Audiences at the Shea Theater Arts Center will be blasted off into space during an immersive musical and multimedia performance by Earth Music Theater Live.
This free event will take flight Sunday, May 31 at 4 p.m. The production features genre-defying music by an ensemble of local musicians led by Northampton-based composer and guitarist Steve Thomas, synchronized with stunning visuals of Earth captured by astronauts on the International Space Station.
Adding to the educational experience of the evening will be retired NASA astronaut Cady Coleman, who will share stories of her two missions to the International Space Station and discuss all things space with Shea Theater Arts Inc. board president, radio host and former Kennedy Space Center summer camper not-turned astronaut, Monte Belmonte.
According to the event notice by the Shea Theater, Earth Music Theater Live will use cinematic soundscapes and spoken word that will blend with the music of several Valley musicians, including Chris Cheek on alto saxophone, Claire Arenius on drums and percussion, Josh Metz on acoustic bass and Easthampton-based multi-instrumentalist Carl Clements on bansuri, flute and soprano saxophone.
Acting as the conductor in this immersive space expedition is Thomas, who said that this is a group effort to execute a performance that seeks to remind viewers of a shared global connection.
“There’s a shared humanity, and this show allows an experience for people to come together to then experience all of this amazing, immersive photography and video from the International Space Station, from an astronaut perspective, blended with this music that is paced and in real time, set to create a mood,” Thomas said.
This performance, which highlights the collective human experience. It began in 2007 through a partnership between Thomas and Dan Barstow, director of EarthMusicTheater.org and former senior education manager for the space station. The project was created as part of the Windows on Earth educational program commissioned by the space station. Astronauts on the space station took hundreds of photographs that are now incorporated into the Earth Music Theater Live performances as part of the immersive element for audiences.
From the musical perspective, Thomas explained that the musicians work in an improvised style of performance. Each time this show is performed, audiences experience a different musical blend of live instruments and sound designs, coupled with the visuals on-screen and from a scratch-built space station by Earth Music Theater Live Art Director Jack Frisch.
Although the music may change between performances, Thomas said audiences always react in two profound ways. First, children respond powerfully to Coleman’s story, often seeing themselves in her. Second, the stunning Earth visuals of coral reefs and oceans leave a deep emotional impact on attendees.
“There’s a lot baked into that for everybody to experience it and take away what they will,” Thomas said. “And my hope is that people will be inspired to take some type of action … to do some good.”
For her part in the show, Coleman will share stories from her time at the space station and from her career as an astronaut. A unique part of this show, Coleman points out, is the conversation she’ll have with Belmonte, who she said is “gifted” in his interviewing capabilities.
In doing these performances with Earth Music Theater Live, Coleman said that it is very reflective of her time in space, with the music and visuals bringing her back to those missions.
“Something will come across the screen, and maybe the music gets more dramatic, and sometimes it’s just sort of slow and haunting,” Coleman described the performance, “and so, because I think there’s one more sensory [element] — it’s not just looking, but you’re hearing as well, it really brings me back to being up on the Space Station looking out the window.”
Coleman and Thomas noted that the production’s overarching goal of unifying people mirrors the collective global impact of the recent Artemis II lunar flyby.
For these performances, Coleman gives introductions to the show, and at the Shea Theater, she said she plans to take time to reflect on the awesome feat accomplished by these four astronauts and those involved in the success of Artemis II. To her, she said that she sees that there was a world before Artemis II, and a world after, which she said is a world where the moon is seen more as a real place and a real destination.
“I don’t think I can look at the moon the same ever again,” Coleman said.
As for Thomas, he sees the through-line of the Artemis II mission and the response people had to it, and the goals of Earth Music Theater Live for bringing people together.
“Our goal is to reach people with this experience, and to bring people to their own understanding that we’re all in this together, and we’re all stewards of this earth, and we all have a shared responsibility,” Thomas said.
Earth Music Theater Live at the Shea Theater Arts Center, 71 Avenue A, is free and open to all ages. Guests can reserve their spots online and make donations at events.leapevents.com/event/earth-music-theater-live.
