Rooted is about being radical. I feel our little musical is a very critical inspection, or for Janice and I, a reflection on university life and privilege. We developed the themes of the play together. Janice really took the ideas we had and created characters and situations. When Janice was mostly done the script I read through and made suggestions and we discussed which songs we had left to write, and how to explode the ideas we had into a fun, emotional and creative expression of things we have learned.
To be rooted is to have roots in your community, values, and yet have an openness and anticipation of change. Communities change, values shift, if we pay attention and work for change together we can see changes that we like. If we don’t work for changes we will see them happen and not like them, feeling even less empowered to make change, and raise up children who feel the same way.
Rooted is about becoming empowered. I feel that empowerment has no endpoint; it’s a constant journey of the relational and spiritual sort. As we become more involved in our communities the more aware we become, and if ignorance is bliss, awareness can certainly be a nightmare of discouragement.
I have had a struggle putting together music for this production. It’s been another rough fall for me. I’ve been transitioning into a new awareness myself, my own spiritual needs and relational desires. I’ve felt quite uprooted at times from my ideals. Pressures fall on me to find a ‘real’ job, buy a car, pay back student loans or go back to school. All I really want is to sing and play guitar. I want to be part of creating a local economy for the arts. Some people pay 80$ to see a travelling artist they’ve seen on TV but not 5$ to go see a local band, or 20$ to go see the KW Symphony. We can turn off the Tube and appreciate the sights and sounds of people around us expressing beautiful ideas and emotions through things they create in our own neighbourhood.
Rooted has been a journey for everyone involved. I don’t think anyone in the cast, band, or production team hasn’t been stretched to the ends of their abilities and grown, and the show is yet to go on. I anticipate sharing our anxieties and growing the most with performing and seeing the eyes and minds of people open. The conversations that follow will be so meaningful to affecting social change and growing new relationships. Every hour of rehearsal and every stress or worry is worth people asking questions. So what exactly is Rooted about?
- Richard
