The Junebug Cycle
“Sayings From the Life and Writings of Junebug Jabbo Jones"
Written by the award winning, critically acclaimed Mr. John O'Neal, and introducing his son, William O'Neal, in the fourth Junebug play, Trying to Find My Way Back Home

Four plays, written by John O'Neal, comprise the Junebug cycle:

Don't Start Me to Talking or I'll Tell You Everything I Know (Vol. I)
Performed by Mr. John O'Neal

You Can't Judge a Book by Looking at the Cover (Vol. II)
Performed by Mr. John O'Neal

'Til the Midnight Hour (Vol. III)
Performed by Mr. John O'Neal

Trying to Find My Way Back Home (Vol. IV)
The "next generation Junebug," performed by Mr. O'Neal's son, William O'Neal

All four plays are filled with stories, songs, and poems drawn from the rich trove of over 100 years of African American oral history. Junebug moves through a world of cotton fields, sanctified churches, plantation life, rural schools, cities burning in the 60's, and finally to present-day neighborhoods. Junebug's wisdom is immense. From simple lessons of respect to the complexity of redemption, these powerful plays with their two exceptional actors, teach and amaze.

The Colorline Project
John O'Neal and Theresa Holden were recently honored with the Ford Foundation's Leadership for a Changing World award for their work on this exceptional community-based project. The Colorline Project has visited numerous communities over the past eight years. In each community, the CLP team conducts this exceptional story-collecting and performance project, which is centered around the Civil Rights Movement. Local community artists, educators and organizers join the Junebug team in community story-collecting and in the resulting artistic and educational projects and productions.

Like Poison Ivy
A powerful new play with music about a family and neighborhood dealing with the realities and results of environmental injustice, written by Junebug Productions' Artistic Director, John O’Neal and directed by Steve Kent, with music by composer, Michael Keck.

Availability: General

www.gnofn.org/~junebug/

In Doña Rosita’s Jalapeño Kitchen, Doña Rosita invites the audience for the "Last Supper" in the Salsipuedes barrio. Treating the audience as guests in her restaurant, Doña Rosita contemplates selling her restaurant/home of 23 years to a big-time real estate developer, in order to make way for a brand new tourist shopping mall. Generous servings of one flavorful character after another will leave your spirit nourished.

In, Rosita’s Day of the Dead, the stage is set as Rosita cooks late into the night, dishing out recipes and juicy stories about the living, the dead and the people who fall in between.

Availability: General

www.rubyneldaperez.com

Music from Home is a musical celebration of a place where people still own their own voices and sing their own songs -- a land of working class poets and crisp, clear bluegrass singing.  Roadside Theater’s Ron Short, a prolific songwriter and powerful vocalist, wrote and performs this fresh musical concert.  Ron has composed music for 13 musical plays and performed in 12 touring productions.

Betsy: A Musical Story of an American Family, a new musical collaboration between Roadside Theater and Pregones Theater, of the Bronx, New York, begins with the compelling story of an orphaned teenager tricked into leaving Ireland to become an indentured servant in 18th century America and follows her descendants to the present day. The drama's 20 original compositions draw upon jazz and bluegrass and explore how these two musical traditions, and the merging of cultures and races, continue to shape our American identity. Betsy was created by award-winning Steinway Artist Beegie Adair of Nashville and Roadside Theater's Ron Short, and the artists of Pregones Theater. In addition to performances by the professional cast, Betsy offers a special residency that puts the host community's musicians in the play.

Mountain Tales and Music is a wonderful and lively collection of music and Jack tales for children of all ages and families. The play features an ensemble cast and is based on oral folk tales which have been passed down from generation to generation in the Central Appalachian mountains. The show offers a look at this historically rich region of the country through the eyes of those who settled there.

Residencies
An important part of Roadside Theater’s work is conducting residencies.  Roadside can help your community discover the richness and diversity of its own stories and music, and help you figure out how to present them on the stage.

www.roadside.org

The Triangle Project: Journey of the Dandelion is an international collaboration that weaves together the music and lives of three extraordinary women artists of Japanese and Japanese-American origin: Yoko Fujimoto of KODO from Japan, PJ Hirabayashi of San Jose Taiko, and Nobuko Miyamoto of Great Leap from Los Angeles.

These artists witness the beginnings of the nuclear age and follow the reverberations of war on to this the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when more Hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) are being created across the globe. This meditation on peace is narrated through a blend of personal stories, traditional Japanese folk music, contemporary original music, the rhythms of taiko and dance.   The Journey of the Dandelion invokes the spirit of Ame no Uzume to bring light and harmony to our fractured world. Ame no Uzume, is the Japanese shaman of song and dance, who created a magical commotion to beckon Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, out of her cave to return light into the world.

Journey of the Dandelion takes us beyond performance, to invoke ritual to engage the audience. Using the vibration of voices and drums, the performers shift the winds of fear and violence and through the transformative energy of music, reveal our collective power and connection with all humanity.

Music, book and choreography by: Yoko Fujimoto, PJ Hirabayashi and Nobuko Miyamoto, and directed by Kevin Higa

Yoko Fujimoto was born and raised in postwar Tokyo which was quickly being westernized.  Learning to play the koto and singing Japanese songs her mother knew was a way of knowing her roots.  A founding member of KODO, now home is Sado Island, where she lives in a village of musicians who use taiko as a means of creating “one earth.”

PJ Hirabayashi grew up in an all-white neighborhood in the San Francisco Bay area, with a passion to dance and play music.  The socio-political movements of the 70’s inspired her to explore her cultural roots, where she found taiko as a path to community empowerment and self-discovery.  Now her home is San Jose Japantown, the epicenter of her cultural awakening.  

Nobuko Miyamoto was a child of Japanese American relocation who found a home in the world of music and dance.  A veteran of Broadway and film musicals, she claimed her own voice in the social movements of the 70’s, co-creating the seminal album, “A Grain of Sand.”  Founder of Great Leap, her music and theater works create bridges between people of diverse cultures.

www.taiko.org