Oh, by the way, we’re artists.
Groundwater Arts develops and produces new, interdisciplinary performance and media projects by our four co-founders. Our work in playwriting, embodied practice, and producing has garnered multiple awards across disciplines, and has been seen Off-Broadway, at regional LORT theatres and on international festival stages. Our cutting-edge systems design thinking has been incorporated at leading organizations around the country. We choose to create work together because of our shared climate justice lens and commitment to a decolonized collaborative process. Our definition of creative work includes collaborating on community-driven projects, amplifying the work of BIPOC artists we love and respect, and creating new platforms for our community to be creative with us (stay tuned for more on our Zine release!). Our current creative projects in development are listed below. If you are interested in partnering with us or commissioning us for an artistic project, please contact us. current creative projects
#RESIST: THE MUSICAL
is a comedic satire that unravels the ways the inherent narcissism of the #resistance (as seen online) may actually be a manifestation of the same kind of individualist showmanship that gave rise to the era of Trump. In #RESIST, residents of the Big City are excited to vote for their first female president. When things don't go as they expected, Big City residents turn to social media to unleash their rage and to hashtag-resist. Except, this doesn't go quite as they planned either. In the age of the #resistance, our new musical aims to skewer white feminist ideology, performative wokeness, and the liberal fantasy of a post-racial America. Songs include, "How Did This Happen?" “Let’s Hashtag Resist,” "A March Will Solve Our Problems," and "Take a Back Seat, Becky." (In-Development; Musical) 
Arbeka.
Loretta Cloud, the family’s matriarch invites the audience in for a story about her family during one weekend at Arbeka. Her screenwriter niece, Hokte Tiger has been away for over a decade, and she is finally coming back home. After a tragedy last summer and a professional mistake made by Hokte, there's healing to be done. Told through stories, humor, food, music, and dance Hokte remembers what it means to be a Tiger. (Full-Length Play) 
THE INVENTION OF SEEDS
examines the link between the historical moment when life became invent-able and contemporary decolonized concepts of land, life, and property. The play traces an interconnected story of seeds, pollinators, soils, and the scientists who study them. (In-Development; Play) 
THE CARLISLE PROJECT
unravels the complicated legacy and trauma of Indian boarding schools in an expressive song cycle. The project uses song, satire and ceremony to tell the harrowing history of Carlisle Indian School and the brutal assimilation enforced under its motto “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.” In this musical song cycle, indigenous women separated by time, place, and experience grapple with the generational trauma and erasure that Carlisle caused, and explore what it means to be Native American now. Songs include, "Don't Let Me Be Lonely," "You Were There," "Stories," and "Man on the Bandstand." (In-Development; Musical) |
