Dallas, El PasoTexas, May 2005
Participants: Tim Cunningham, Esther Haddad
17 shows in 12 days, 2,000 miles
on the car....
and we only covered half of Texas. Deep in the heat of things
we found numerous, unlisted address and confidential homes
for battered families, AIDS patients whose incomes can only
cover the rising costs of their treatment “cocktails,”
and children adjusting to life on a military base. As with
all expeditions we saw the potential to perform more, as the
need for laughter is universal and needed within and without
our borders.
Our first gig in Dallas launched us into the hot sun with
a group of adult protection services caseworkers for their
regional picnic. With no children to join us on stage, we
searched for the right adult willing to play. Esther picked
one of the grumpiest folks in the crowd, one who seemed to
be the last that would find interest in a clown show. After
some prodding and nametag stealing, our new friend started
to laugh and steal the show from right beneath us. It was
his, and he was ecstatic! A clown is born.
We followed this show with 3 days in Austin for some of our
tightest and most confidential gigs. The homes we visited
we comparable to jails regarding the security measures on
the perimeters; however, once inside we met inspiring communities
of children and mothers eager to laugh and very welcoming
to us as their guests. No pictures allowed, so the only records
of the tremendous laughter rest in our memories.
We were also blessed with the company of the improvisational
master of Accordion, Mr. Oliver Steck. He set a musical backdrop
to our show that brought a completely new life to the comedic
timing and arc of the piece. Oliver played with us at all
5 of the Austin gigs and we almost succeeded in dragging him
with us to El Paso. Our work in Austin was supplemented by
heartgigs.org, an NGO focused on bringing live performances
to emergency shelters, soup kitchens, hospices, and other
such organizations.
A weekend of rest back in Dallas and then a Memorial Day performance
at Promise House, a rescue/emergency home downtown. There
we played for families and encountered one of the wisest children
in all of Dallas. She came on stage with us and after getting
her share of laughs, decided that she needed to give us a
gift. She dropped to her knees and sifted through the grass
searching for the most beautiful blade. She found one tiny,
green seed. That was her gift. This child was so present and
in tune with her surroundings, she left us awe stricken.
10 hours on the road, a straight shot across west Texas, and
we arrived in El Paso to watch a sunset which painted the
dry, brown Mexico/Texas border with brilliant oranges, pinks,
and an occasional dash of purple across the silhouettes of
jagged mountains. We took a jaunt to White Sands in New Mexico
to see the blinding dunes of gypsum and to slide and roll
down them until we were covered in dust. We are still pulling
the white crystals from our ears.
From the expansive western skies to locked 20 x 20 cells,
we found ourselves performing 5 shows at the Juvenile Detention
Center in El Paso. The teenagers who looked like 20-somethings,
tattoos, scars, and eyes that have seen some extreme trauma,
were our best crowd on the tour. We bolted from cell to cell
trying to make sure we could perform for each group making
brief friends along the way as doors unlocked and locked all
around. Everything was sterile, controlled, and bland. We
were shocked at how quickly and warmly we were made a part
of the cellblock communities. Again, we wish we could have
had more time to play.
We played at another couple of family emergency homes incognito
from the rest of El Paso. After each performance in El Paso,
save those in the Detention Center, we met some talented jugglers,
and violinists. Better yet, we even ran into a few of these
kids one evening at an El Paso Diablos baseball game. Also
at the game we saw hundreds of soldiers, whose kids we were
soon to visit.
We wrapped up our tour working with about 80 kids at the Logan/Fort
Bliss Child Care Unit. This organization is run by generous
mothers and teachers who provide free meals to all who can
come, who give top notch educational and health services to
children living at the base, and who provide counseling for
those kids having trouble with the transitional lifestyle
so many military families face.
We performed numerous shows for small crowds, mostly mothers
and their children; we got to hold newly orphaned infants
born with drug addictions. We saw the beauty of the Texas
skies and the trauma of many reeling or recovering from domestic
violence and of the war. The smiles and laughs were universal
and plentiful.
Many thanks to our generous hosts and to those who let us
juggle, fall, trip, cry, and play for them!
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