The Water Project Program

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- FINANCIAL SUPPORT - THE WATER PROJECT

Valley Water’s Safe, Clean Water Program, SCU•Presents Arts for Social Justice, OCTOBER 1-3, 2021
the Theatre and Dance Department, SCU’s Provost Office, Center for Arts and MAYER THEATER
SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY
Humanities and the College of Arts and Sciences
In compliance with the ADA/504 please direct your accommodation requests to the Box Office 408.554.4015
Program created by Leandro Glory Damasco, Jr.

WELCOME NOTES - SPECIAL THANKS -

Welcome to The Water Project. We are privileged and grateful to finally share David Popalisky is grateful for the artistry, commitment, honesty and joyful cam-
our creative engagement with all things water: its sacred essence and beauty, its raderie he has shared over three years with this brillaint group of collaborators
productive and destructive power, its essential life force, and humanity’s predilec- from his creative colleagues, dancers, singers, actors and calm and competent
tion to control and commodify water. We understand the challenges, the losses, technical staff. He is extremely grateful for the support of Ruth Mikusko and Aldo
the fear and the heroism that you all have been through over the last eighteen Billingslea from the Theatre and Dance Department and the entire SCU Presents
months of the pandemic, so we are especially grateful that you are with us today. staff. Special thanks to Rafael Ulate for his support of this performance and for
Since the spring of 2018 the creative team has been collaborating on The Water
Project to express our concern for water as a precious resource in jeopardy in the modeling kindness in every email he sends. Finally David is grateful for the
21st century. At that time the urgency of contaminated water in Flint Michigan patience and support of his wife Pat Ciccantelli.
and depleted water tables in San Joaquin valley were a few examples of water in
the news. Since then, water issues have only exacerbated with the crazy imbal- Kathy Aoki would like to thank Thirst filmmakers Alan Snitow and Deborah
ance of floods in the east and droughts in the west leaving even the Colorado Kaufman (Snitow Kaufman Productions) for their inspiration.

River with a radically diminished water flow. Despite all this, we all cherish Edwin Maurer and Iris Stewart-Frey are grateful for the contributions of SCU
memories of being in and with water from waterfalls to lakes to the ocean. Water undergraduates Sophia Rooney (ESS ‘22), and Lilah Foster (ESS ‘21).

inspires, renews and sustains us. - KICKSTARTER FRIENDS & CONTRIBUTORS -
The Water Project celebrates and critiques our relationship with water; it seeks
a balance between reverence and joy and cautionary tales. We hope you leave Don Wagner, Joseph Crowley, Bill Popalisky, Thomas Popalisky, Devon Story, Atom
tonight’s performance with a renewed a sense of awe and respect for water along Yee, Barbara Murray, Patty Larrick, Michael Hazinski, Molly Niffenegger, Dante
Popalisky, David Sobel, Chris R. Rappley, Skye Windsor, Linda Starr and Cookie
with a commitment to act toward positive public water policy. Enjoy! Ridolfi, Eli Weinberg, Tandy Beal, E. Serra de Tanajura, Pauline Locsin-Kanter,
“ Stuart Spencer, Rachael Dwight, John Zorn, Robin Jigour, Wayne Heidenreich,
Ian McCluskey, Lauren Platt, John Birmingham, Barb Reamer, Anamile Quispe
David Popalisky Alvarado, Ted Biagini and Carolyn Silberman, Frank and Kathy Surico, Nicholas
Croft, Bette Linderman and Bob Baines, John Farnsworth, Phil and Diane Griego,
The music for The Water Project was first imagined as primarily a collection of Annie Boyd-Ramirez, Seys Family, Maxine Ann Evangelista, Phyllis Brown, Rob
already existing choral music, but through our collaborative process with the Boyd, Kathy Aoki, Derek Duarte, Susan Foley, Marianna Moore, Bruno Ruviaro,
creative team, it became clear that we needed to create original music to fit the Tina Stafford, Tom Cross, Hilary Thomas, Stephen Lee and Susan Czark, Julie Van-
vision of the overall piece. The final product really carries forward this idea of Sant, Lisa Bradley Green, Lisabeth Delbecq, Fabricio Olsson, W. Gary Smith, Rich
collaboration in so many ways. It is a collaboration between live choral perfor- Boberg, Patricia Ciccantelli, Butch Coyne, Elizabeth Wallace, Jennifer Konecny,
mance and electronics in our performance this evening. It is a collaboration Mary Diridon, John, Khai Tran, Rich Blanco, Mary Ann Penglase, Liz Behrendt,
between incredibly disperate sources of text, from the i ching, Aristotle, the Bible,
news reports, faculty interviews, 1920s era SC Valley water reports, and many Julie Deprey, Ann Kaufmann, Rob Upland, Nikki Womac, Terrence Becker,
other sources. But it is also a collaboration of vision. It took the whole team to Janine Wilburn, Heather Rainusso, Tap Plastics
inspire each of the musical movements of this work, and without that combined

imagination and collaborative process, these pieces would never exist.
“

Scot Hanna-Weir

CREATIVE TEAM

Creative Director and Choreographer David J. Popalisky
Music Director and Composer Scot Hanna-Weir
Light Design and Projection
SCIENCE IS REAL Animations Derek Duarte
Script Writer Kathy Aoki
WATER MEMORIES Costumes
Set Design Jeffrey Bracco
FINALE Sound Engineer Barbara Murray
Text adapted from Water by Ralph Waldo Emerson Film Maker/ Documentary Film
Videographer Jerry Enos
Water understands civilization well. Technical Director Ro Fajilan
It wets my foot. Theatre Operations Manager Nat Gilmore
It chills my life. Stage Manager John Parenica
Carolyn Guggemos
Water, well used, it decketh joy. Steven Fetter
Ill used it will destroy. Rebecca Kang-Gray

San Francisco Bay Area Chamber Choir was founded in 1978 and CONSULTING FACULTY
sings under the direction of Scot Hanna-Weir, who was named the
choir’s interim Music Director in March 2021. Since its origin, the Civil Engineering Edwin Maurer
Environmental Science Iris Stewart-Frey
choir has been highly acclaimed for its sensitive and exciting
performances of extremely varied and demanding literature. “Environmental Justice and the Common Good Initiative” - https://www.scu.edu/ej/

sfbaychoir.org PERFORMERS

Lauren Baines, Leandro Glory Damasco, Jr., Anne Yumi Kobori
Claire Long, Amelia Nommensen, Emma Rutter

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA CHAMBER CHOIR

Christine Dukey, CarilleBruno-Thayer, Pat Jennerjohn, Carolyn Paxton, Bevery Worth-
ington, Julie Harkness, Barbara Brown, Melanie Spiller, Rob Miller, Kevin Brown, Pamela

Sawyer, David Knapp, Brian Nippa, Elise Mills, Diane Doron, Steve Kinoshita, Hilari
Allred, Mary Ann Penglase, Liz Behrendt, Julie Deprey, Ann Kaufmann

ASSISTANTS

Backstage Mia Kanter, Alex Zhu & Charlie Barber
Student Research Assistant Sarah Sporn

SCU PRESENTS TEAM

Butch Coyne, Alexandra Lopiano, Jennifer Reichert, Tina Schiolla

For biographies please scan or go to
https://thewaterprojectscu.org/meet-the-team/

- PROGRAM - AQUA SAPIENTIAE /THE DANCE OF CONSUMPTION
Texts: Liber Usualis; additional texts by the composer
OPENING Aqua sapientiae potavit eos, alleluia:
Texts: Aristotle, additional texts by David Popalisky
That from which is everything that exists And from which it first From the water of wisdom he has given them to drink, alleluia:
Firmabitur in illis, et non flectetur, alleluia.
becomes And into which it is rendered at last
Its substance remaining under it, It will be established in them, and will not be changed, alleluia.
But transforming in qualities Acqua Panna, Evian, Dasani, Ethos, Aquafina:
Nestlé Pure in Fiji et Voss Alhambra, Aquafina.
That they say is the element and principle of things that are. We give praise for the bottle of water.
For it is necessary that there be some nature We give praise for its ease and convenience.
Either one or more than one We give praise to the water of wisdom.
From which becomes the other things
Of the object being saved... FLOOD/COVENANT
This type of philosophy says that it is... water. Texts: Genesis 9:8-17; News reports of major flooding events
Our bodies are bodies of water.
The oceans are bodies of water, I am establishing my covenant with you
lakes are bodies of water. That never again shall a flood destroy the earth.
What does water want?
Where is water going? This is a sign of the covenant I make
Between Me and you, for all future generations;
HISTORY OF WATER
I have set my bow in the clouds
WELLS And it shall be a sign of the covenant
Texts: I Ching, Santa Clara Valley Water Report, Interview with Iris Between me and you, for all future generations.

Stewart-Frey When I bring clouds o’er the earth
We think of how a town may be changed, And the bow is seen in the clouds

While its wells undergo no change. I will remember my covenant
And those who come and those who go Between me and you, for all future generations.
And the water shall never again become a flood
Can draw and enjoy the benefit.
To destroy all flesh.
AUDIENCE INTERLUDE

COMMODIFICATION ANIMATIONS