Located on Saxony Road in Encinitas, Coastal Roots Farm has been growing food and nurturing community on its 17 acres for over 10 years now, welcoming all to their twice-a-week farmstand and giving away thousands of pounds of fresh-grown produce to those in need.
“Our farm is a regenerative farm and educational center inspired by Jewish wisdom and traditions, but you don’t have to be Jewish to feel at home here,” said Rebecca Joy Fletcher, director of Jewish Life at Coastal Roots Farm. “We’ve always been welcoming to all.”
This month, on June 30, from 5-9 p.m., Coastal Roots Farm and JFEST are offering another kind of nourishment: a special event called “REGENERATE!”, an “Eco-Performance Fest” that’s meant to exhilarate and uplift all attendees.
Here’s how they describe it: “An evening of original eco-theater, dance, and music by some of our most exciting, forward-thinking artists. As we navigate the darkness of the climate crisis and the environmental injustices of today, art can light our way and help us see, feel, and act with renewed joy and determination.”
At the beginning of June, the invited artists were given a written prompt to serve as their inspiration, leaving them free to create whatever they wanted. Here’s an abbreviated version of the prompt, taken from the writings of Rabbi Kalonimus Szapiro, a Polish Grand Rabbi and author who died in the Holocaust.
“When Adam, the first human, disobeyed God and ate from the apple, sparks from the Adam soul fell down and were scattered all through the world. So the whole world is filled with soul sparks, and our job in this life is to connect with those holy sparks as partners. When we do that, we and the world feel deep, true joy.”
After the prompt was sent out, I spoke with one of the invitees: Sadie Weinberg, a popular choreographer and founding artistic director of Litvak Dance who lives in Encinitas.
“Rebecca called a Zoom meeting so we could all discuss our reactions to the prompt,” Weinberg said. “That’s a kind of Jewish tradition; there’s meant to be a lot of discourse and questioning of things, so the meeting was a nice thing to have. What I love about the Farm is that they’re interested in collaborating with the earth rather than ruling it, and I’ve been reading ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’, a book by Robin Wall Kimmerer, an Indigenous American woman who writes about her people’s relation to the natural world. She’s also a professor, so she combines the love of her heritage with scientific and environmental knowledge. There are a lot of similarities in what she writes and the way the Farm works, so I’m thinking of using some of the ideas in that book in the dance piece I create.”
Who are the other participating artists?
—Jose Cruz Gonzales: a nationally recognized Latinx playwright based in Los Angeles, best known for ‘American Mariachi’
—Haia Bchiri: a rising star playwright currently getting her PhD at UCSD.
—Andy Mayer: a San Diego composer/singer/performer
—Ruth Geye: a rising-star playwright based in New York City.
—Carson Becker & Rebecca Joy Fletcher: An award-winning playwright, Carson Becker is the artistic director of Chicago Dramatists. Rebecca Joy Fletcher has a background in theater arts and is collaborating with her on a theater piece.
—Patrice Amon and Kali Boston: stage directors.
“We need new stories for a new planet and that’s really why we’re doing REGENERATE!” says Fletcher. “We can imagine new stories together, not just the stories of despair, greed, and impossibility we all hear in the news. Our future is built out of the stories we tell now, so let’s tell stories that help us feel more resilient, hopeful, caring and joyful.”
Another part of the event will feature folks from The Climate Science Alliance, whose mission is to safeguard natural and human communities in the face of a changing climate. They’ll be turning climate change topics into interactive games that encourage participants to come up with positive actions and then consider new possibilities after seeing the artists’ performances.
REGENERATE! will also include an after-party with live music, food, and plenty of opportunities for sharing thoughts and feelings with other attendees. If you’re ready to regenerate, with green fields, blooming flowers, and the setting sun as your backdrop, this should be a great way to begin.
For tickets and more information go to: coastalrootsfarm.org/event/regenerate-an-eco-performance-fest/
