Legacy of Love

On Friday night, Copanecos were treated to the second annual Mayatan Christmas musical drama. There aren't a lot of options for live theater in Copán Ruinas, so students, faculty, and families love the chance to pitch in for a special event like this.

This year's musical was called "Legacy of Love." It truly was an act of love on the part of Librarian Diana Rivera de Hernández and Marisol Welchez, official secretary. Diana and Marisol translated the words and lyrics from the original English into the Spanish version, "Legado de Amor." Then there were the weeks of the elementary school choir practice and rehearsal with the high school actors.

All that hard work paid off in the end. The packed audience was treated to a touching tale centered on a high school teacher missing his wife at Christmas-time, his students, and a missing laptop computer. Fact mixed with reality a bit on that one, as the students performed in their Mayatan shirts.

There were also some technologically complex flourishes thrown in, such as video footage projected onto a screen. The projections were used to demonstrate times when the students were watching videos on computers that were relevant to the plot, like local news coverage of a service project contest for high school students. Two female students acted as TV presenters in those segments. There was also video documentary of a real-life trip by the high school students to the local orphanage to perform service (service that served as the fictional service project by the high school students in the play).

The most touching part of the night was the end of the play, when the fictional students who wanted to please the teacher who runs their computer lab transformed into real Mayatan students who thanked John Weber in front of the audience. John, among other things, founded Mayatan's high school program and its computer lab.

It was a fitting holiday message and a demonstration of love.