On Friday, Oct. 2, the Community Storytelling Project was hosted in Seegers Union at 5:00 p.m. The project, titled, “Rose, Bud, Thorn” was a student directed and student run theater event, featuring both performances, interactive exhibits and artwork all assembled by Muhlenberg students. This was all with the goal to raise awareness about the voices and presences as well as absences that must be recognized in order to cultivate a welcoming community.
Audience members all chose a color beforehand: red, yellow or blue, organizing them into groups based on their selection and dictating the order in which groups toured the exhibits. Each of the three sections lasted for approximately eight minutes with ushers guiding each group along when the soft lights illuminating the otherwise dimmed Great Room changed colors.
The most theater-focused exhibit was a dialogue alternating between two characters on a phone call, each experiencing a different college struggle. The performance ran three separate times, once for each group and the actors and subjects changed every time, covering topics from sexual identity to race to campus culture and belonging. The other exhibits include the “Mosaic of Memories,” a collection of photos and memorabilia from Muhlenberg throughout the years, extending from decades ago to the past few months. Uncredited quotes from students and faculty alike lined the walls alongside handwritten poetry, photography and artwork. Scrapbooks, yearbooks and literary magazines from years past were laid out for students to flip through as they pleased. Lastly was the exhibit named, “The Void,” where the audience was taken behind the curtain and given black lights to read notes written by students in invisible ink addressing problems and topics they wanted to bring attention to. At the end of “The Void,” each member of the group wrote a note of advice on a Post-it, then took a note previously written. Messages ranged from the more general, urging students to to “be open to yourself changing and growing,” while some ranged on the more specific and silly side such as by encouraging students to join comedy groups.
After each audience group finished the three stations, the cast and crew came out and introduced themselves, headed by Student Director Kayla Kanefke ‘29, who has been working on the project since May. Acting as a revival of the Sedehi Diversity Project, a community event that was founded in 2006 by student Desirée Sedehi Murnane ’08 and ran for 15 years, those involved were excited to bring back a part of Muhlenberg history. “This is a really special opportunity for me because I learned about the Sedehi Diversity Project in a class semester I took with [Community Engagement Librarian] Jess Denke and [Associate Dean of Students and Director of College Life Community & Belonging] Robin Riley-Casey,” said cast member Clare Wiersma ‘27. “I realized I would have the opportunity to become a part of that, and the legacy.” Bringing it back would allow her to “not just learn about what students before me have done, but to be part of it too.”
Closing the performance, the audience and cast members were invited to debrief what they had just watched. “It seems like the group had a really valuable experience and I think there’s something to be said about that,” shared audience member Jo Trujillo ‘28. The return of such an interactive and community-focused event is one that students hope will propel Muhlenberg towards an ever-increasingly supportive and attentive campus.
