Audacious Raw Theater

In 2019, inspired by the masterpieces Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters, Our Town by Thorton Wilder, and an NPR story from This American Life called Really Long Distance produced by Miki Meek, I began working on a play called Root River Anthology.

The play takes place in rural Southeastern Minnesota following an epic flood. To process their grief and make connections, community members use an old telephone booth that the water washed up in one of the local farmer's fields. 

In 2020, in the midst of the pandemic lockdown, in order to keep our creative and collaborative spirits flowing, I paired up with the Commonweal Theatre Company and Lanesboro Arts to produce a podcast of the play.

We recorded scenes in our closets because we couldn't go to sound studios. We worked over Zoom. If we worked in person, we would have been six feet apart and masked. The final project was what I consider to be an audacious and courageous work of devised theater, the perfect pandemic pivot. In addition to my writing, I encouraged cast members to write their monologues and to take the play in new directions. The brilliant additions and touches that performers like Jerome Yorke and Elizabeth Dunn made were outstanding. Musician Eric Carranza provided the music, and Josiah Laubestein edited it. Everyone who is a part of it is a creative genius.

The week we were to "open," George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis, and a flood of violence and anger swept through the nation. I knew then this material would keep flowing. Part 3 focuses on the surge of awareness following George's murder and exploring the racism that is so deeply embedded in us all. 

(The links for the podcast are below and also on SoundCloud.) 

Below are original monologues written by theater artists from across the U.S., with video montages curated by me (Catherine Glynn.) (Keep scrolling to view the links for the Still Flowing series.)

Part 3 was made possible by the voters of Minnesota through grants from MSAB thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund in 2021.

Among the monologues that flowed in, one stood out that branched off into another tributary. It was written by goldsmith and artisan Liz Bucheit and entitled "Origin." I felt in my bones that it needed to be developed further.

(Here is a link to the trailer. The film can also be viewed below.)

In 2022, the Minnesota State Arts Board again generously helped fund the making of Origin into a short film. It premiered at the St. Mane Theatre in Lanesboro on March 31, 2023. It has since had showings in Grand Marais at the Johnson Heritage Art Gallery and in Duluth, Minnesota, at the Nordic Center.

The intention of Root River Anthology, in all its manifestations, is to flood the world with GREATER UNDERSTANDING and LOVE.

Regarding the images--no copyright infringement is intended. All authors have consented to share their materials.