Study Guide for Where The Earth Meets The Sky
Co-writer, poet and actress, Edyka Chilomé explores the multiple themes and message found in Where Earth Meets The Sky by Edyka Chilomé, Ariana Cook and Vanessa Mercado Taylor.
Visions of the Future: Sci-Fi as a place of resistance
Where Earth Meets the Sky, engages the power of sci-fi through an unapologetic political lens. In the tradition of indigenous futurism, this play portrays visions of a future in which queer people of color and women are not just present, they are active agents and protagonists in the healing and reunification of the earth – a large step away from the traditional representations of the sc-fi genre. In this story, the effects of racism, sexism, consumer culture, capitalism, industrial technology and Eco-violence intensify. Consequently, the separation of the earth’s people and the planet is inevitable, segregating those who desperately chose to hold on to oppressive forms of power and luxury, and those who chose to radically stand with the earth and reach back to the indigenous wisdom of their people. A wisdom that for so long was condemned, erased, and vilified. Through the eyes of indigenous storytellers, this play invites its audience to consider an alternative future by asking us to revisit the harsh realities of our present and our past. This play invites us to consider our role in that future through understanding how our individual choice is connected to the larger collective fate of our world.
Exploring Indigeneity, Socialization, and Identity as Women of Color Playwrights
Where Earth Meets the Sky began as an intentional scientific investigation of how the brain is trained to understand socialization and self. Yet through sharing in community, it grew to encompass much more than the brain and began to bear witness to the emotional, spiritual, and collective traumas that continue to exist in the lives of women of color in the U.S. Assessing the damages of historical and present day colonization and systemic erasure of indigenous bodies, this project began to highlight questions around what it means to be indigenous and woman in the context of diaspora, forced displacement, assimilation, and economic exploitation. What does it mean to be disconnected from the language and culture of your ancestors, to have been written out of history books, to be told you are alien and outsider in your own homeland, to be given a name that denies your indigenous roots and history? Where Earth Meets the Sky is a reflection of how this violent experience of socialization and identity manifest in one woman, Anghared262, who is forced to travel full circle and confront these questions to eventually learn the truth about herself and the history of her planet.
Telling The Story
Engaging topics such as historical traumas and present day violence against communities of color and women has been a personal and collective process of unraveling. It has caused the cast to engage in powerful and introspective conversations around personal identity and political perspectives. These conversations have inspired creative expression that has certainly translated on stage. Moreover, the process of writing and producing this story was very much a creative effort to break conventional forms of hierarchy in the dominant culture of theater. From the beginning the goal was to engage collaborative and collective forms of creating as well as empower diverse voices and cultures that are often marginalized and silenced in the theater world. The challenge of such a task has resulted in re-imagining the work it takes to truly change violent paradigms in western story telling. This is work we hope this show can inspire and continue engaging in the future.