Lost & Found, Summer 2022 on Raspberry Island and Contact Tracing, Summer 2021 in Zoom
What is Loss & Resilience?
Nearly all of us have had something to grieve over the last few years—loss of loved ones, loss of connection, loss of experiences, loss of stability, loss of community, loss of a sense of identity. And many of us have been dealing with ambiguous losses for a long time. Through generations.
We know that creativity and ritual help us on our journey toward resilience. We’ve seen how listening and sharing stories help us acknowledge and manage grief and loss, however specific or ambiguous.
Art We’ve Made
Lost & Found
Created by Wonderlust Productions co-Artistic Director Leah Cooper in collaboration with a diverse collection interdisciplinary artists, Lost & Found was a portal into a new way of seeing the future by reconnecting with our community through stories and live performance.
I wish there was more of this type of theater available on an ongoing basis. We need collective healing.
audience, Lost & Found
AN INVITATION
Have you
Lost something
That has left a hollow where
Once there was certainty?
Do you
Feel alone
Because it feels too big
And dark to name?
What if
This island is a portal
These trees are waiting for you
This water can receive your sorrow.
What if
you’ve already been here, and
singing our loss out together
is simply returning home?
Created and directed by Leah Cooper with stories created and performed by Masanari Kawahara, Antonio Duke, Marcela Michelle, and Laurel Armstrong. Guided and co-written by Megan Kim, Adam Whisner, Sophie Javna, and Yana Landowne (co-director), with additional co-writing by Ernest Briggs and Shante’ Sojourn Zenith. Costume design by Andrea Gross. Music composition by Becky Dale and Sophie Javna. Herbal offerings by Sophie Javna. Research assistance by Lacey Mamak.
Read MoreCONTACT TRACING: A VIRTUAL RITUAL, 2021, ONLINE
Contact Tracing: A Virtual Ritual
Stories and rituals help us through life’s most difficult moments. During the isolation of Summer 2021, we presented Contact Tracing, an interactive story-based ceremony in Zoom, to cross the distances between us and our visions of how this past year was supposed to be. Guided by three storytellers, the audience was an active participant in a collective exploration of ambiguous loss and the road we build toward resilience.
Created by Leah Cooper. Performed and facilitated by Aimee K. Bryant, Megan Kim, and Oogie_Push. Directed by Kari Olk. Music and videos by Peter Morrow.
Loss will change me forever… It seems obvious but it was somehow powerful and not in a hurtful way but more in an awakening way.””
audience, contact tracing
Rebuilding Communities
At the end of 2020, we asked members of Wonderlust’s community what ideas they have for rebuilding community in 2021.
We created short videos that include many of their answers.