On the Road: Raven hops to the GTA and flies to Mexico

The Raven crew dusted off their costumes for a jam-packed mini-tour in Ontario. Our crew, Carlos Rivera, Jonathan Fisher and Patti Shaughnessy, reunited to perform 20 shows to schools around the GTA over the course of two weeks. On the road, they went to the “Hammer” (Hamilton) to visit Mohawk College to perform two shows for a very diverse crowd consisting of energetic college students, families with children, community members, college administration and faculty members. Our dear friend Amy Kelaidis, Aboriginal Liaison & Communications Officer, of Mohawk College said: “So glad that I finally got to see this wonderful show...I’ve heard so much about it!!”

The Raven crew continued to hop throughout the GTA, visiting Mississauga, Enniskillen, North York, Richmond Hill, Agincourt, East York, Scarborough, Bowmanville and Brampton. It was a short tour by Red Sky standards to say the least, and now we’re off to prepare for our first appearance at an international festival in Mexico!

On April 25 – 28, 2011, we made our first foray to sunny Mexico with our family production, Raven Stole the Sun at the Palafoxiano International Festival. Here, more than 124 performances were presented from countries such as: Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Colombia, Cuba, Peru, Puerto Rico, Israel, Estonia, Europe, France, Tuva, Spain, and of course, Canada.

Red Sky performed to two sold-out houses at the Teatro de la Ciudad in beautiful downtown Puebla. For those of you who may not know, the city of Puebla is the capital of the state (of the same name), located just southeast of Mexico City. Imagine an historic looking city with colonial architecture, tasty cuisine, talavera pottery, and a sunny disposition. Here the Toltecs, Olmecs and other Indigenous peoples among many others have inhabited this center. The cast and crew enjoyed Poblano cuisine and hospitality, y fue muy “chido”.

The first day was a busy one. While we were in tech in the theatre, our artistic director Sandra Laronde had a press conference with television, print, radio, and online media including: La Journada, El Popular, Sicom Radio, Aztec Television, TV3 Puebla, among others. Then, she skirted back to the theatre to finish our tech with cast and crew. We had tremendous assistance from Francesco Carrera who acted as our Lighting Assistant and Stage Manager, and Claudia Huerta who ran the surtitles. The cast pulled off two excellent shows even though one was suffering from ‘Montezuma’s revenge’. The Mexican audiences were extremely warm and appreciative, and they definitely understood our sense of humour in a natural heartbeat.

After the performances, we had an extended Community Talk-Back as many were intrigued about Red Sky, the creative process, traditional storytelling, contemporary expression, the Indigeneity of Red Sky performers, and its vision. Even after the Community Talk-Back, more people came up afterwards to speak to the cast and crew. One young man cried as he was filled with joy to see such a production. The audiences were an exuberant mix of students, families, children, press, teachers, and tourists. Our artistic associate, Carlos Rivera, was completely in his element as he is fluent in both Spanish and Mexican culture and protocol, and he became our awesome navigator while in Mexico.

We all enjoyed our visit to Puebla, Mexico, and already there is talk about our coming back to this festival in Puebla with another Red Sky production, and also performing in Baja California in October 2011. We look forward to it. Viva Red Sky! Viva Mexico! Arriba!