Day 11. My last drama practice ride #sol19 #solsc

March 11th:

I have been doing theatre here in Spain for almost eight years. In different groups, with different people. Last October, eight of us decided to get independent, creating a formal amateur group we called Jujurujú Teatro. We rented a space and start practicing every Monday from 9 to 11 pm   (yes, Spanish hours are crazy!) I was the treasurer. One of our friends, Artur, was the director. He is Portugues. We always laugh with him about his Portoñol. He calls the sections of our practices “blocos”, in Spanish bloques, blocks. I don´t know why saying blocos amused us so much.

We chose a play after lots of study and discussions. We took turns for leading practices since the director lived in Portugal, and came to Sevilla every other week. After each practice we shared a beer and tapas, and we laughed about our own miseries. We set the date of the premiere for May 17-18. I realized I was not going to make it. My daughter is graduating from college in the States.

It was unfair for the group that I keep having a main role, or even a small one, if I was not going to be able to practice on the most intense part of the rehearsals, let alone the first days we present the play. I am leaving in two weeks, and today was my last day. I decided to go on my bike, since my usual ride, a friend who lives in my town, was unable to go. I promised my husband I was going to return by train, the last one leaves at 10:54 pm. He couldn´t convince me I take the car. Parking downtown Sevilla is a nightmare.

I arrived when everybody was warming up. I unpacked, and tried to do my best to follow the instructions that Artur had sent me, and lead my last practice. We were working on discovering our character´s body, voice, and today was the turn of feelings and emotions. At the end of the bloco I asked everybody to form a circle and tell one feeling, with one movement that represent the emotional state of their character at that moment. The rest of us was going to repeat whatever they did. It was so nice to see their gestures and hear their feelings, all of them tied to excitement. The last part of practice  was reading the third act of the play. It was getting late for me to take the train. So I handed the money, gave a big hug to each of my compañeros, took my backpack, put my helmet, and closed quietly the door while they keep reading their lines.

Outside I unlocked my bike and pedaled to the station. If I had to say my feeling, probably I could not have find the right one. While my heart was filled with joy and thankfulness, a strange melancholy was invading my body while I was doing my last ride.