What Are We Doing To Our World?
A cast of singers, dancers, actors and musicians celebrate creation and our care for it interwoven with words of wisdom from Chief Seattle, Mark Twain, John Muir ….
A little history
“Far out to sea I saw islands of debris” Oceanographer Jacques Cousteau said this in an interview I heard back in the 70s. That sounded like a lyric to me and it became one. It became a part of the song I wrote that very day, “What Are We Doing To Our World?”
Far out to sea floating islands of debris …
Devastating fires, hurricanes and floods
Raging thru farmlands and cities
Polar ice caps melt, warming oceans rise
And we’ve so little time to heed the warning signs
Oh, what are we doing to our world?
How surprised I am today to read words I wrote so long ago! Its happening today. Jacques Cousteau was warning us then.
‘What Are We Doing To Our World?’ eventually became the title song of this show.
Over its growth the show has taken many forms: as a commissioned piece for the celebration of Earth Day at St Marks Cathedral in Minneapolis, a follow up performance at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York with a choir of 40, a reading at the Player’s Club in New York, and at an environmental conference in Denver. There have been performances in New York by Resurrection Church and by Chelsea Opera with wonderful actors and dancers.
Earth Day at St Marks Cathedral in Minneapolis
St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York
Player’s Club in New York
“I think it is a man” Mark Twain Diary of Eve
Run of Show
Original music & lyrics by Anne Phillips
with staged readings by actors and dancers
- What Are We Doing to Our World? Child solo
Reading: Annie Dillard “… The whole show has been on fire from the word go! - In The Beginning Choir, alto sax solo
Reading: Madeleine L’Engle mother and child “No one is very certain about the beginning … - Waltz of Infinite Love Dance, depicting evolution Instrumental, choral background
Reading: Mark Twain The Diary of Eve “Saturday. I am almost a whole day old now … - I Think It Is A Man tenor sax solo, choir background 2dancers, Adam & Eve
Reading: Robert Farrar Capon “Let me tell you why God made the world … - The City That Arises On The Road patter song solo & choir
- SFX
Reading: Cree Indian Prophecy “Only when the last tree has been cut down… - What Are We Doing to Our World? Solo & choir
Reading: Chief Seattle “The President in Washington sends word that he wants to buy our land… - So Close I Never Saw You Gospel soloist & choir
Reading: Hildegard of Bingen “ All nature is at the disposal of humankind.. - Back To Where We Started From Choir sax solo
Reading: John Muir “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe …” - Why Faith Abides solo with piano
- Gonna Open Up My Eyes Gospel soloists & Choir
