Because You Are Here is a performance based on interviews with immigrant and first generation members of the Walla Walla Washington community. Typically a theatre production will begin with a script written by a playwright. Devised theater inverts this classic hierarchy and instead this work was written by the members of the cast with input from all our community partners. Because You Are Here embodies questions and experiences of migration that are shaping our nation and our small community of Walla Walla—an agricultural community with a thriving wine and food production industry that has relied heavily on migrant labor for decades. We asked our neighbors to share their moments of exclusion and belonging, invisibility and courage. We then invited those interviewees to contribute as collaborators, editors, observers and creators in the theatre-making process. After each performance, audience members were invited onto the stage to listen to a story phone line, HEAR HERE WALLA WALLA, which we created in order to share more broadly excerpts from the interviews featured in the play. The audience was also invited to talk with representatives from the Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition, a community organization focused on ensuring the rights of immigrants through education, access to legal counseling and moral and social support services. After the Saturday matinee performance, the cast and a few interviewees who were willing to be identified joined the public for a discussion about the making of the work and the impact of the work on their individual and civic lives. Because You Are Here is a project co-created by the Whitman College Department of Theater and Dance's Devised Theater course in collaboration with members of the Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition as well as immigrants in our community. This work is sponsored by the Whitman College Innovation in Teaching and Learning fund and the Andrew W Mellon Foundation, diversifying the curriculum through community engagement. Ideated & facilitated: Jessica Cerullo & Tia Kramer Written by: Jessica Cerullo, Emma Cooper, Francisco Esquivel, Madeline (Maddy) Gold, Erina Horikawa, Tia Kramer, Evan Marks, Donovan Olsen, Sabina Rogers, Dani Schlenker, Mira Skladany Our production was comprised of interviews with 10 members of the Walla Walla community who co-authored this show with us: Amanda, Ana, Fernando, Leon, Luis Mendez, Luna, Mariela Rosas, Paco, Sandy Garcia, Ursula Volwiler. Performed by: Emma Cooper, Francisco Esquivel, Madeline (Maddy) Gold, Erina Horikawa, Polly Officer, Donovan Olsen, Sabina Rogers, Matthew Schetina, Dani Schlenker, Mira Skladany Directed by Jessica Cerullo Social Choreographer Tia Kramer Music Direction and Composition Gary Grundei Video documentation Tristan Rupert
