Micro-theatre festival seeks to build empathy for migrants

TOUT MOUN Productions will host Beyond the Dragon's Mouth, a festival of micro-plays geared towards creating an empathetic space for migrants in the country.

Beyond the Dragon's Mouth will include eight 15-minute plays staged simultaneously in different classrooms and transition spaces such as hallways and stairwells from today to Sunday, 5pm-9pm at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Open Campus on Gordon Street.

Marcus Waldron, creator of the festival, told Newsday in a telephone interview that he hopes Beyond the Dragon's Mouth will start sympathetic conversations between migrants and locals in TT.

"We are putting ourselves into each other's shoes and view things in different perspectives. What we have is a theatre event to share stories – local stories – but also migrant stories of people having to cross water to get here and the challenges they face when they are here," he said.

There will be a 15-minute intermission between the plays. Waldron wanted to create an intimate experience between theatregoers and the actors so people could have meaningful discussions about the play.

"The idea is about intimate audiences. You are close to the person who is next to you, but you are also close to the person putting on the performances. There will be ten-20 people in the theatre engaging with the arts, breaking down the barrier," he said.

The show is filled with comedies, tragedies, dance theatre and other musical acts. The idea originally came from Albert Smith, who is also a Venezuelan and a local actor. He is directing a piece called Overturned, about a pregnant woman who tried to flee Venezuela. Though the trip seemed treacherous, she had no choice but to leave Venezuela; but then she is stuck in a dangerous situation trying to figure her way out.

Afi Ford Hopson's Butterfly Watch is a dialogue between two security guards faced with an influx of butterflies at an immigration detention centre. The drama tries to show the psychological impact of migration.

Aryana Mohammed's play Mangoes from the Valley is a discussion about how locals are sexualising Venezuelan women. Her story is about Maria, a young Venezuelan migrant, who hopes to find a better life for her family in Trinidad. Though she starts off waiting tables in a bar, she turns to sex work as an extra source of income. Her story is about the trauma she encounters with a client.

Deep Sea, directed by Fabrice Barker, gets the audience to imagine being confined in a small space, feeling of little to no value, like a fish trapped in a net.

"The idea is to keep the atmosphere light, jovial and engaging as possible. Meet people face-to-face, meet Venezuelan people, shorten that distance between what might be a Facebook comment, a news article or a TV show to actually sit down and meet people and talk to them," Waldron said.

All the plays will occur simultaneously, but if a person misses one performance, there's another opportunity to see it 15 minutes later. There are 240 performances scheduled to take place over the three days.

Tickets are $25 per show and there is a $200 festival pass for people who want to see the shows multiple times. Fifty per cent of the proceeds will be donated to a charity for Venezuelan migrants. Waldron is hoping to donate the money to a charity that focuses on education for migrants and is being advised by the Cropper Foundation on finding the best organisation to donate the proceeds to.