During my first week in Quito I stumbled upon a small theater on the second floor of a modern shopping center. As a self-described patron of the arts, I was excited to find a spot for live theater and made a mental note to return. Little did I know that two months later I would be returning to attend Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire (Un Tranvía Llamado Deseo) at the very same theater as a representative of the US Department of State.
This semester I am interning in the Public Affairs Section at the US Embassy Quito, where I have been able to explore two areas about which I am incredibly passionate but have had few opportunities to study within my International Health program: intercultural exchange and foreign relations. At the embassy, I am fortunate to surround myself with exceptionally friendly and intelligent coworkers; I learn just as much from the well-traveled, witty American foreign service officers as I do from the locally employed Ecuadorian staff that makes up the majority of my office. From managing English-language programs for low-income students to coordinating culinary exchanges to planning an Oscars-themed party to connect with the who´s who of the Ecuadorian entertainment industry, the Public Affairs Section works tirelessly to build bridges between the United States and all sectors of Ecuadorian society.
My attendance at this particular American Southern Gothic classic play tucked in a Quito shopping mall stemmed from the fact that the US Embassy was one of the main sponsors of this production. As the Public Affairs Section works to promote cultural diplomacy, and as this was the first production of A Streetcar Named Desire in Ecuador, my office took advantage of the opportunity to highlight American theater in Quito.
A Streetcar Named Desire is not an easy play to watch. The characters drink in every scene and break as many dishes as hearts. What makes this play so compelling, though, is that beneath each display of love and hate lays a cast of complex characters, each with deep flaws. Each scene seems to move in slow motion, as if the suffocating Southern humidity that can only be tempered with a refreshing sip of a mint julep has transported itself to Ecuador. Yet, after 110 short minutes, the play is over and I am begging for Blanche, Stanley, and Stella to continue telling their story.
Although this play tells the story of a few fiery characters in post-World War II New Orleans, the complex relationship among its characters closely resembles that between Ecuador and the United States. On the surface, the two countries have cheery outlooks toward each other—over 100,000 Americans visit Ecuador each year for tourism, education, and business; the United States is Ecuador’s largest trading partner. Ecuadorians have a largely positive view of Americans. However, the bilateral relationship on a government-to-government level has a Tennessee Williams-quality dichotomy of contradictions. Just as Stella berates her husband, Stanley, before going back to him again and again, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa never hesitates to criticize the United States (most recently over Venezuelan sanctions) but simultaneously looks to the United States for technical assistance in investment, development, and education, among other things.
With issues such as human rights abuses and freedom of expression continuing to simmer between Ecuador and the United States, the traditional political and economic diplomatic channels may appear stalled, willing to move neither forward nor backward. It is thus gratifying for me to see progress made with the cultural diplomacy promoted through the Public Affairs Section. Rather than working government-to-government, Public Affairs outreach focuses on working directly with the Ecuadorian public. Sponsoring a play may not seem like a strategic move in the diplomatic chess game, but cultural diplomacy pays dividends in the long run. The thousands of Ecuadorians that saw A Streetcar Named Desire, attended an American Corner library event, or participated in a baseball camp over time develop a more positive view of the United States. Public diplomacy may not make the front-page headlines, but shaping public opinion may be just as influential as closed-door discussions in the long run.