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An oasis for those who love classic stories. Los Angeles Times

Quijotes and Sanchos Instructions (In English)

¡Hola!

Welcome to “Quijotes and Sanchos in Los Angeles.”

Thank you for participating in this experience with us. 

Please find below: “Instructions for the Walk” and “Frequently Asked Questions.” 

Please read them and if you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with us at this email address: numerosimaginarios@gmail.com.

We at [los los números imaginarios] in Spain and the LA Escena 2020 festival look forward to walking with you. 

Instructions for the Walk 

  • Before the experience, please charge your telephone and make sure you have data to download audio and images. 
  • Please download the messaging app Telegram. It’s free and more secure than WhatsApp, and it does not require any personal information to register. 
  • Once you’ve downloaded the app, search for the channel “QUIJOTES y SANCHOS en LOS ÁNGELES (ESPAÑOL)” or “QUIJOTES AND SANCHOS in LOS ANGELES (ENGLISH),” depending on your language preference. 
  • At the beginning of the theatrical experience (10AM), we will start sending you audio files through the Telegram channel that you have chosen. We recommend the best quality headphones you have available. 
  • The experience will begin in your house at 10AM. We will then invite you to walk out into the city. The maximum estimated time from beginning to end is 2.5 HOURS including time to stop and rest. 
  • We recommend that you start the experience without having decided what you will wear for the walk. 
  • We suggest you not eat breakfast, or perhaps just a bit of onion and cheese. That’s a joke, but hunger is very important in the novel. Please stay hydrated too! 
  • Bring reading glasses if you need them. At certain moments during the walk, we will ask you to read. 
  • The experience is designed to be individual, but if you need to, you can do the walk with another person. 
  • Before the walk, reread the first part of Don Quixote by Cervantes. It’s only 52 chapters long. Kidding again! But it’s always good to promote reading. With that in mind, please do read the “Frequently asked Questions.”

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  1. Is it necessary to have read Don Quixote? No. Quijotes and Sanchos in Los Angeles is meant to be an adaptation of the narrative strategies and overall experience of the novel, but it’s designed to make sense regardless of your prior knowledge. In fact, the novel might seem long and boring to you, and you will still enjoy the experience of Quijotes and Sanchos. Of course, if you have read the novel and liked it, your experience will be different.  
  2. What about the actors? Alonso Quijano, a.k.a. Don Quixote, walks out into the world and transforms it with his imagination, and this piece invites you to do the same. Los Angeles will set the scene and the people you see will play the roles. 
  3. Will I have to act or perform? No. All that the experience asks is that you read, listen, observe, think, imagine, and walk. You are the main character, and what you do is finally up to you. 
  4. Are we going to be riding horses? No, and we aren’t going to be wielding lances or swords either. All you need is a pair of comfortable shoes and your own imagination. 
  5. Will it be safe? You decide where you will be walking and what you will bring with you, so make sure to be as safe as possible. 
  6. Will I have to drive to a specific location in LA? No. The experience takes place in your residence and neighborhood. You can take a car somewhere if you want to but you will not be directed to any specific location in the city. The adventure is where you find yourself, regardless of how close or far you are from downtown. 
  7. Will I be participating in the experience alone? Not at all. This is a theater event. While you’re on the walk, there will be others doing it simultaneously. We will have the chat on Telegram available so you can share photos and send messages. And the theater company from Spain will be connected as well. 
  8. Why do I need my cell phone? To receive audio, images, and text. We also encourage you to share your experience on social media! 
  9. Do I need anything else besides my phone? Nope, just the phone, but you can use your computer to read the emails and some of the files. Feel free to bring whatever else you want on the walk. 
  10. What if it rains? Unlikely in LA, but if so, even better! Don Quixote was   no comfortable journey for the errant knight and his squire. And even though they set out in the summertime, they sure got rained on. 
  11.  Is what I’m reading part of the experience? Yes, actually, you have already begun Quijotes and Sanchos in Los Angeles. 

In fact, this is a kind prologue to the experience. In the novel’s prologue, Cervantes asks a made-up friend how to get prefaces from respected figures from the era. 

Cervantes was unable to get anyone to write those prefaces (and we couldn’t either), and his friend, who was really only himself, finally responded:

MAKE IT ALL UP YOURSELF AND MAKE IT SEEM REAL

And that’s just what we’ve done. 

From Bella Batalla and [los números imaginarios] in Spain and LA Escena 2020 in Los Angeles, we look forward to walking with you.