Cuban children a beehive of spirit

Their visas came through this week -- barely. One more day of delay and the 25 eager young members of La Colmenita, one of Cuba’s most popular cultural institutions, wouldn’t have made their first U.S. tour, beginning Sunday at UC San Diego.

With other stops in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Oakland and San Francisco, La Colmenita (“The Little Beehive”), Cuba’s internationally renowned children’s theater -- made up of children with and without physical and mental disabilities -- will put on three bilingual musical galas: a traditional children’s tale called “Menique,” made popular by the legendary 19th century Cuban independence fighter Jose Marti; a family-friendly version of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”; and the group’s signature production, the Caribbean folk tale “La Cucarachita Martina.” Money raised during the tour is earmarked for pediatric medicines for Cuba.

“It’s absolutely wonderful and sort of amazing what kids can do, particularly with limited resources,” said state Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City), one of several California legislators who, impressed by the group while on a trip to Cuba last year, encouraged the U.S. tour. “These are some very talented kids, and I would like as many people as possible to see them.”

La Colmenita was created in 1990 as a volunteer effort by founding director Carlos Alberto “Tin” Cremata and young theater school graduates working with children in Havana. Storing props and costumes in garages, and using bicycles for transportation, they took shows to various communities, eventually sparking the creation of grass-roots “colmenitas” across Cuba.

“They did not start as a troupe that was meant to do a lot of international tours,” said Michele Frank, the group’s child and adolescent psychiatrist. “They started as a troupe that went into pediatric hospitals and brought theater to the mountains and the very rural areas of Cuba.”

Now Havana’s “central Colmenita” is a regular part of Cuban cultural events and television. The group’s members, including recruits from satellite groups, have toured Europe, Latin America and Asia in the last five years, performing at international children’s theater festivals and medical congresses.

“It’s one of the main ways children with disabilities, and children who are, quote unquote, normal can come together,” Frank said. “It’s a broad kind of national movement as well as being excellent children’s theater.”

It was a televised version of La Colmenita’s first big production, “La Cucarachita Martina,” that caused a significant shift in thinking about children with disabilities in Cuba, Frank said.

What Cuban viewers saw was the company’s signature style: colorful sets and brightly costumed children -- deaf and hearing, some with Down syndrome, others in wheelchairs -- performing as whimsical little bugs and animals in a tale about a dainty lady cockroach looking for a mate. “It made a big impact. It caused widespread discussions in schools and on TV about how we marginalize children with disabilities,” said Frank.

San Francisco-based Global Exchange, a nonprofit international human rights organization, is the tour’s sponsor. “We feel the policy of no engagement with Cuba needs to change,” said Ana Perez, who directs the organization’s Cuba programs, “and we felt that having children come together was a really great statement for that goal: to have these kids doing a great performance in Spanish and English and to have Afro Cuban and white Cuban children on stage together -- to have children, in a sense, lead the way.”

“Obviously, having the show here makes a political statement without actually making a political statement,” Murray said, acknowledging the strained relations between the two countries, which contributed to the uncertainty of security clearances for adults on the tour. “But these kids are devoid of politics. They are simply kids that want to perform.”

Reached at La Colmenita headquarters in Havana, Gabriela Sanchez, 11; Hector Rosales, 12; and Alejandra Fernandez, 10, were excited about the U.S. trip. They didn’t have to audition to join La Colmenita, but the company selects the most accomplished singers, dancers and actors for each touring show.

Gabriela, who is cast as a queen bee and a juggler in the shows here, has never traveled outside Cuba. It will be a “big adventure,” she said. She likes La Colmenita “because we sing, we dance and we play and we always have fun, and we’re together [when] we do these things.”

“We are like family,” said Hector (Lysander in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”), echoed by Alejandra (another queen bee), both of whom have performed in several other countries.

“We like to plant seeds, colmenita seeds, wherever we go. I like to dream that maybe a future president of the U.S. and a future president of Cuba will meet and become friends on this tour,” said Cremata via e-mail and a translator. “Then, when [they each become] president, their Colmenita experience will help them, still be important to them. This is what La Colmenita is about too: having dreams, and working and hoping for them to come true.”

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La Colmenita

Where: UC San Diego, Shiley Theatre, 5998 Alcala Park,

San Diego

When: Sunday, 7 p.m. (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”)

Price: $20; $35 for show and reception

Contact: (415) 575-5559

Also

Where: Santa Monica Playhouse, 1211 4th St.,

Santa Monica

When: Thursday, 4 p.m. (“Menique”); Thursday, 7 p.m. (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”)

Price: $20

Contact: (310) 394-9779,

Ext. 2

Where: The Conga Room,

5364 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.

When: March 16, 2 p.m. (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”)

Price: $100 for show and reception

Contact: (415) 575-5559;

(323) 938-1696

Where: Salvation Army/Kroc Community Center, 6845 University Ave., San Diego

When: Monday, 7 p.m.

(“La Cucarachita Martina”)

Price: $20

Contact: (415) 575-5559;

(619) 287-5762

Where: Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St., L.A.

When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.

(“La Cucarachita Martina”)

Price: $20; $35 with show and reception

Contact: (415) 575-5559; information only, (213) 473-0660