The Garden started as a seed in Jess’ mind after she saw the showcase performance of Spellbound Theatre’s baby performance Shakespeare’s Stars at the New Victory Theater in January 2020. A vision started to evolve of a baby play about nature and death that would take place in nature, as a way for families to connect to the earth and to other families during a time of social distancing. In 2021 she received funding from the City Artist Corps Grant and was looking for a partner who was experienced in baby theater to develop this play with. She reached out to Spellbound and found me, Susanna Brock, theater maker, producer, director, educator and lover of babies and the magic they bring. I was also part of creating Shakespeare’s Stars, and after an hour of chatting to Jess over Zoom we dove head first into an intense development process. Five weeks later, we had a workshop sharing of the Garden in Sunset Park.
Andrea Ang with two audience members in the Sunset Park sharing, Oct 2022. Photo by Steven Wakabayashi.
This project has been special to me in many ways. During the pandemic, like so many others, I developed a new found urge for and relationship with nature. Combined with a mental health journey processing trauma and grief, I realized how important nature was for me. The green of the trees, the rustle of the leaves, the smell of the dirt, and the feeling of the cool water in the lake enveloping my body was now so vibrant. I needed it desperately and it became part of my still ongoing journey to heal. The meditation of being in nature made so much sense to me.
Feeling and smelling pine in Sunset Park. Photo by Steven Wakabayashi.
Milkweed, stick, and water dance. Photo by Susanna Brock
I have worked with babies and children under age five for fifteen years now and they have taught me so much about the world and how to approach it through play with all our senses. They are always present and are experts at mindfulness. Jess’ wife Kim asked me, when we were swimming in the lake near their house in the Catskills, where my spirituality comes from, because she perceives me as very spiritual. It threw me off in a surprising way – I would like to be spiritual but I don't really see myself as such. But it struck me that the way that I approach things with all my senses, looking for joy and pleasure in food and nature, comes from my long practice of working with young children through play and music and multi-sensory engagement. They are the best teachers in approaching life from a curious, exploratory and sensory way because that is what they are designed to do!
Creating the Garden together with Jess, our two performers Ana and Andrea, and our musician Martin, was a very unique experience which combined time in nature, play and performance in a beautiful way. Another important collaborator was Lisa, our Nature Educator, who we had long discussions with about the essence and purpose of our play, and who articulated something that became one of our guiding thoughts in the process of creating The Garden. She offered the idea that our job was to draw attention to the beauty and magic of nature, which will create a stronger connection to it. The performance elements and the interactive nature play is not there to teach families scientific facts about nature but to remind us all about the power and magic of the natural world and how beautiful it can be: the drop of water from a bark, leaves sailing down over our heads, and milkweed fluff spreading in the wind. Something that can be easy to forget when you live in a big urban city.
This play offers families a moment to experience this magic.
We invite you to the Garden on September 24 in Jackie Robinson Park in Harlem, in hope that it will give you some of that meditation, playfulness, beauty and mindfulness that it has brought us creating this piece. See you there!