There are saints among us.
That is the simplest of explanations for an incredibly complex event that has begun to wend its way through the streets of Braddock. “Saints Tour” is a co-project of Bricolage Productions and Real/Time Interventions, a company created by two relative newcomers to Pittsburgh, playwright Molly Rice and her partner, director Rusty Thelin. The bus and walking tour in search of saints has arrived in Braddock via Louisville and New York City.
Apparently there are saints there, too.
The concept took shape in 2009, when Ms. Rice was asked to create a cornerstone piece for the Live Arts Exchange theater festival in Louisville. The playwright, whose first work for the stage was a musical about saints and who had an interest in the pageant plays of medieval times, married her interests to form “Saints Tour.”
“What’s interesting about saints is they are human beings engaging in extreme kindness and compassion. ... They are not made of different stuff than we are, and that’s what has really inspired me,” said Ms. Rice, who wasn’t raised in a particular religion. “There’s so much talent and kindness hidden in communities, and I really wanted this to be a project that pulled that out into the open and shared it with people who are not from there.”
Bricolage’s Jeffrey Carpenter and Tami Dixon and the Rice-Thelin team became regulars in Braddock for more than a year, attending events and meeting with organizations as they tried to make connections and find new stories to tell about a place that has so many.
An a-ha moment for Mr. Carpenter came when he witnessed a spoken word performance by TaeAjah Cannon through the Braddock Youth Project and invited the 16-year-old to be an actor in the annual Bricolage Urban Scrawl play-building marathon. “She’s a star,” he said of TaeAjah, who is a Propel School’s Future Achievement Scholarship Trust awardee and among the performers on the “Saints Tour.”
A chance meeting with musician Sanford Barnes at an Unsmoke Systems art event was the spark that ignited Ms. Rice’s latest version of her work. She and Mr. Thelin bonded with the single father of three boys over a mutual love of “Star Trek” and became close friends, including game nights with Nathan, 16, Isaiah, 14, and Seth, 10.
“I remember leaving Sanford’s house one night after having dinner with Jeff and Tami, and it evolved into Isaiah singing and Nathan playing the drums and Seth doing his word art — he doesn’t like ‘spoken’ word — for the first time in front of people, and Sanford playing the trumpet. And I remember thinking, behind every door, there could be something of beauty. So that’s the theme of the tour in some ways.”
The relationship evolved over several months before Mr. Barnes realized that his new friends were artists with national reputations in theater. The Navy veteran of Desert Storm/Desert Shield had been focused on trying to become a full-time musician and was considering leaving the area before Ms. Rice persuaded him to stay.
“That’s one of the things she looks at in the play — staying or going,” Mr. Barnes said. “That was the critical point, when she said, ‘Why don’t you stay and see what happens?’ ”
He is delighted with his newfound attention, including a feature in American Theatre Magazine. He also has no qualms about allowing his sons to participate in “Saints Tour.”
“What parent wouldn’t want to work on such a great, beautiful project with his sons being involved?,” the proud father said. “That’s the most amazing thing on the planet. I’ve gone and tried to chase the Grammys in my 20s, and when my ex passed away nine years ago, I realized that I was looking at the three best Grammys I could ever have in my life. I’m a very big advocate for fatherhood initiatives and to let people know that there are good fathers out there taking care of their kids and their responsibilities. Having my sons involved is a great thing.”
He wouldn’t divulge the nature of their roles in “Saints Tour.” In fact, other than the check-in point and names of some artists — Cheryl Capezzuti, Lenka Clayton, Vanessa German, David Pohl, Zena Ruiz, Lindsey Sherloum, James Simon, Bria Walker and more — what you will experience is hush-hush, echoing Bricolage’s other giant immersive projects, “STRATA” and “OJO.”
Ms. Rice did share that a change from previous versions is that “the tour guide is guided by various types of phenomena and times that lead the way, so she doesn’t even know quite where we’re going.”
In this Braddock-centric piece, one thing you won’t hear much of are mill stories, for those are tales that mostly have been told. You may, however, encounter Braddock in Civil War times or in the 1940s, when Roma Gypsies had settled there. The tagline “There’s something in the dirt” may suggest a grounded experience, but Mr. Carpenter’s allusions to “visual enchantments” and “emergences” suggest reality with a few twists — and a few saints, too.
“It’s very consciously an attempt to unpeel the layers of what Braddock is,” said Ms. Rice, “because there’s so much diversity here -- in the landscape, in the culture, in the age of the residents, in why they’re here. We try to give a sense of that.”
Sharon Eberson: seberson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1960. Twitter: @SEberson_pg.
First Published: May 20, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
