English Theater

Meet the Cast

Feliciano

Age: 20

Grade: 11^th

Interests: studying English; cutting hair; selling fish

Dream Job: English Teacher

Role: Chris, the orphan

Alberto José

Age: 20

Grade: 11^th

Interests: studying, especially English; reading and reviewing notes; travelling

Dream Job: English Teacher

Role: Will, the good neighbor

Sergio Joaquim

Age: 19

Grade: 11^th

Interests: studying English; selling chickens; walking with friends

Dream Job: Policeman

Role: Mack, the uncle

Eanes Basilio Pilardo

Age: 18

Grade: 10^th

Interests: Studying, especially History; playing with friends; watching movies

Role: Kevin, the cousin

Ibraimo

Age: 18

Grade: 11^th

Interests: playing volleyball; reading; walking with friends

Dream Job: doctor

Role: Justin, the cousin

Gaifane Alberto Walhane

Age: 19

Grade: 11^th

Interests: studying, especially English; playing soccer; listening to music

Role: Jane, the aunt

Calane Ernesto

Age: 18

Grade: 11^th

Interests: Studying, especially English; playing with friends; travelling; listening to music

Dream Job: Meteorologist

Role: John, the father

Alex Richard

Age: 16

Grade: 10^th

Interests: studying, especially Portuguese; playing with friends; dancing

Role: Kristina, the mother

Alberto Assane

(picture to come)

Age: 20

Grade: 12^th

Role: Narrator 1

Sadique

Age: 20

Grade: 10^th

Interests: hanging with friends

Dream Job: unknown

Role: Narrator 2

Saturday, September 28^th, I accompanied these 10 enthusiastic students to Monapo for the Nampula English Theater competition.  We had prepared for months, first writing a theater piece centered around this year’s theme “The choice is mine.  The future is ours.”, then translating it to English, and rehearsing and rehearsing as they became more and more comfortable and confident.  I was extremely excited and proud to take this incredible group of students to the competition, having witnessed their hard work, dedication, and enthusiasm throughout this past year.

We started as an English club, working on general English grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary during our weekly meetings in the beginning of the school year.  Then I presented the opportunity to participate in an English theater competition to the ten students who regularly came to each meeting, and they eagerly jumped at the offer.

Upon presenting the theme, they universally chose to write a play about domestic violence, centered on domestic violence concerning children.  Sadly, it is not a concept far outside the reality they witness in their everyday lives.  As in our story, many children may become orphans then move in with their extended family and become the family workhorse, responsible for all household chores, hauling water, lack of an opportunity for education, etc.  In our play, (written entirely by them and then I helped with the translation), an orphan Chris is abused by his aunt and uncle but befriends a neighbor who helps him escape and change his future. 

Sadly, at the competition, my group did not win anything, but that did not at all downplay the efficacy and success of their performance.  They had come so far from our first rehearsals and confidently took the stage, performing flawlessly.  I was very proud of them all.  Feliciano, the main character, almost won for best actor, and Murrupula took 5^th place out of the 9 participating schools. 

It was an amazing experience seeing these students presenting projects they had clearly all worked so hard on, plays they had written about important problems in their communities like cheating and corruption in school, HIV/AIDS, and fidelity.  I think I was more disappointed than my students were when they didn’t win; I wanted them to be recognized for all the hard work they had put in!  Each week they'd surprised me with their level of commitment and enthusiasm.  But when I asked them during the trip home if they were sad, they all exclaimed, “No, Teacher. We had lots of fun!” None of them had ever traveled East of Nampula city and were all very excited to participate next year.  It was an amazing experience working with this group of boys and I am going to miss them all a lot.

Here is the video of their performance! Enjoy!