Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible. We are grateful to the adventurous global community that understands the importance of actively being responsible stewards of the earth - and truly appreciative of those who created this marvelous adventure film festival. 

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We start the New Year with great news. Alycin Hayes' most successful book "Amazon Hitchhiker: A Woman's Adventure from Canada to Brazil"  is being read all over the world. The adventure continues.  

 Saturday, December 2, 2023 Alycin Hayes  will join other Gainesville, Florida authors at  the Theatre of Memory for a book signing with her memoir  "Amazon Hitchhiker " and children's book "Milo and The Mustang. 

It’s the early 1900s, and the steamship El Dorado makes its way along the Amazon River towards Manaus, a city in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest. Onboard is the world-famous opera singer Florencia Grimaldi. She’s got a gig at the opera house in Manaus, but that’s just a cover. She’s actually hoping for a reunion with her long-lost love, the butterfly catcher Cristóbal.
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But on the journey, Florencia learns that Cristóbal went missing in the rainforest while in pursuit of a rare butterfly. From the deck of the ship — and now in quarantine due to a cholera outbreak — she delivers her final aria, calling out to him, the river and the rainforest that surround her: “Escúchame.” Hear me, listen to me. “From you my song was born,” she affirms — and in embracing her love for him, she is released and reborn.

Daniel Catán’s lush and lyrical score has become a staple of contemporary operas, and its staging marks the Metropolitan Opera’s first Spanish-language production in nearly 100 years. In this episode, host Rhiannon Giddens and her guests take us on a journey through natural wonder, transcendent love, and self-discovery.

THE GUESTS 
Soprano Ailyn Pérez makes her Metropolitan Opera debut in her native language of Spanish as Florencia Grimaldi. She identifies with Florencia and the sacrifices that are sometimes necessary to pursue an artistic career.

Andrea Puente-Catán is a harpist, director of development at Ballet Hispánico, and the widow of “Florencia” composer Daniel Catán. She met Catán when she was 17 years old. Decades later, playing harp in that opera’s production at Palacia de Bellas Artes brought them back together.  

Author, filmmaker, and fearless traveler Alycin Hayes knows a thing or two about Amazonian adventures. When she was 21, she hitchhiked from her home in Canada to South America, where she met up with other roving internationals to paddle along the Amazon River in a dugout canoe. She describes her adventures in her recent memoir "Amazon Hitchhiker."

Paul Rosolie is conservationist, writer, and wildlife filmmaker whose memoir “Mother of God” details his extensive work in the Amazon. He’s the founder and field director of Junglekeepers, a conservation outfit based in Peru, and he joins the show via a remote interview taped in the jungle.

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Elliott Hayes' play "Honour Among Thieves" will be performed by the Gabriola Players in the North Island Zone Drama Festival on Sunday, January 14, 2024 at the Village Theatre in Qualicum, British Columbia, Canada
https://www.canadianplayoutlet.com/.../honour-among...
#canadiantheatre #theater #theaterfestival

Just release by the Playwrights Guild of Canada "Summer and Fall"  a 2 act play by Elliott Hayes 

​A timeless war love story set in a worn neighborhood of Toronto in 1941.

Bonnie lives with her father Vic. Her brother has already left to go overseas to join the war so they decide to rent out his room to make some extra money until he returns, but sadly he doesn't return.

​Luke, a young American, becomes their border. As sparks begin to fly between Bonnie and Luke he decides to go to war and joins the Canadian army.

Elliott Hayes' play "Honour Among Thieves" is a powerful, dangerous one act play, featuring two women that finishes with a surprising ending. In redefining what a monster truly is, this play delves into our darker side, making us laugh in the process with engaging dialogue and dark humor. It is a deceptively low key comedy thriller.
Coming to Galiano Island, British Colombia, Canada in October, 2023