History

The seed for These Roots Go Deep was planted in 2013. I played the lead role in Becky’s New Car, a play commissioned by a Seattle Realtor for his theater-loving wife’s birthday. I learned that art patrons could fund new works in tribute to others. (Commonplace in the days of Shakespeare and Mozart)

When my father died in December 2015, I wanted to share his story. I knew him as a generous, loving and creative man. Others, who didn’t know him, thought of him as a farmer who sold out to Monsanto. Most people I knew didn’t understand the history of farmers who were told by the Secretary of Agriculture to ‘get big or get out.’ They didn’t know the backstory of how industrial farming came into existence. They didn’t know my Dad as an individual and his love for the land.

Commissioning a play turned out to be more time consuming than I thought. And when it got right down to it, I loved to write and I loved to act. So I decided to write the script and act it out myself. I had seen Lily Tomlin perform her one-woman play The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe and was enamored by the way she acted so many characters while presenting a thought-provoking message with humor and grace.

I wanted to share my Dad’s story that way, but had no idea how to begin.

I talked with my Improv teacher who suggested I find a director. I googled how to create a one-woman show and found Brenda Adelman. She had written and performed an autobiographical play about her Brooklyn-based father who shot and killed her mother. Her New York, Jewish background couldn’t have been further from my Minnesota, Lutheran background but we hit it off and worked together for 2 years. It turned out I needed to write my own story first about finding my voice. The title was If I Were Me… I’d Know What I Want. The theme was about me seeking approval from others. One scene was how I entered a dairy princess contest to please my father when what I really wanted to do was go to an Alice Cooper concert that was scheduled for the same night.

I performed scenes from the play at open mic nights wherever I could find them on the Olympic Peninsula, testing them and re-working parts based on audience reactions. I performed the one-hour show at Fringe Festivals all across the United States and Canada. Doing this gave me invaluable experience performing my one-woman show to a variety of audiences, not to mention the deep personal healing.

At a Frances Weller Grief Workshop in 2018, I performed 10 minutes of my show. Afterwards, a participant asked me if I had heard of Nina Wise. When I answered no, she immediately opened her laptop showing me a video of Nina performing at the Sister Giant Conference. Within the first 2 minutes of watching Nina on stage, I knew I had to work with her. There was something about her movement, the artistry of her words and how I felt while watching her that fascinated me.

I emailed Nina inquiring about a Skype session. After working together a few times she intuitively said, “I really think this story is about your relationship with your Dad.” (having no idea that that was my original intention for the play.)

Nina asked me all kinds of detailed questions about growing up on the farm. We spent hours talking about what it was like for me as an eight year old riding on the tractor with my Dad as he taught me about the nurturing qualities of alfalfa and crop rotation. She asked me questions about the summers of pulling weeds out by hand in the soybean fields. How ‘walking the beans’ evolved to Dad buying a D17 tractor with 4 padded tractor seats bolted along a 20 foot metal bar. How Mom drove the tractor while we we dangled over the crops with sprayer guns hooked up to a hundred gallon plastic tub of chemicals. How things got faster and more efficient on the farm. Together Nina and I explored my 50 year journey from pulling weeds by hand to riding with my Dad in a 24 row corn combine with him telling me about terminator seeds and other new farming technologies.

After tireless hours of writing, testing and rewriting, I drove to San Rafael to work with Nina live in the studio. I’m happy to say she’s the co-writer and director of These Roots Go Deep.

As I perform the play, I put myself in my Dad’s position. What it was like for him to provide for his family and want to give us a strong foundation by taking us to church every Sunday. The compassion I feel for my Dad continues to expand. I feel compassion for myself and others as we struggle to remain true to ourselves while maintaining the love we feel for family members whose choices we don’t agree with. I offer talkbacks after the show providing a space where we can hear each other’s viewpoints and connect at a deeper level.