Ethan Sawyer photo by Andrew Campbell   The Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain photo by Stephanie Russell	Looking for Lorca As senior Ethan Sawyer stared out the train window, rumbling through the Spanish countryside, a line of Federico García Lorca’s poetry danced through his mind: "Verde, te quiero verde" — "Green, I love you green." As a child of Presbyterian missionaries, Sawyer had lived all over the Spanish-speaking world by the time he graduated from high school. But one of those homes in particular, Spain, carried its own magical intrigue — an intrigue Sawyer would finally get to explore with an undergraduate research grant last summer. Sawyer used his funding to track García Lorca’s life and familiarize himself with Spanish culture. His intention was to film and produce an interactive, multimedia performance upon his return to the United States. Growing up with a profound interest in literature and the performing arts, Sawyer had already merged this love with his studies of García Lorca at Northwestern. A poet renowned for his somber mood and rich imagery tinged with a personal anguish, García Lorca was executed by the fascists during the Spanish Civil War in 1936. He is remembered by Spaniards as a national martyr and hero. Sawyer first did research on García Lorca in New York City and London. Then he headed to García Lorca’s hometown, Fuente Vaqueros, in Spain’s Andalucía province. Sawyer stayed in a quiet hostel off the center of town for a week, taking side trips to shoot video footage at the Alhambra Palace, then at the Casa Museo Lorca, a museum that includes the poet’s childhood home. But the best images were the ones where he caught bits and pieces of Spanish culture on camera. Sawyer also captured in his journal memories that will not fade: "The sunsets at the Alhambra, the eyes of Spanish children, and the sounds of conversations and the southern Spanish lisp." When he first visited García Lorca’s childhood home, Sawyer arrived on a Sunday during the afternoon siesta. Everything was locked up, creating an eerily quiet atmosphere, so Sawyer decided to shoot a street scene instead. The houses were closed, except for curtains swinging in the breeze in the doorways. "I was incredibly aware of the sense of quiet," he says. But this unusual midday quiet was countered by boisterous suppers at 10 or 11 o’clock at night and parents out in the streets with their children until 1 or 2 in the morning. The nightlife runs until sunup for the younger adult population and includes a lot of traditional music and dancing. Sawyer paid special attention to the flamenco, the dramatic dance that García Lorca often described in his work. For Sawyer, a performance student, observing the dancers was an unforgettable experience. "It was incredible to watch them because they have an amazing pride in what they do and an amazing stage presence," he says. "The snapping, the great stature and posture of the dancers — technically and artistically, the flamenco is perfect." Sawyer left Spain with 16 hours of video footage, but he also left with a new understanding of the atmosphere that nurtures poetry as deep and powerful as García Lorca’s. "The land influences everything he wrote," Sawyer says. "As an actor, I aim to see the world through someone else’s perspective. I understand now what inspired Lorca to write." — E.R. RETURN TO FEATURE STORY