Hispanic Heritage Highlights at the Loco for Love Festival
By Sydney Schuhmacher
This September 13-16, Spanish La Florida lives again! The Loco for Love Festival will use food, music, dance, swordplay, puppet shows, wresting contests, and a telenovela to explore 400 years of Hispanic Heritage. The free festival is hosted by Theater with a Mission in Tallahassee’s Railroad Square. All events are family friendly, and Saturday and Sunday will have activities just for kids. Every day features delicious adventures with Hispanic culture.
Thursday’s theme is Parade & Paella. The parade kicks off at 6 p.m., followed by a paella sampling with chef Juan Ten (founder of Real Paella), a guitar concert by Charles Santiago, and a sparkling performance of the comical play El muerto, or Better Wed than Dead, where you see what happens when Capitán Lorenzo tells his very determined little sister, “You’ll marry that Astrólogo-Sailor over my dead body!”
Friday’s theme is Fights & Fandangos. Starting at 6 p.m., expert duelists will demonstrate Spanish swordplay from the time of Cervantes. Then you can hear a wise and witty talk that connects Don Quixote to Florida by Dr. Keith Howard, see a one-act play by the author of Don Quixote – a satire called El retablo de las maravillas, Where Only the Pure See Miracles – and join the conga line as an expert in historic Spanish dances shows you how to revive smooth moves that our great-great grandparents enjoyed.
Saturday swings into action with Hidalgos & Horses at 11 a.m. You’ll get to meet NiNa, a rare Galiceño horse who can trace her ancestry back to steeds who came to Florida with the conquistadores. NiNa loves children, and she’s coming from Suwannee County to stay the whole weekend. The Panhandle Area Educational Consortium’s youth troupe will perform dances from Mexico (before and after Spanish settlement), Ian Borden from Nebraska will lead a sword-fighting workshop, and Tallahassee Hispanic Theater will present a puppet-show play about Don Quixote in English and in Spanish.
Saturday afternoon features Lovers y Soldados. There will be a dramatic smackdown between Shakespeare and Cervantes, where you get to choose which author wins the title of World Champion Storyteller. That Klassic Tag-Team from Orlando will present a wrestling workshop, and Nena Couch from Ohio will teach you how to bow, curtsy, and use your fan like a bigwig from the royal Spanish court. Don’t have a fan? Build one at the Festival’s craft table, where you can also get your face painted as a Florida panther or a fantasy figure right out of Don Quixote.
Saturday evening shifts the spotlight to Stars and Salsa. Terry Galloway’s talking T-Rex will perform Shakespeareosaurus, and you can win prizes by completing a treasure hunt for historic examples of Hispanic Heritage. To top off the evening, Cristyl Palacio will teach salsa steps, kicking off an energetic dance in the streets, while the Festival serves salsa for Sábado in the garden.
Sunday morning showcases Poetry in Motion. Andrew and Cindy Batten from the History Channel will show you how to revive recipes that were part of Don Quixote’s diet, and Theater with a Mission will invite you to express yourself with poems from Cervantes and Shakespeare, in English and in Spanish. Activities remain varied and adventurous till the last moment. The Festival closes on Sunday afternoon with Hammerlocks and Holiness. A lecture-demonstration lets you handle musical instruments from 400 years ago, a fashion show parades clothing worn in Spanish La Florida, and a magnificent choir sings anthems for evensong that Shakespeare heard in church.
For the full schedule, visit www.theaterwithamission.com and like the Facebook event page at https://www.facebook.com/TheaterWithAMission/.