROFEST was pretty cool. I am so glad (and the tech crew at GCAC was as well) that i chose to perform a short-n-sweet performance work (Sueno Despierta), which has a running time of about 17 minutes. No one got burnt out on my work. No one walked out during it either, to my knowledge.
Folks, however, did get tested by some of the other works presented during the FEST--in terms of content, aesthetics, "stage-readiness", and length of certain pieces. Oh well, at least I tried to be patient and did see all of the works presented during my time in San Anto. (Which is more than i can say for certain teatristas who might be of the "came to perform, didn't come to be an audience" camp.....que lastima.)
The platica on Saturday could have been facilitated a little (okay, a LOT) better than it was in order to steer us to more focused conversation about future of Chicano/a theater and performance. Instead, we seemed to digress into topics like lack of funding (without letting people speak about REAL POTENTIAL that is out there) and politics in art (wherein the younger vatos--mostly from Brownsville--eagerly weighed in despite their relative LACK OF EXPERIENCE from which to speak). Alas, the platica left me more hungry than the lonche (which was down to offerings of tostadas and one flauta, by the time i got to the food line).....
All in all, I made the time and the weekend and the FEST work for me, as I engaged young and old, newbies and veteranos, men and women. Writers, performers, media makers, tech staff---I had awesome conversations (over beer, tequila, popcorn, and bbq) with all of these and more in locales from GCAC, the Holiday Inn lobby, the Jump-Start, to Lisa Suarez' driveway. By the way, I also had a pleasant first-time interaction with Paul Bonin-Rodriguez--unexpected surprise.
I got to talk about loteria cards (interpretation, symbolic meaning, color-coordination, etc.) with Linus Streckfus, who lived in Austin when I was living there, and was running sound for the TEATROFEST showcases. I got to see other artistas who I hadn't crossed paths with in ages: David Zamora Casas (who was disarmingly sweet in Saturday night's "Cara Mia Carpa"); Rupert Reyes (director of Austin's Teatro Vivo); Trino Sanchez (whose partner and wife, Regina, regaled us with amazing stories of her movimiento family history--somebody pair her up with a scriptwriter!); and many others.
Hopefully, I'll be back in San Antonio soon. There is a plan to get me to San Anto for a one-night reading event at an art show opening at the MEDUSA LOUNGE in mid-July (at the invitation of Rosie Gonzalez and Robert Tatum). Am still awaiting confirmation of travel arrangments. I think it'll be on July 21-22 that I'll be there. A quickie. Can't wait.
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