Voices on the Play
The Gaylord Nelson Earth Day Project encompasses the production of the play, “Happy and the River,” and a series of environmental “Teach-Ins” held in communities throughout the St. Croix River watershed and in Madison. The goal of the project is to celebrate the environmental conservation legacy of Gaylord Nelson and to explore the resonance his passion for the natural environment carries today within our communities and our lives.
“Happy and the River” was commissioned by the City of St. Croix Falls with the support of both the Wisconsin State Humanities Council and the Wisconsin Arts Board.
David Rhodes, PlaywrightIn July, 2009, Ed Emerson (city administrator for St. Croix Falls) approached me about writing a play based on Gaylord Nelson and the first Earth Day. At the time I had only vague associations with the name, and said I’d think about it.
Steve O'Toole, DirectorIn the Chicago metropolitan area there are things called “Forest Preserves”. Growing up there, I lived by one and my friends and I would frequently ride our bikes through its dirt trails pretending we were deep in exotic rain forests. In fourth grade, in spring of 1970, I vaguely recall the nuns asking us to color a globe in honor of Earth Day. Subsequently, I remember many social studies assignments requiring us to make collages of pollution and environmental waste. In my mind’s eye, I can still see very clearly the photos in LIFE of factories billowing poisonous smoke along the shoreline of Lake Erie, sewage spewing out of drain pipes into its rivers and consequently how they deemed Lake Erie dead. |
Ed Emerson, City Administrator, St. Croix FallsWhen I first arrived in Saint Croix Falls eight or nine years ago it became self-evident that the Wild & scenic Saint Croix River was more then just a river in which the community took its name --- it was a defining characteristic of the personality of the community. From its preserved bluffs and creeks to its five miles of Ice-Age Trail, it is the river and its history and formation that shape the sense of place that is Saint Croix Falls.
Carrie Classen, Show ProducerI had just returned from living for three and a half years in Africa. I was getting used to my old farm house again, trying to locate my kitchen knives, when I had coffee with the City Administrator, Ed Emerson. Ed told me that 2010 was the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and that Gaylord Nelson, the father of Earth Day, grew up in Clear Lake, just 20 miles down the road. He thought we should do something big to commemorate the event, like write a play or something. |
For more information about Gaylord Nelson’s environmental legacy and Earth Day see St. Croix Conservation Study Center-CONSERVATION.