So recently my dear friend Heather and I had the wonderful opportunity to cast off our cares, our worries, and our hectic daily schedules to spend a week basking on beautiful beaches and experiencing the lively culture of the Dominican Republic.
Both of us being passionately of the theatre, Heather and I decided that our first objective for the trip... well, okay, our first objective was to relax and get a really great tan. It was vacation, after all!... But our second objective was to attend an evening of theatre in a completely foreign culture.
I speak about nine words of Spanish and Heather only a little more so we were certain it was going to be an enriching experience. We were staying a half hour outside of Santo Domingo, where the Teatro Nacional is located, but had a rental car and a trusty Lonely Planet all decked out in color-coded sticky notes and ready to go. All those warnings about Dominican drivers and poor road conditions be damned, we were go to the theatre! Suffice it to say that a visit from friendly Tropical Storm Gustav (not yet then Hurricane Gustav), my coming down with what seems to have been a two day flu and Heather catching whatever it was from me… well, we did not make it to the Teatro Nacional. We did, however, still manage to find plenty of that Dominican performance experience we were hoping for.
On our second night there, whilst the rains of Gustav pelted the white sand beaches and rivers flowed between the palms, Heather noticed on the grounds of our resort* a sign for “Tonight! Western Night” Hmm. Western Night? We were intrigued. I vaguely remembered reading somewhere about live entertainment at the resort and figured that must have been it. There was no other information, but a sign next to it had a picture of a haunted house and said “Tomorrow! 9:45” If the haunted house thingy started at 9:45 we assumed Western Night probably did as well. At 9:40pm we showed up at the Cacao Teatro and were greeted by a handsome young man inviting the guests in out of the rain to enjoy the show. He spoke a little English and told us the show would start in five minutes. We decided this was plenty of time to dash to our room and get back before they began. It took us about 15 minutes to get back, but we were now on Dominican Time and still waited about 10 minutes for the curtain to rise.
Once it did we saw an “Old West” barroom, barroom girls, sauntering cowboys and – hey! The handsome gent from outside was one of the cowboys. Word. After a bit of sauntering, flirting, drinking (real booze) and a somewhat awkward gunfight, the music kicked it up a notch and the dancing began. The choreography wasn’t half bad and the dancers obviously talented. After a few numbers, an emcee stepped out and then we got the full picture – Western Night was also audience participation night. Although the emcee spoke mostly in Spanish, he translated just enough to English for us to understand that they were going to pull four gentlemen from the audience. They did a kind of Simon-Says/opposites game and then asked the four guys to bring up their wives or girlfriends. One of the gentlemen apparently didn’t have a wife or girlfriend, because he came down into the audience and pulled me up onstage with him. Spanish or not, there’s no need to ask me twice when there’s a stage involved! I found myself sitting amongst the other couples and cast members, the only person not understanding what was being said. But hey, I’m an actor. I adapt. They had us run through a kind of western obstacle course that involved my partner chugging a beer and doing pushups before I had to help him into chaps and a vest, then there was a piggy back ride, a little two step, and a final bow. All four couples went, embarrassing ourselves as best we could, but it didn’t stop there. Once that was done we had to reenact a “scene” from a western. The cast members went first to show us what we’d have to do: Woman at the bar, dances all sexy-like, drinks ron. Cowboy with big gun steps up, dances with her. Second cowboy comes in with bigger gun and throws the first out of the way. First cowboy comes back and punches second cowboy. This is repeated a few times. Both cowboys break away from the woman. There’s going to be a gunfight. Woman tries to stop them, they push her away. Cowboys stand back-to-back, take a few steps… both cowboys shoot the woman. Out comes a nurse, a preacher, an undertaker and finally two stretcher bearers to take the woman away. End of scene. The first couple goes and it’s ridiculous as planned. The second couple has to do it rápido, double-time. The third in slow motion and then finally it’s our turn. My partner and I have to do the scene borracho, drunken. He’s playing cowboy #2 and I’m the woman, obviously. The cast members play the rest. Well I figure what the hell... I’m a professional, right? I can ham it up with the best of them. I throw myself into it and when I finish my long, dramatic death… I actually get applause! I’ve got to tell you, it felt awesome. I don’t think anyone expected any of us to actually get up there and commit. When it was all over, the audience got to vote, by applause, for the winning couple. Oh yah. We totally won.
So it wasn’t quite the same experience as going to the Teatro Nacional would have been, but I actually got to perform in a show in the DR. Silly as it may have been, being up there surrounded by a language completely foreign to me with people that spoke little or no English at all and somehow feeling completely comfortable… well, that’s an experience I won’t soon forget.
*Yes, yes. We stayed at a resort. Don't judge.