The music for our upcoming world premiere musical, Folk Wandering, was composed collaboratively by nine emerging singer songwriters. In advance of our first performance on February 23, we’ll be sharing interviews with each of these composers, as well as with many of the key artists involved in the production. These conversations will bring you inside this show’s very unique process of creation, and bring you a bit closer to this brilliant and wild group of emerging artists. Today, we are pleased to bring you a spotlight on composer Joel Esher.
Read the full interview below and get your tickets to performances February 23 – March 18 today!
Pipeline Theatre Company: How do you identify as an artist?
Joel Esher: I identify as a composer/lyricist!
PTC: How did you come to work on Folk Wandering?
JE: I may have been one of the first people Jaclyn and Andrew approached about FW! I remember sitting down with them, they played the music video of “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and talked about their initial concept for a show exploring America through the lens of these traveling wanderers. This was before the first devising sessions. I knew Neisler and Jaclyn from helping out on an Andrew Farmer play, Our Farm, as a piano-playing dog and contributing to Fresh Ground Pepper events as an artist.
PTC: What has been different about this writing process, compared to others you’ve been a part of?
JE: As we’ve written together, I think we all feel that we have settled into specific roles (one of us often sits at the piano, one of us is singing, one of us is keeping an eye/ear out for the dramatic context and making sure we’re “staying on target”, etc).
PTC: What has been exciting to you about working with so many collaborators?
JE: The most cathartic and exciting moments have been when we challenge ourselves to step outside of those roles.
PTC: If you were to write a tagline for Folk Wandering, what would it be?
JE: Women unite across time to better understand, and hopefully save, the soul of America.
Folk Wandering begins preview performances on February 23, opens on March 4, and runs through March 18. Tickets are now available to all performances. Get your tickets today!
