Here we are in Junax hostel for volunteers in San Cristobal de las Casas. We arrived after a long journey involving many airplanes, immersion in Spanish, currency calculations and the reunion of 3 long lost friends who didn’t really know each other. We arrived late driving through the Chiapas mountains from Tuxtla to the heart of the tiny streeted, big, laid back, diverse city of San Cristo. In the first two days we created our show and performed it earlier this evening for the neighbors of Rudi our director. The show is still a skeleton and as Rudi says we are in the memory phase, where to go when. But moments of magic are starting to happen and the kids laughed, and cheered and passed the plates just right.
In our hostel all the people are volunteers working for human rights. Witnesses, documenters and people standing in solidarity with the zapitistas and other indigenous groups here.They are mostly very supportive and interested in what we are doing, but one women who spoke with Geoff thought our cause was pointless. Geoff didn’t know how to explain that what we are doing is important. So, we ended up talking with Alejandro, a neighbor and clown colleague of Rudi’s after our show.With Alejandro, we reminded ourselves why we’re doing this.
Clowning reveals peoples humanity.We arrive as open books. We play with status like a game and remind everyone that it is just that. By lowering our status we can all laugh at the foibles of being human. By raising our status we laugh at the ridiculousness of our quest for power. That we all have the same faults, ego, and conflict. We do not come to fix a problem but to celebrate life and inspire.
