What I have in mind hasn't really changed but it is continuously developed. What I want follows in steps and heavily realizes in me physically being in Cuba:
1) Talk to locals about if they have any stories from their grandparents or their parents about what they remember during the embargo. Gather those stories
2) Visit the cigar factories and talk to the owners about what they remember the profits where like before the embargo, during until 2014, and currently. Also, if they have any stories they would like to share about the embargo as well. Gather those stories
3) Speak to the makers of the H.Unmans and see if they remember the orders JFK made to gather those cigars. Gathers those stories.
This is where the performance comes into play:
I would take these stories and write them down onto the exterior tobacco leaf and hand it off to a cigar roller who would then finish off and roll the cigar which I would then smoke. All of this is to be happening while someone reads the newspapers from Feb. 7 1962.
There is a few other ways this performance could be done with the incorporation of Tyler. We have a few more ideas for further developing this piece together or incorporating his piece with mine. However, what I mentioned earlier will be the backbone of the performance and we will develop by adding to that.
This project has been heavily based on this NY times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/travel/cuban-cigars.html
With this project I hope to bring light the ignorance of the American population towards the history and value of Cuba and the Cuban culture. With a symbol of Cuba being the Cigar and it also being the most sought after product of Cuba by Americans- I (ultimately as an american) am writing the history of these people that my country has created. I am giving it to a Cuban to make it into a product that I will ultimately enjoy. The symbol of power and greed comes through in this project. It is making something that is "pushed under the rug" or never really addressed in both cultures come into light. Americans constantly manipulate and use other countries and their people so that they can enjoy their culture that they have sucked dry. America robs them of resources until it becomes inconvenient for them- then they give them just enough to be alive and to work for their profit.
1) Talk to locals about if they have any stories from their grandparents or their parents about what they remember during the embargo. Gather those stories
2) Visit the cigar factories and talk to the owners about what they remember the profits where like before the embargo, during until 2014, and currently. Also, if they have any stories they would like to share about the embargo as well. Gather those stories
3) Speak to the makers of the H.Unmans and see if they remember the orders JFK made to gather those cigars. Gathers those stories.
This is where the performance comes into play:
I would take these stories and write them down onto the exterior tobacco leaf and hand it off to a cigar roller who would then finish off and roll the cigar which I would then smoke. All of this is to be happening while someone reads the newspapers from Feb. 7 1962.
There is a few other ways this performance could be done with the incorporation of Tyler. We have a few more ideas for further developing this piece together or incorporating his piece with mine. However, what I mentioned earlier will be the backbone of the performance and we will develop by adding to that.
This project has been heavily based on this NY times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/travel/cuban-cigars.html
With this project I hope to bring light the ignorance of the American population towards the history and value of Cuba and the Cuban culture. With a symbol of Cuba being the Cigar and it also being the most sought after product of Cuba by Americans- I (ultimately as an american) am writing the history of these people that my country has created. I am giving it to a Cuban to make it into a product that I will ultimately enjoy. The symbol of power and greed comes through in this project. It is making something that is "pushed under the rug" or never really addressed in both cultures come into light. Americans constantly manipulate and use other countries and their people so that they can enjoy their culture that they have sucked dry. America robs them of resources until it becomes inconvenient for them- then they give them just enough to be alive and to work for their profit.
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