I can hardly believe that my first city set-up has come and gone. On August 13-16, Cast B 2007 arrived and stayed in Globe. It was 3 of the most stressful but rewarding days of my life-how to explain that is almost as big of a challenge. I won't bore you with the details, but here's the basic things of what I coordinated and how it played out:
August 13
The cast arrived in their big charter bus (all to the Besh-Ba-Gowah Archaeological Park, where they watched a video and gave themselves a self-guided tour around the park.
After that, we headed out to the San Carlos Apache Cultural Center, where we received a presentation from the director, as well as a shaman, basket-weaver, the Tribal Chairman and Vice-Chairman. Even though, I coordinated the presentation, it was still very different than what I thought, so if you want to ask me about it, please do! I would love to chat about it. We then drove back into Globe where everyone met their host families. That was really fun for me because I had been getting to know these families for 3 weeks and to see the students and them coming together was very satisfying.
Tuesday, August 14
This was the big community impact day. We had cast members strewn all over the area and it looked like this-
Morning:
-2o cast members went to San Carlos and worked with tribal members to clean up the business district. They worked on picking up trash, cleaning up graffiti, painting and other tasks.
-18 cast members worked with the Gila Employment and Special Training program, a vocational training program for adults with disabilities. They sang songs with them and worked on an art project
-I went on an radio interview with two cast members from China and Sweden. They were wonderful and so excited to have their first radio interview.
-Some other students went to Globe High School and did a presentation for Student Council members.
Afternoon:
-Most of the cast members went to San Carlos High School and performed a back-tracking show for the entire student body (about 360 students). This was very interesting for the cast because the performing arts are not emphasized in the Apache community, making for a very non-responsive and low-energy crowd. The cast members definitely found it frustrating to be performing with all their hearts to only have an expressionless audience.
-The rest of the cast went to City Park in downtown Globe to paint an old historic train. This train is one of seven of a certain steam engine that the city is very proud to have. They did a great job!
-After their projects and their debrief, they all came to the City Park, where I had arranged a Teen Get-Together where the cast could hang out with local youth, eat some food and listen to some musicians from the community.
Wednesday. August 15.SHOW DAY! The cast spent the whole day at the Apache Gold Casino Resort, where our show was being held at their Pavilion. During the day, they did workshops, set up the stage, rehearsed and got ready for the show.
It was a very challenging space to perform because it is an outdoor Pavilion with a dirt floor. We had a rather responsive crowd of about 400, but the sheer amount of space in the Pavilion made it feel like they were performing to a much smaller audience. Nevertheless, no one fell off the stage and broke their leg, so I was happy =).
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, that is the breakdown of the three days. There were definitely unexpected glitches that happened in all that, as you can imagine, but somehow they got worked out. Overall, I was really happy with my first city set-up. It was one of the biggest learning experiences I have EVER had. I learned so much about myself, working with other people, staying organized, and so much more. I definitely couldn't have done any of this without the help of my lovely intern, Laurel and the community in Globe and San Carlos. What a ride this job has been already!
