We Are Good is an experimental music/theater work developed with writer/director and civic practice pioneer Michael Rohd that explores the ways we as a community deal with the past and imagine our futures. Designed to foster authentic inquiry among audiences of varied social and political backgrounds, We Are Good uses techniques developed with Deep Listening practitioner Leila Ramagopal Pertl to bring strangers together through communal music-making in an original work that provokes participants to explore: What role should the past play in decisions about the future? How do past events shape us? What responsibility do we have for what happened before we were alive? How does a community make hard choices together? Who do we believe?
Beginning with pre-show musical games in which audience participants create and share their own musical gestures, We Are Good unfolds as a co-created musical drama that gradually moves from collective improvisations to a range of musical explorations by composers such as folk musician Rhiannon Giddens, improviser/activist Daniel Bernard Roumain, and jazz bassistJordyn Davis. Each show's score will reflect unique musical selections, through an "interactive jukebox" stocked with participant-inspired compositions and pop music arrangements that provide diverse responses to the question of what it means to be an American.
An open framework for the process of tackling difficult questions as a group, We Are Good incorporates narratives gathered from partner venues’ participants in story circle workshops that invite discussion on moments of challenging collective decision-making, how past events shape current community decisions, and how people’s lived experience around that decision-making today differs based on their identity, economic reality, and culture.
Fifth House Ensemble is developing this show for participants of all political affiliations in a digital interactive format, and for future live performance in concert halls, theatre spaces, and community venues. At a time when the ability to think for one’s self while balancing contributions to a collective whole is more urgent than ever, We Are Good offers participants of diverse viewpoints and beliefs the opportunity to connect through the visceral experience of communal music making, paired with a compelling allegorical story that brings immediate context to the urgent need for mutual respect, shared experience, and open dialogue.