Confluence

An 8-year-old boy named DJ is being watched by several elders including two men named Laurence and Gryph, who are bickering back-and-forth about the ills of the world and their present difficulty relating to it and other humans. DJ is both a teacher to those he encounters and the embodiment of the innocent and naive child encountering the world as it is and learning of it.

When DJ introduces a simple game to Gryph and Laurence, Gryph is blasted to another realm of consciousness – his subconscious. There, in his inner metaphorical Desert of Becoming, he converses with a mysterious voice and is guided on a journey along the Colorado River, into Urban spaces and beyond discovering the ecosystem that supports the entire Southwest, while also having encounters with death and profound questions of both his individual and the collective experiences of all beings on Earth through the lens of human history written on the walls of ancient mesozoic sandstone, mass human migration.

Concurrently – scene-by-scene – DJ’s reality and the inner workings of Gryph’s wanderings occur side-by-side. The boy living his teaching for his older watchers,  the wanderer seeking truth until both these worlds collide at the Colorado River.

Written by Ryan Makepeace and Deepali

Directed by Deepali and Ryan Makepeace  

Choreographed by Deepali  

Original Soundtrack By Joia Hansen  

Light and Set Design by Brian Miller  

Costumes designed by Deepali and Sweeta Afrooz sewn by a group of Afghan Refugee women in Roshni’s Sew & Sing program  

Stage Manager and Props by Jeszenee Turner