Dramatic Adventure Theatre: Student/Faculty Summer Opportunity

Re: Seeking Student Participants for ACTion: Ecuador 2010

Dear Faculty:

I am writing with information regarding an incredible summer opportunity for your current college students: ACTion: Ecuador 2010 an opportunity to travel, serve, teach and perform, organized by Dramatic Adventure Theatre, a theatre company that acts!

Student participants must be adventurous and crave creative involvement in both theatre and service work. Those cast in the summer project will spend 24 days in Ecuador creating and rehearsing an original play, teaching theatre and English language skills, and volunteering throughout the country. At the completion of the project, students will perform their original pieces with professional theatre artists in a showcase presented in New York City.

In the summer of 2009, DAT took 75 professional actors and students from across the United States to work with various communities and organizations in Ecuador including: Quito, Quilotoa, Mindo, Esmeraldas, the Amazon, and The Galapagos Islands. Volunteer experiences along the way included
building a community center and media library in the Andes, repairing Solar Panels, building dry bathrooms in the Amazon, planting trees in the Galapagos and teaching theatre and English language skills in every community along the way. Adventure activities included hiking through the Andes, zip-lining through cloud forests, swimming with sharks, learning Afro-Ecuadorian dances, fishing for piranha in the Amazon and more. The actors' experiences turned into 9 original plays performed in New
York City last July at both the Richmond Shepherd Theatre as well as at Teatro Iati.

Currently, professional artist auditions are being held in New York City and in Los Angeles for our 2010 trip. Limited space is also available for student theatre artists; hence, we are interested in holding an audition/informational session at your school.

In addition to the audition, students must also submit an essay of interest as well as a letter of recommendation. Selected artists are responsible for funding their experience. The cost of each trip is determined by the second week destination; Esmeraldas costs $3200, La Selva costs $3600 and the Galapagos costs $3800. All airfare, in-country transportation, travelers insurance, lodging, food, adventure excursions, live theatre viewings, dance, teaching, and playwriting training, and an Andean mask souvenir of each participant's choice are all covered in this price. Past students have also arranged ways for the trip to count as internship, student teaching, volunteer, and/or performance university/conservatory credit.

You might also be interested in learning about our theatre faculty incentive offer. If you, or any theatre
faculty in your department, is interested in traveling with Dramatic Adventure this summer, full sponsorship is available for four professional theatre instructors. To qualify, you must direct a self-selected cast of six performers on the trip.

For more information about Dramatic Adventure Theatre and about ACTion: Ecuador 2010, please visit:
www.dramaticadventure.com/action/ecuador.html.

To arrange an audition/information session with your department's students, please contact me at christen@dramaticadventure.com.

Sincerely,

Christen M. Madrazo
christen@dramaticadventure.com