An artist-led documentary featuring prominent performing art figures in Bethlehem premieres this weekend, and seeks to draw attention to the long and storied history of performing and visual arts in the city.
“Rooted” will have its inaugural showing at 2 p.m. Sunday at Baker Hall at Lehigh University’s Zoellner Arts Center. Afterward, the film will be housed at the Special Collections branch at Lehigh.
The project, accompanied by archival content and artist interviews, included the planting of seven trees across the region where local creators “grew” their passion.
“It’s a statement to young artists, it’s a statement to communities about valuing who they are and what they are, and not letting business interests override their everyday, living, cultural soil of their lives,” said Doug Roysdon, the founder of Mock Turtle Marionette Theater and a director at the IceHouse Performing Arts Center. “There’s a huge social message behind this film. This film illustrates the possibility of living a true community based life.”
The 75-minute piece, directed by filmmaker Aidan Gilrain-McKenna, explores the history of the arts in Bethlehem. Members of the performing arts community, from Roysdon’s Ice House in Sand Island Park, to the founders of Touchstone Theatre near Lehigh University, all contributed to the making of the documentary.
“We began to work together, then with the city, then with educational organizations and the library and the Chamber of Commerce, and there was this flourishing in the understanding of creativity in all elements of effort, [hence] the trees,” said William George, co-founder of Touchstone Theatre and ensemble emeritus. “But, where are we in the ecosystem now? I think the planting of the trees really suggests that we have a long ways to go still.”
The performing arts scene in Bethlehem emerged from Bethlehem Steel’s slow economic depression in the city throughout the 1970s. Touchstone Theatre, the People’s Theatre Company and the Godfrey Daniels live music listening room all opened during that time.
After more than 50 years of service to the arts community in Bethlehem, the creators of “Rooted” wanted to recollect old and and make new memories of the strife and success in local artistry and culture.
“The next generations, plural, are picking up on and approaching the challenges that we found, and are charging into it with the same spirit that we did,” said Dave Fry, the founder of Godfrey Daniels. “That’s what we’re counting on, is the legacy of what we did. In the film, it points out the number of people who have picked up on what we did and are shaping it their own way.”
Tickets are available through the Zoellner Arts Center website, zoellner.cas.lehigh.edu.