Sun Songs & Moon Tunes Program

BEdrock Theatre presents:

Sun Songs & Moon Tunes

Jul 19 - 21, 2024

A Musical Trail Meetup

School’s out for the summer and mom says I don’t have to be home until dark. 

Want to go explore? 

Meet me at our spot –

  you know, the one we went to all those times that one year?

when the wildflowers were going crazy? 

Maybe we could jam a little? 

I’ll bring my guitar. Just in case.

Isn’t it a full moon, too? We HAVE to stay till sunset.

I hope it’s a clear night.

I guess the sky will be there either way.

 

Bedrock CREATORS

Emily Eisele

Sean Grosshans

Joellen Sweeney

Becca Wirta

Trail Guide

Alexandra Schaffer

 

SPECIAL THANKS

Rachel Routh

Alec Chase

A special thank you to all the members of our community who supported our Summer Solstice Fundraiser.

 

THE SONGS & TUNES

Where It’s Green

Written by Joellen Sweeney & Sean Grosshans

Sean Grosshans on guitar

Sipping on Sunbeams

Written by Becca Wirta

Joellen Sweeney on ukulele 

Sunstroke n’ Heartbroke

Written by Becca Wirta

Sean Grosshans on guitar

Babe, Will You Rehang the Moon?

Written by Joellen Sweeney

Piano accompaniment by Alec Chase

Becca Wirta on flute

Moon Sand

Written by Sean Grosshans

Sean Grosshans on guitar

Wanderlust

Written by Emily Eisele

Sean Grosshans on guitar

Becca Wirta on flute

 

About the Production

ABOUT Sun Songs & Moon Tunes

Bedrock was founded to connect audiences to their environment, and in 2024 we have found ourselves exploring our personal connections to the seasons themselves. As a followup to Hibernate, Bedrock’s February 2024 show created as an ode to the deep winter season, Sun Songs & Moon Tunes was born out of a desire to pay a playful, outdoor homage to summer through music with the sun and moon as inspirational anchors.

The sun and moon are, of course, constant fixtures of life on earth, but in the summer months they are more visible and so become active, ever-present characters over long days and clear nights. We are more inspired to track the lunar patterns, marking full, red summer moons slipping into waning slivers. The sun provides early blushing sunrises, sultry high noons, and dreamy golden hours. Rich with creative fodder, there are countless scientific texts, legends, creation myths, romantic poems, and dramatic rock operas dedicated to the power and pull of the sun and moon. The natural shape, ebb, and flow of Sun Songs & Moon Tunes was carved from sun and moon dedications along with the framing of our natural landscape. 

Like any season, whether that is a stage of life or one of the four earthly seasons, there are nuanced feelings around what summer means to us and how we wanted to connect to our audience of fellow hikers. Summer memories brought us back to our own childhoods and teenage years–for our group, the 90’s and early 00’s–spending entire days outside biking to friends’ houses, meeting up at secret spots, singing songs and crafting at summer camps, and creating our own worlds in the warmth of sunshine. We found comfort in these memories, but also pangs of nostalgia looking back on simpler times before to-do lists, day jobs, suffocatingly hot days, and a backdrop of forest fire smoke.

Enjoying time outside, taking in the soft alpenglow wonder of a summer sunset, is a precious gift. We don’t know what the future holds, but we do know that moments together performing outside to our Bedrock community are both special and fleeting. We are storing away sunbeams to fuel us as we head into darker seasons ahead.


ABOUT BEDROCK TheATRE

Founded in 2016, Bedrock Theatre's mission is to connect audiences to their environment and to each other through immersive storytelling in natural landscapes. With music, movement, and person-to-person storytelling, our adaptations and original works are lovingly crafted to transform an ordinary path into the world of the tale. While Bedrock Theatre shares work in a variety of landscapes and venues, we primarily gather in and around Portland, Oregon, the traditional villages sites of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya and Molalla. We respectfully acknowledge this land’s original caretakers, and honor the ongoing story of Oregon’s Native peoples, whose knowledge and stewardship of this landscape goes back tens of thousands of years. 


Sun Songs & Moon Tunes is Bedrock’s second production of 2024 inspired by a desire to connect more deeply with the seasons. Look out for our next Bedrock production, happening winter 2025.

 

CASt & Production team Bios

Emily Eisele* (she/her) grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado, where her appreciation for the outdoors began. After spending the past decade or so in Portland, Oregon, she continues to be amazed by our fortunate proximity to mountains, ocean, forests, and more. Emily has a wide range of experience as both an artist and administrator with companies including CoHo Productions, Artists Repertory Theatre, and Third Rail Repertory Theatre. She currently works in nonprofit accounting at Susan Matlack Jones & Associates. A “many hats” type of collaborator, Emily is a performer, writer, musician, bookkeeper, and list-maker for Bedrock—depending on the day.

Sean Grosshans*(he/him) is from Lincoln, Nebraska. He received his B.A. in Theatre Directing/Management from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He moved to Portland, Oregon after graduation for the mentorship program with Third Rail Repertory Theatre. He immediately fell in love with the Pacific Northwest. Sean loves creating new works with an ensemble of artists. Sean tells his stories through music, photography/video, food and beverage.



Joellen Sweeney* (she/her) is an actor, director and music-maker with a deep love for the natural world. Joellen's regional credits include work with Shaking the Tree Theatre, Corrib Theatre, Artists Repertory Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble, Renegade Opera and Northwest Children's Theatre. Joellen earned her Masters of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Washington, and currently works as a teaching artist at Portland Actors Conservatory. In addition to her work with Bedrock, Joellen is also a Creative Company Member with Renegade Opera (Director: Orfeo, Tito, Secret Diaries of Pennsylvania Avenue, She Loves You Back) and an a member of The Verdancy Project Advisory Board, supporting live events like the Verdancy Project Seed Sessions and the Terra Incognita, a Land Art Exhibition in 2023. www.joellensweeney.com

Becca Wirta* (she/her) is a theatre artist, performer, and collaborator in Portland, Oregon. She is a founding member of Basement Stair Collective, creating immersive works through a collaborative, design-forward process delving into the dark corners of the human experience to shed light on the spaces between grief and joy, the flesh and the soul, and the personal and the political. Becca’s recent roles include DADDY in GRINDHOUSE (Basement Stair Collective for Fertile Ground Festival), a creator and ensemble member in Hibernate (Bedrock Theatre), and The Goddess in We Who Are About to Die (PETE’s a/void/fest). She has also recently performed in staged readings of Silent Sky (Readers Theatre Gresham), At The Wedding (Third Rail Repertory Theatre), Yerma (Shaking the Tree Theatre), and Medusa! Rapture! Party! (a new play by Ken Yoshikawa performed at the Historic Alberta House). Becca is a 2022/23 graduate of the Institute of Contemporary Performance with Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble, and a graduate of Willamette University with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Theatre Performance as well as Rhetoric and Media Studies.

Alexandra Schaffer (she/they) was born and raised in Oregon and, while she's traveled many places, she always ends up coming back home. With a background in collaborative theatre, Alexandra is many things: a writer, a content creator, an Intuitive Body and Integrative Health Coach, a beginning farmer, and an all-around nature enthusiast (to name a few). You can often find them taking pictures of plants and mushrooms, or reading about her latest earth-related interest. She has several ties with the fantastic company members of Bedrock Theatre, including participating in the Third Rail Mentorship Program with Emily, Sean, and Joellen; and belonging to a bookclub with Becca for 6+ years. They are very happy to be making a return to theatre alongside such wildly creative friends.

 
 

REHEARSAL PHOTOS

by Alexandra Schaffer

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