I dont share so often about my place in Guatemala. 15 years ago i purchased a lake to roadside piece of land with a few cabins on it. Since that time i entered into a non stop building journey, creating many rooms and a bustling cafe. Our cafe was known for our event space. I built many stages and depending on what kind of show we were hosting we used these various stages. This area of the hotel is called the Thought Alarm Theatre.
One of my favorite uses of our space was the center based stage, that center stage would be the dance floor if it was a DJ or live music. But in cases of theatre events we always used the center stage to create an immersive 360% effect. Where the audience was on all sides.
Anyone that follows my blog/vlog knows i have been away on an adventure traveling this year with the Family. Well i recently left the kids in Morocco with Mom to come back to Lake Atitlan in Guatemala to oversee and push forward a building project.
I arrived here to Guatemala just in time to see a theatre show in the Space i created. A close friend who i have worked with on previous shows wrote and choreographed the theatre performance called The Venus Fly Trap.
It was like magic to see this space remaining active and still finding full creative thrive.
This image below is a shot of the standing ovation at the end of the show. But before we get to the end of the show. We need to discuss what happened before the show even started.
If you look in the image in the center back corner where about 30 people are seated and then look at this next picture below.
That is the same place, and the picture below was at 10am on the same day as the show.
In Guatemala they have this word called Chapus. A Chapus could be thought of as a ‘Jerry rig’ or a ‘getter done’ type of solution. It’s when you need to do something fast and it may not look pretty, or be the correct way to do it, but it’s going to work and it needs to get done.
Well, what you are seeing in these 2 images are a stage covering an absorption pit. That pit collapsed in on itself. And it was unfortunately part of the support of the platform. So that meant that the platform also partially collapsed. Unfortunately there were a group of people sitting at a table above this. Not a good scene, some very displeased guests.
This was not a very nice welcome back to Guatemala. 🤦♂️ (and all this happened a few hours before my beloved Crypto and Cola Show in the Hive voice channel) uggh.
That collapsed stage was where people were meant to sit and watch the show and now instead there was an open stinking collapsed pit. 😳
I went into scramble mode. First we had to make it all safe. We used metal and bracings to reinforce below. After we confirmed that this was secure we had to dig a temporary leach field to allow the toilets to go back into use. As hundreds were coming to show over this weekend and not to mention this was a cafe where people needed access to facilities.
The Show Must Go On!! And so it did. We worked non stop, and 2 hours before the doors opened for the performance ….we completed work and reopened the bathroom and set up the seating.
Now after needing to share about this whole Snafu…we can share the epic part of my journey home.
Join me as i share photos from the theatre event—The Venus Fly Trap which happened in The Thought Alarm Theatre.
The show was powerful. A journey into the inner thoughts of a woman finding her place in the world. Many of the characters in show were manifestations of inner voices inside of the main characters head.
A ballet of movement and dialog, all meticulously choreographed and precisely worded.
Sometimes the body told the story.
Sometimes it was the spoken words.
Feelings through facial expressions.
At other times it was Raw and full of Roar!
You could not sit through this performance without your feelings being stirred.
The circus elements brought a magic and surreal aspect to the show. As hallucinations literally took to the air.
Flights of fancy.
Poetry from above.
Shadows and silhouettes.
A dangling feeling, an audience left grateful.
After all was done we mingled and shared our experiences. Life is full of blessings, even if tragic. Theatre when done right wears that cloak of existence!
