Oregon Art Beat
From Cuba to Portland: how puppeteer Yosmel López lost and regained his purpose in search of a better life in Portland.
Season 28 Episode 3 | 14m 43sVideo has Closed Captions
How puppeteer Yosmel López lost and found his purpose in search of a better life.
A well established puppet maker & theater director from Cuba, with multiple awards to his name, Yosmel López decided to give it all up and emigrate in search of a better life in Portland, OR. He didn’t know whether he’d ever get back to the theater once in the United States, but as it turns out there was one special theater who needed him as much as he needed them.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Oregon Art Beat is a local public television program presented by OPB
Oregon Art Beat
From Cuba to Portland: how puppeteer Yosmel López lost and regained his purpose in search of a better life in Portland.
Season 28 Episode 3 | 14m 43sVideo has Closed Captions
A well established puppet maker & theater director from Cuba, with multiple awards to his name, Yosmel López decided to give it all up and emigrate in search of a better life in Portland, OR. He didn’t know whether he’d ever get back to the theater once in the United States, but as it turns out there was one special theater who needed him as much as he needed them.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship[ ♪♪♪ ] YOSMEL [ in Spanish ]: [ sings ] [ clears throat ] [ folk music playing over speakers ] I'm going to stay here forever.
You have to go back your world.
It's waiting for you.
-[ music stops playing ] -YOSMEL: Okay.
[ murmurs ] Oh, okay.
[ actor speaks in Spanish ] -Where?
-"A man can be himself..." A man can be himself only so long as he's alone.
And if he does not love solitude, he does not love freedom.
For it is only when he's alone that he's really free.
[ repeats in Spanish ] [ chuckles ] [ laughs ] [ ♪♪♪ ] [ bell dings ] [ ♪♪♪ ] WOMAN: It's really, really hard to find actors in Portland who can sing, who have all the skills, and are also fluent Spanish speakers.
And there was a restaurant in town who had catered one of our opening nights, and we met Yos, who just educated the whole team on the value of puppets.
[ eerie music playing over speakers ] [ rattle rattling, flute whistling ] DAÑEL: Frida Kahlo has been a huge inspiration because of her disability and how she used art to overcome it.
[ high-pitched voice ] They fight to give people a chance at life!
[ giggles, gasps ] DAÑEL: So the play is really, a lot of ways, about liberation of thought, of individuality, and really finding your own path forward through art.
[ yells, speaks in Spanish ] How can we be a great nation when our people are mistreated?
It is a rich land, but it is a rich man's land!
We sit under the shade of a poison tree!
[ ♪♪♪ ] [ speaking in Spanish ] YOSMEL: [ all chattering indistinctly ] [ speaks in Spanish ] And today you're about to see the puppet show "Autoretrato de Fridita."
[ flute playing ] [ children murmuring ] Oh, Fridita!
[ high-pitched voice ] They fight to give people a chance at life!
-[ fanfare playing ] -Huh?
They have us surrounded.
I did everything I could.
They're dancing!
[ drums beating over speakers ] [ rattles rattling, drums continue beating ] [ flute plays over speakers ] [ gasps, giggles ] [ speaking in Spanish, exclaiming ] YOSMEL: [ giggles, exclaims, speaks in Spanish ] ACTOR: You're all so beautiful!
Mwah!
Mwah!
Thank you!
[ classical music playing softly over headphones ] [ ♪♪♪ ] [ sings in Spanish ] This is Bola de Nieve.
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Oregon Art Beat is a local public television program presented by OPB