Jack Warner and Teatro la Fragua: Popular Theatre in Honduras

Abstract

Since its beginning in I979, Teatro la Fragua has both entertained and instructed audiences throughout Honduras. Founded and directed by Jesuit missionary Jack Warner, the group most often performs adaptations of biblical parables and Central American stories, although its repertory crosses temporal, geographical, and national boundaries to include plays by Cervantes, Moliere, Chicano Luis Valdez, and Panamanian Jose de Jesus Martinez. Though there is an obvious comparison between Teatro la Fragua (The Forge Theatre) and Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed, that they are analogous is a coincidence, not an indication of influence; Teatro la Fragua's roots lie in Honduran circumstances, not in theatrical manifestos. Originally based in the town of Olanchito, Warner now directs his operations from a modest theatre in El Progreso, a city in Northern Honduras near the commercial center of San Pedro Sula. The group devotes much time and energy to traveling to communities all over the region. In each village they give free performances and theatre workshops designed to assist the campesinos, prior to Warner's arrival in Honduras, many of whom have had little formal education, in finding their own voice and a means of expressing their everyday reality and problems. Teatro la Fragua receives most of its operating budget from donations processed through the Sacred Heart Program at the Jesuit headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri. Warner solicits these donations in a bimonthly newsletter that reaches Catholics, theatre professionals, and others who have heard of the company through friends and wish to help. The actors personally seek donations from local businesses and patrons of the arts, and Warner also applies regularly to various national and international agencies for grants. In recent years, Oscar Cardoza and Rigoberto Fernandez have been teaching dance and movement to children at the theatre, and Chito Inestroza and Dagoberto Bonilla travel to area schools to do the same. The dance school brings in additional income