RainDance Theatre

Rooted: A New Musical
World Premiere Workshop Production
January 8-9, 2010
Maureen Forrester Recital Hall, WLU
Story by Janice Lee & Richard Garvey
Book by Janice Lee
Music & Lyrics by Janice Lee & Richard Garvey
RainDance Theatre
www.raindancetheatre.org
Greetings, Audience!
Art is powerful. It can make you think, feel, and change you. Rooted is not just an ordinary musical; It’s a piece of social activism. We are sharing with you our ideas and
emotions, our stories, in hopes of provoking a response. So if you feel like cheering,
do so, if you feel like laughing, do so, if you feel like crying, go for it. If we offend you,
enrage you, let us know. Art can move you - let it.
This show is a conscious attempt to bring important questions to the forefront of our
minds: Why do we go to university? What do we want to do with our education in and
out of the classroom? How do we navigate the privilege we are granted as students?
What is our role in the world in terms of creating social change? All of the issues we
bring up such as environmental sustainability, the privilege of education,
colonialism, and gender are only touched upon, and we hardly have time to really
delve into the details.
So we hope that everyone will leave the theatre discussing these questions, and
are inspired to take some directed action. In the foyer and in this program are some
organizations you can check out. Even if you don’t consider yourself an activist, take
a risk, take a small step in creating positive social change. We’re planting seeds. We
encourage you to grow!
- The Rooted Team
Post-Show Discussion
Please join us on Tuesday, January 19th at 7pm in the Grad Lounge at
Laurier for a screening of the production and a discussion about the musical,
the creative process, and some of the themes of the show.
RainDance Theatre
RainDance Theatre is an independent production company run
by Laura McDonald, producer of the Kitchener-Waterloo
production of Female Hysteria: A Burlesque Musical Comedy
(2008), and four-time producer for Laurier Musical Theatre.
RainDance’s mission is to create theatre that makes the world
a better place. You can read more about the origins of
RainDance at raindancetheatre.org.
This Musical is Green
2
Throughout the development of Rooted, from the audition posters to the
costumes and sets, we have worked hard to be as wasteless as possible.
All printed materials have been printed on recycled or FSC Certified paper,
including the program you’re reading right now. We made an effort to find
props, costumes, and sets before purchasing anything, and will ensure that
everything we did buy finds a new home after the show.
Rooted: A New Musical
Rooted: A New Musical is a story about a community of friends. It takes
place during a university school year, from the beginning-of-term excitement
and anticipation, through being disillusioned and lost in the winter blues, to
the renewal of love and dreams with the coming of spring. It is about what
is learned everyday from connections between people, the joy in sharing art
and music, the strength of love, the call for social justice, and appreciating
and respecting the beauty which the earth provides. The story centres
around Robin, a graduating student looking to become enabled as an artist
and musician, and Robin’s friends as they figure out what they want to do
with their lives as they enter and leave university. Rooted: A New Musical
forefronts the privilege in which university students live, and how they are
inspired and empowered to act and reach their potential in doing good in this
world.
The Cast
(in order of appearance)
Robin - Nicole Ricard
Eryn - Lindsay Edwards
Jamie - Stefanie Wasserman
Mira - Amy Hunter
Will - Sean Gallagher
Kendra - Erica Collinge
Casey - Kali Greve
Amelia - Lauren Stallard
Chorus:
Stephanie Beaton, Colin Brush,
Michelle Doyley, Chris Fong,
Teresa Lumini, Hanna McCabe Bennett,
Rowda Moallim
Park Ensemble:
Jenn Bondi, Miriam Fine, Adam F. Lewis,
Emily McKim, Steve Tulloch
Production Team
Laura McDonald - Producer, Art Director, Marketing Director, Moral Support
Janice Lee - Writer, Director, Choreographer, Vocal Director
Richard Garvey - Writer, Music Director
Gil Lesperance - Technical Director, Lighting Design
Nathan Dworzak - Recital Hall Stage Manager
Jenn Bondi - Assistant Stage Manager
Zoey Heath - Photographer
Guitar - Richard Garvey
Bass - Joey Bell
Piano & Accordion - Matty Rivers-Moore
Percussion - Mark VandenDungen
The Band
3
Musical Numbers
Sponsors
ACT I
ACT II
Start Spreading the News
This Year
Let Me Show You How
What We Don’t Want
No Time
Like A Tree
Rooted
We’re Here Now
Let’s All Flee To B.C.
Good Day My Friends
Sunday Funday
Shake It Up
Don’t
Why Can’t This Work
Bicycles Will Save The World
Let’s Make This Work
Scattered Seeds
We’re Looking For
This Year (Reprise)
Producer’s Note
As a producer of art and entertainment, it’s important to me that what I’m producing
contributes positively to the world around me. Our current way of life is destructive and
suicidal, and anything that doesn’t challenge that way of life encourages it. There is no such
thing as neutrality. Silence benefits the oppressor, never the oppressed. So in order for art to
produce a positive impact in this world, it must be challenging, in some way. And there are a
lot of ways to do this; Rooted is just our way, at this moment.
Rather than simple escapism that encourages viewers to embrace the status quo, Rooted
encourages viewers to live a life that makes the world a little bit better, rather than worse. It’s
still fun, it’s still entertainment, it still lets you disappear into a different world for a little while
– and it’s still a silly, rambunctious musical. But it doesn’t defend and make excuses for the
destructive and privileged way of life that we take for granted. And we’re not saying that we’re
perfect and don’t live that life ourselves. We do. It’s hard not to. But we’re trying to be a little
less destructive each day, and to plant some seeds and get other people thinking about being
a little less destructive too.
Rooted is an attempt to make art that doesn’t support oppression and over-consumption, like
so much of our entertainment today does. It is also an attempt to expose the really limiting
attitudes we’ve witnessed in our fellow students – in all programs and all social groups.
But more importantly, Rooted is our way of sharing some of the incredibly life-affirming
attitudes that we’ve come across, and the potential for change that we’ve seen in our
communities. Rooted isn’t about what’s wrong with the world, but about what’s right: Art, love,
passion, compassion, beauty, cooperation, nature, justice, and the drive for these things that
we’ve witnessed growing in other people, and in ourselves.
The value of finding your “free zone” – the form in which you can best express yourself – is an
important theme in Rooted, whether it be in art, academia, music, poetry, activism, the
business world, dance, science, direct action, or anything else under the sun. Rooted isn’t
about privileging one of these methods over another; it’s about doing all of them in a
sustainable way – sustainable for the planet, your community, and yourself. Rooted is a
product of our “free zones”, and I hope it inspires yours.
-Laura McDonald
4
Laurier Arts Students’ Advancement Program
ASAP provides funding for WLUSU affliated club to secure funding for educational projects,
events, and endeavours.
Region of Waterloo Arts Fund
www.artsfund.ca
The mission of the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund (Arts Fund) is to contribute to the
vibrancy of the arts and cultural sector in Waterloo Region. It does this by promoting, encouraging and providing support to arts organizations and
individual artists.
Laurier Students’ Public Interest Research Group www.lspirg.ca
LSPIRG provides opportunities for its members (Laurier undergraduate students,
and community members) to be agents of change.
Thank-yous
Word up and mad props to:
Rebecca Sargent and Erin Epp for their Hillside Mugs; Steve & Deb Tulloch, the Luminis, and
cast members for contributing props; Paul Sauder, The Pond House, Richard Garvey, and Deb
and Steve Tulloch for feeding the cast and fueling them with delicious homemade goodness;
the Backstage crew for hosting lovely tea-filled rehearsals; Rachael Baker for lending us her
authentic B.C. camp sweater; Eryn LeClair for lending us her bicycle t-shirt; Adam F. Lewis for
driving around our stuff even though he hates driving; and Laura McGuire for recording help.
Preferred Services
Enviro Digital Printing
www.edprinting.com
Located in Uptown Waterloo, Enviro Digital Printing is a family owned and operated company
that uses only the finest environmentally-friendly paper without sacrificing paper or print
quality. Enviro Digital has done all of the printing for Rooted and is the official printer used by
LSPIRG and its working groups.
Seven Shores Urban Market & Cafe
www.sevenshorestrading.com
Seven Shores, on Regina Street in Uptown Waterloo, is a fantastic cafe that specializes in local, organic, vegetarian food. Seven Shores was an official ticket sales outlet and caterer for
Rooted.
Recycle Cycles & The Working Centre
www.theworkingcentre.org
The Working Centre is a non-profit, community-based, volunteer inspired venture that seeks to
give individuals and groups access to tools and opportunities to become involved in the building of community projects in Kitchener-Waterloo and surrounding areas. Recycle Cycles is a
community bicycle resource centre which provides reconditioned bicycles and parts, and bike
shop facilities.
ROOF Street Designs
www.roof-streetdesigns.net
ROOF Street Design’s mission is to provide homeless and at risk youth with the opportunity
to gain practical work experience while utilizing their innate creativity and artistic abilities.
The experience gained by developing a social enterprise program from the ground up will be
invaluable to them as they contemplate their future and their potential.
5
Kitchener-Waterloo
Community Centre for Social Justice
The Kitchener-Waterloo Community Centre for Social Justice (KWCCSJ) is a
safe/radical space located in the Kitchener downtown core. It is a place where
people can come together to organize on our own terms around issues of social justice and ecological protection.
The KWCCSJ is also an information centre and bookstore, where we provide
education resources on issues of social change and peace-culture, human
rights, gender and sexuality, anti-racism, migrant justice, environmentalism,
employment, housing, mental and physical health, and much more. The centre for social justice is also a space that is open to anyone in the community
and for community groups, as a space to meet and organize. We also regularly host concerts, movie screenings, speakers, workshops, meals and other
community events.
The KWCCSJ will advocate on behalf of those who use our space. We have
legal professionals, experienced trainers and campaign organizers, and other
experts on location, as members in our collective.
Become a ‘Friend of Social Justice’
‘Friends of Social Justice’ are people that support the activities of the
community centre by making a monthly or quarterly financial donation.
‘Friends of Social Justice’ contribute between $10 and $50 /month. Our
monthly costs currently amount to over $1200, which includes rent, phone
and daily costs. KWCCSJ has no paid staff. Your financial contribution will go a
long way towards helping youth in the Waterloo Region.
Upcoming Events
To find out about upcoming movie nights, speakers, and other events at the
Centre, find the KWCCSJ or AW@L on Facebook, or visit:
KW critical mass bike ride - last Friday of every month.
Meet at the bandshell in the West side of
Waterloo Park at 4:45; ride at 5:00.
Director’s Note
Rooted was inspired by community. The people, music, love, and activism that have
been so integral in my life over the past 4 years in Kitchener-Waterloo are what
inspired myself, Laura and Richard to put on this musical. In writing the show, Richard and I came up with the themes and story together. The characters are all sort
of loosely based on people we know, the situations loosely based on things that
happened in our lives. We purposefully did not write many of the characters with a
specific gender. They all were cast female though because men don’t seem to rush to
auditions for musicals. (We’ll talk more about that in the show.) We’re presenting the
world the way we’ve experienced it and are excited to share it with you.
Musical theatre I think is a wonderfully accessible form when done right. Life is enhanced when there is singing and dancing - blanket statement. It’s just straight up
more fun when people spontaneously break out into song and dance, especially when
those people are students much like the ones at Laurier. (Really, I wrote Rooted because I wanted to make people do ridiculous dance moves and shimmy a whole lot.)
I know there are people out there who have seen one musical, let’s say CATS, then
claim to not like musicals. Well, that’s like watching Gigli and saying you don’t like
movies. There are a lot of different types of musicals, and the newest ones really
push the boundaries of society while being very fun. Seriously. Like this one. I think.
This production was workshopped from the first read-through to the last production.
The cast, crew and band all worked together in editing lines, working out choreography and arranging the vocals and music. To the cast, band, and crew, I will serenade
you with love songs soon once I stop making you do things. Thank you for making
Rooted such an enriching, growth-inducing experience.
In Turnips We Trust,
6
Janice Lee
7
The Cast
Rowda
Moallim
Stephanie
Beaton
Jenn
Bondi
Colin
Brush
Erica
Collinge
Lindsay
Edwards
Miriam
Fine
Chris
Fong
Sean
Gallagher
Michelle
Doyley
Kali
Greve
Nicole
Ricard
Lauren
Stallard
Stefanie
Wasserman
Production Team & Band
Richard
Garvey
Janice
Lee
Laura
McDonald
Matty
Rivers-Moore
www.zoeyheathphotography.com
Amy
Hunter
8
Adam
Lewis
Teresa
Lumini
Hanna
McCabeBennet
Emily
McKim
9
Scattered Seeds
You can take a piece of Rooted home with you today! We thought it was important that the
ideas in the show continued to circulate after the final bows. In the lobby, you’ll find Rooted
buttons and posters, along with materials created by the Kitchener-Waterloo Community Centre for Social Justice. Many of these items are free for you to take, thanks to the support of the
Region of Waterloo Arts Fund.
We have also invited some local organizations to have tables or information out in the lobby, or
have included them in this program - just a small sample of the many businesses and groups in
the area who are supporting social justice or environmentalism in their own way. We hope that
you take the time to talk to people at the tables or browse some of the brochures, or visit the
links below.
The Laurier Students’ Public Interest Research Group
www.lspirg.ca
Sustainable Waterloo
www.sustainablewaterloo.org
The Radical Choir
www.radicalchoir.org
Unlearn
www.unlearn.com
The WLU Farm Market
Find them on Facebook!
Wilfrid Laurier University Global Citizenship Conference (GCC)
The theme for the 2010 conference is “Breaking the Culture of Silence.” We live in a culture of
oppression that is grounded historically and permeates all facets of modern life. We need to
re-evaluate conceptions of self, global citizenship, civic engagement and systems of pedagogy
domestically and internationally. This year’s conference is January 22-24 (two weeks away!),
and tickets are available in the lobby before the show and at intermission. You can also
purchase tickets online at www.gcclaurier.org.
Some music to sing along with!
Far From Rich
10
The Radical Choir
rehearses Sundays at 3:00
in the Laurier seminary
(great acoustics!).
radicalchoir@gmail.com
A folk music endeavour by
Richard Garvey, Joey Bell, Evan
Ossington, and Matt Donnelly
farfromrich.com
Music Director’s Note
Rooted is about being radical. I feel our little musical is a very critical inspection, or for Janice
and I, a reflection on university life and privilege.
To be Rooted is to have roots in your community, values, and yet have an openness and anticipation of change. Communities change, values shift, if we pay attention and work for change
together we can see changes that we like. If we don’t work for changes we will see them happen and not like them, feeling even less empowered to make change, and raise up children
who feel the same way.
Rooted is about becoming empowered. I feel that empowerment has no endpoint; it’s a constant journey of the relational and spiritual sort. As we become more involved in our communities the more aware we become, and if ignorance is bliss, awareness can certainly be a nightmare of discouragement.
The music is fun. No little black dots exist for Rooted. So all the ‘parts’ were learned by ear.
The musicians just showed up and played their instruments, we winked and nudged, while
pointing at some chord progressions, until it worked. I’m very thankful for their talents and
dedication to skilled and passionate musicianship.
Rooted has been a journey for everyone involved. I don’t think anyone in the cast, band, or
production team hasn’t been stretched to the ends of their abilities and grown. We’ve also
grown a little community. We share food, songs and laugh a lot. Mmm, I love Roots!
- Richard Garvey
Meet the Rooted Team!
Stephanie Beaton
Steph is so excited to be a part of the original cast of Rooted! Steph is an Arts and Culture Major at her high school and is currently in rehearsals for the role of Chip in Resurrection’s production of Beauty and the Beast. Steph would like to thank her family, friends and all the wonderful audience members. Past Credits include Miss Saigon (Singer’s Theatre), High School Musical
(Drayton Ent.) and Little Women (Singer’s Theatre).
Joey Bell
Joey plays bass...slightly well. He has been playing since grade 7 and had already toured all of
the world before grade 8. He decided to give up bass for spoons until last week. Still wishes he
had more spoons.
Jenn Bondi
Jenn is a fourth year student at Wilfrid Laurier studying communications and psychology. She
has been singing for as long as she can remember, and has been involved in several musical theatre productions throughout her childhood and high school career. She is super excited
about Rooted as artistic activism. Jenn currently sings in the shower, in the car and with the
Radical Choir and she is moved and inspired by the socially conscious lyrics of artists like
Xavier Rudd, Mishka and John Butler. Jenn also has a background in the visual arts and tries to
keep art alive in her life with fun creative works. Jenn worships the sun, adores her pet cat, and
loves spending time with her unique and fantastic friends. An eternal optimist, you will rarely
see Jenn without a smile on her face.
11
Colin Brush
Colin Brush lives and breathes the theatre. Since before he can remember he was cast in
Sunday school Christmas pageants in roles ranging from wise-man to sheep. In the 2005 Taylor
Statten camps production of Seussical The Musical he played a wickasham monkey; this was to
be his retirement performance. He thought he had left the stage forever until Rooted came and
found him. Now, once again, it’s time to act.
Michelle Doyley
Michelle is a young woman who has been in many productions, including The Princess Bride,
Once Upon a Mattress, and Miss Saigon. She works full-time and also volunteers at her local
homeless shelter. She aspires to begin a career as a business student. She spends most of her
time with her guitar at hand or piano at her fingertips, singing her heart out no matter what
genre she is performing.
Lindsay Edwards
Lindsay Edwards is an English Major at Wilfrid Laurier University. She not only has a talent for
English but also plays many instruments. Most recently she has started studying guitar and
can be found playing as part of an acoustic guitar music show with Kent MacMillan in Guelph
and the surrounding area. Lindsay has some stage experience in theatre where she has performed twice in Wilfrid Laurier’s Vagina Monologues, and also produced them once, and in
GCVI’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. When Lindsay is not performing in
music shows she can often be found learning new music, cooking, riding her sick orange bike
and enjoying life’s more subtle things.
Miriam Fine
Miriam is thrilled to be involved with this exciting production filled with talent and creativity. She has been in love with music theatre since early toddler-hood, and enjoys singing and
dancing whenever (and wherever) possible! After numerous musical productions in elementary school (penned by her principal from New Zealand), Miriam attended Etobicoke School of
the Arts as a music theatre major. Though she left behind her education in the arts to pursue
Psychology at WLU, she performed in HAIR - the first musical to be produced at Laurier in 15
years! She continued with the newly-founded Laurier Musical Theatre club, choreographing
for Fame and Bat Boy and working as club president, where she met many stellar individuals, including Laura McDonald and Janice Lee. Miriam is so happy to be a part of this landmark
production for these talented ladies, and believes wholeheartedly in the value of friends, parks,
and making the most of your experiences. Thanks for the chance to be a part of your dream!
Chris Fong
Chris Fong is a 4th year English student at WLU from Thornhill Ontario. The journey man has
been in a variety of theatrical productions over the years, and jumped at the opportunity to
perform in a musical. His first ever. Did you know?: Chris was not part of the original cast. He
just kept showing up at rehearsals until the Director, Janice Lee, finally wrote him a part.
Sean Gallagher
12
Sean’s story is not one easily contained to only 150 characters. He first picked up the guitar at
the age of 5 - some might call him a child prodigy. He’s been pursuing music at the professional level ever since. At the age of only 11, Sean quit school to tour around Japan for a few years,
where he wrote - and starred in as himself - a hit musical about his life, “Sean-ology.” Since
then he’s returned to school, living life in a slower-paced manner, but continues to play music
for his many devoted fans in the greater KW area. Last year he returned to musical theatre, his
first love, in Clara Hilts’ Rhythm Is, as Twist, a French-Canadian duck.
Richard Garvey
Richard Garvey is a recent alumnus of the WLU Faculty of Science’s Psychology program.
Richard doesn’t use his Science degree for anything. Instead Richard performs with the band
Far From Rich, and works part time at the Raintree Cafe. The band performs music inspired by
community. The desire in the music is to bring people together, to share meaningful experiences and move together in search of well-being. In the future Richard hopes to record, distribute,
promote and listen to local music.
Kali Greve
Kali loves to sing. This is the first time someone let her do it on stage in a lead role. For that,
she is infinitely grateful. Kali’s previous credits include Lasglow in Female Hysteria: A Burlesque Musical Comedy and The Vagina Monologues. The experience of performing in Rooted
has been one of the most joyous and rewarding experiences of Kali’s life, and she wishes to
give a big hug and sloppy kiss to all the beautiful people who shared in it with her. I’m totally in
love with all of you! How’d that happen?
Zoey Heath
Zoey Heath is a photographer based in the Kitchener Waterloo, with a studio in Cambridge.
She became first interested in photography by shooting on film sets and focused artistically
on industrial landscapes, but has recently experimented with fashion, wedding and concert
photography. As an environmentalist and feminisit, Zoey strives to work as a environmental
photojournalist and also to bring a feminist lens to the fashion industry.
Amy Hunter
Amy is a talented young troubadour with more spunk than a field full of funk. Her youth was
spent swabbing decks on a variety of merchant ships in the Black Sea. She was abducted
by pirates at the age of 10. After a brief stint in a travelling street performing troupe, where
her love for musical theatre was fostered, she found her way to the small Canadian village of
Toronto. There she began an internship in ballet-shoe-tying but it wasn’t until she laced up her
own laces that her career really shot up. Dancing it all out to stay healthy. She took on lead
roles in such epics as Cats and Clara Hilts’ Rhythm Is.
Janice Lee
This is Janice’s first original musical and directing debut. Luckily she’s had a wonderful team to
collaborate with on Rooted. Previous show credits include The Engineer in Miss Saigon, choreographing and playing Liz Harlowe in Female Hysteria: A Burlesque Musical Comedy, The Vagina
Monologues, Bat Boy, and Urinetown. Janice likes riding her bike, dancing extremely intensely,
meta-textual humour, encouraging people to share their talents, having potlucks with her
friends, and using art as a tool for social change in her community. Her big dream is to bike
across Canada with her guitar, and hopefully a friend or two. Wanna come?
Adam F.(***in’) Lewis
Adam is a fourth year student in Political Science and Global Studies, who spends more time
writing words to fit with ill beats than writing essays. After this year’s sensual experience in
Richard’s epic musical arms, he hopes to move on to study the eroticism associated with his
own drumming, encouraged by his dear friends. That being said, his beats pretty much hold
this whole musical together. In fact Janice based the entire production on his character and
epic drumming style. Let’s not forget the professional lunging! He is also a pompous ass. More
to the point, Adam dreams of a stateless world in which people thrive in close-knit community,
based-on mutual aid and solidarity. Mostly so he doesn’t get heckled by the cops in the park.
Finally, Adam hopes Colin will stop hating on the colour coding.
13
Teresa Lumini
Teresa is a grade 11 student at Sir John A. MacDonald S.S. She is very excited to be a part of
the original cast of this amazing musical! Past theatre credits include Nuncrackers (Sister Amnesia), Romeo and Juliet (Juliet), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Cobweb). Though Rooted
has kept her moderately busy, she has somehow (possibly with the help of her magical ability
to multiply herself) found time to write a play and participate in a production of Twelfth Night
(Viola). She hopes you all enjoy the show!
Hanna McCabe-Bennett
Hanna McCabe-Bennett is a 3rd year Psychology major at Wilfrid Laurier University. She grew
up in the lovely town of Oakville where she was interested in social justice and music. She is
addicted to solitaire, Hawksley Workman, and spooning. This is Hanna’s musical theatre debut
and she is very excited (aren’t you excited?) to have made it onto the stage. Hanna would like
to thank all of her amazing friends and family who have always been so supportive and who
even made the trek to Waterloo just to see her show off, as she loves to do. An extra special
thank-you goes to her wonderful parents and sister who have always been her inspiration and
who have helped her in every aspect of her life. A final shout out goes to Papa and Mona who
would have been front row centre, and whose love she still feels every day.
Laura McDonald
Laura has produced seven musicals, has an M.A. in Communication Studies from WLU (on musical theatre!), is a WLU Women’s Centre coordinator, sings in the Radical Choir, is a website
and graphic designer, organizes everything by using iCal, iPod, iTunes, iDisk, iXpress, and her
Macbook to peak efficiency, co-founded Laurier Musical Theatre and the Laurier Secrets project, and watches many awesome television shows. Thus, she did not have time to write this
bio herself. She likes the colours green, blue, and brown, especially together, and enjoys eating
channa masala, playing piano, and changing the world with her stunning organizational skills!
Emily McKim
As a recent graduate at Laurier from the Anthropology department, Emily is so grateful for
the body of people that she met in this environment who shared the same dream of a better
planet. Emily loves protesting and rebelling against the norm. When the opportunity arose to
take part in a musical about the power of a community and friends committed to change, this
excited her greatly. Last year Emily had the time of her life participating in her first onstage
performances with The Vagina Monologues, and feels very lucky to be a part of Rooted. She is
delighted to be surrounded by strong individuals working together to change the consciousness and awareness of this world. She secretly wants to live in the wilderness but loves people
to much to do so for long. Emily admires anthropologist Margaret Mead who said…”Never
doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world, indeed it’s the only thing
that ever does.”
Rowda Moallim
Rowda is very new to the musical scene. She feels so fortunate to be in such a wonderful production with such a fantastic and talented group of people. This is her first play in years and
she is really excited for everyone to see the show. Rowda has learned and grown so much since
she has been a part of Rooted and she hopes everyone enjoys it as much as she did being a
part of it. p.s. I’m Excited!!!!
Nicole Ricard
Nicole is from KW and majors in Sociology at Wilfrid Laurier University. She has been a part of
Bubbling Brown Sugar, a musical put on by the Waterloo Caribbean Association in 2008 and
also played a part in The Vagina Monologues with the WLU Women’s Center. Nicole is thrilled
to be apart of Rooted and loves that the show gets to bring attention to social justice issues
through the art of musical theatre. She cant wait to see what will become of this Janice Lee’s
first musical and looks forward to more. To friends and family for believing in me more than I
ever could, I wouldn’t be here without you. THANKYOU!!
Matty Rivers-Moore
Matty is a music major at WLU. When the sun goes down he spins mad beats in the wee hours
for those who take dancing seriously. He picked up the accordion last year and figured the
show could use some. It was a good decision.
Lauren Stallard
Lauren loves to laugh, love, sing, dance, stretch sew, write, garden, play, and engage in
thought provoking conversation. She sees herself as a cultural creative – someone who
doesn’t see themselves in the culture that surrounds them. She is constantly working to wake
people up, so that they can see the value in “live[ing] simply so that others may simply live.”
(Mahatma Gandhi) Lauren is co-founder of an organization called Sustainable Cycles – seeking
to educate and empower people to make healthy choices for their bodies, culture and environment. Currently Sustainable Cycles focuses on menstruation, but that is growing to more holistically reflect cycles of many kinds! What advice does Lauren have to offer? Eat local, organic,
whole foods – foods that use pesticides, processing, packaging and shipping are energy intensive, and
complicate the health of the people eating them, and the people exposed to the pollutants they create.
Steve Tulloch
Steve thought he had missed his opportunity to star in a musical performance at some point in
his life, so is excited to be included in Rooted. For many years, most of Steve’s stage experience has taken place behind a pulpit, from which he has been giving spiritual guidance for 30
years. He and his wife Deb raised five children on a picturesque island in Northern Ontario before moving to Waterloo 7 years ago. Now that they have an ‘empty nest’ near the University,
they are pleased to share their home and table with lots of young friends.
Mark VandenDungen
Coming off of a very successful acting career in Japanese traditional theatre and TV in Japan,
Mark is now a working as a hobbying video game player. After graduating from Stanford as a
professional athlete, ranked 2nd in the U.S. with a 3:57 mile time, Mark understands what it
takes to succeed at video game playing: patience, hard work, and a belief in oneself. The race
is a marathon not a sprint….Mark is also able to bake 5-minute brownie mix in 3 minutes.
Stefanie Wasserman
Stefanie Wasserman is a third year Communications student at Wilfird Laurier University. She
loves to act, sing, spend time with her friends and family and snuggle with her puppies, Muffy
and Bailey. More than anything, Stefanie LOVES the TV show Glee, and her undying wish is to
meet Noah Puckerman. Her favourite foods are nut-free chocolate and sesame-free sushi. She
describes her ideal date as watching a movie with her amazing boyfriend Justin, while eating a
number 3 Combo- that includes popcorn and Sourpatch kids! But more than food and movies,
Stefanie’s passion is to perform. Her past shows include Oklahoma, Grease, and Fiddler on the
Roof. I would like to thank my family and friends for all their support. Most importantly I want to
thank my parents for their unconditional love. I hope everyone enjoys the show!!! Break a Leg!
14
15
So, what’d you think? If you’ve got feedback on the
show, email us at rootedthemusical@gmail.com!
Thanks
again to our
sponsors and
supporters!
This program is printed on 100% post-consumer recycled
paper, and features ecofont, a free font that uses 20% less
ink than standard fonts because it is full of little holes. Cool!
www.ecofont.com