By Mia Jackson
“You took me back to my childhood today.”
Though the Zoom participant’s video was turned off, the other attendees could feel her keen mixture of nostalgia and admiration as she shared fond memories of her grandparents. Just 30 minutes into the start of Theater with a Mission’s (TWAM) Loco for Love Virtual Festival, viewers were turning on mics and forging connections between each historical presentation and their own past experiences. Their widespread excitement to share in a celebration of Spanish Florida and exchange their own stories made Loco for Love not only an expertly curated educational program, but a lively space for conversation among the most passionate of individuals.
Given the up-close, interactive nature of Theater with a Mission’s previous Loco for Love festivals, it would be easy to expect potential pitfalls from a virtual adaptation. But from the first introductory sounds of a fife and drum, it was clear that TWAM’s directors and contributors made strategic decisions toward the festival’s functional success, and implemented them with their trademark flair for drama. In addition to high video and sound quality, TWAM assigned important roles to their players who would each keep the festival moving in specific ways.
The hosts, Shakespeare and Cervantes (played respectively by Phil Croton and Ben Gunter), introduced attendees to each event and kept the festivities on schedule. Announcer Anita Miller provided bilingual technical instructions for any unfamiliar Zoom users, and the Dramaturg Provocateur (Aaron Ellis) assisted in managing the constant flow of chat messages and ensuring that no question went unanswered. Despite Zoom’s infamous penchant for lags and hiccups, the TWAM team offered a carefully thought-out blend of professionalism and themed entertainment that assured audiences they were in well-prepared hands.
Throughout the day, a variety of scholars, artisans, performers, and musicians presented on their specialties and invited attendees to travel back to Spanish Florida through hands-on activities. The Dragoncillo Puppet Troupe opened the virtual festival with two hilarious and charming tutorials on how younger viewers can make their own sock and shadow puppets. Puppeteers Jason and Knight Yancey appeared for a live Q&A session, where they discussed everything from the history of puppets and theater in the Spanish Golden Age to their own traveling shows around the U.S.
By the end of their presentation, Dragoncillo had gained quite a few new fans, with requests for more puppet shows and exclusive t-shirts. The Yanceys’ creativity and craftsmanship sparked an engaging conversation amongst the youngest and oldest of Loco for Love attendees alike, and built a bridge between generations for many. Participants remarked that with YouTube and Tik Tok, there are endless possibilities for “old-school” activities like puppet shows to find their newest audiences.
The first act of the festival concluded with a performance of TWAM’s original bilingual production, El Retablo: Where Only the Pure See Miracles. Despite their deactivated videos and muted microphones, audience members bellowed “OOO, San Ignoramus!” in the chat each time a gong rang, just as they would have in person. The longer the day went on, the more TWAM proved that any historic encounter and theatrical experience could be adapted with some creativity. Attendees were eager to create an atmosphere of welcome participation and enthusiasm that could be felt even in a virtual space.
The conversation was never livelier than in Act 2, when dueling master Ian Borden and dancing expert Nena Couch gave live demonstrations of fancy footwork and complex choreography. Their combined decades of scholarship in historic Spanish dancing and sword fighting came to life on the screen as they discussed the intersections of technique and terminology, and their evolution into modern practices since the Spanish Golden Age. Participants drew their own parallels to various forms of Spanish dance and sport, including bullfighting. The session was a seamless combination of entertainment and education that gave viewers an inside look at investigating Florida’s past from the perspective of performers and scholars.
Through presentations by a Muscogee storyteller, dramatizations of Free African life in the 1820s, and performances by Spanish and French musicians, Loco for Love explored the multiculturalism of Florida’s history, and celebrated the diversity still present in Florida’s indigenous populations and communities of color. But TWAM took advantage of the virtual platform this year to make an unprecedented move toward incorporating international artists.
Logging in all the way from México, surprise guest Efe Tres Teatro performed two one-act plays written by Miguel de Cervantes himself. The Mexican theater company performed both plays as one-man shows entirely in Spanish, and made impressive use of technology to create a unique virtual experience for the audience. The first play implemented a variety of camera filters to distinguish between different characters, and the second utilized a complex set-up of multiple devices to create the appearance of different stage entrances and exits. The nearly 2,000-mile distance was made obsolete as participants conversed across nations.
After six plays, eight hours of festivities, and 20 different presenters, the Loco for Love Virtual Festival concluded with reluctant farewells and promises for more. Though every session offered something unique and exciting, it was the ongoing conversation and connection between participants that made Loco for Love a soaring success. Despite any limitations of a virtual setting and the uncertain year for live performers, Theater with a Mission managed to provide people with two things they had dearly missed: theater that delights and inspires, and—most importantly—a sense of community.