This first episode of our second season features the 9/11 Survivor Tree, a Callery Pear tree found during the excavation of Ground Zero in New York City. Our guest, Ronaldo Vega, shares his insightful and touching story of how he championed and helped nurture the tree from a wounded, burned stump to the powerful sign of hope and survival that it represents today.

Additional resources: 9/11 Memorial Survivor Tree: https://www.911memorial.org/visit/memorial/survivor-tree

Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum Survivor Tree: https://memorialmuseum.com/experience/the-survivor-tree/

Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial: https://www.wisconsin911memorial.com

Bartlett Arboretum & Gardens: http://www.bartlettarboretum.org

Special thanks to Ron Vega for sharing his time and inspiration.

Tree Speech’s host, Dori Robinson, is a director, playwright, dramaturg, and educator who seeks and develops projects that explore social consciousness, personal heritage, and the difference one individual can have on their own community. Some of her great loves include teaching, the Oxford comma, intersectional feminism, and traveling. With a Masters degree from NYU’s Educational Theatre program, she continues to share her love of Shakespeare, new play development, political theatre, and gender in performance. Dori’s original plays have been produced in New York, Chicago, and Boston. More information at https://www.dorirobinson.com

This week’s episode was recorded in Massachusetts on the native lands of the Wabanaki Confederacy, Pennacook, Massa-adchu-es-et (Massachusett), and Pawtucket people, as well as in New York on the land of the Lenapee tribes. Logo design by Mill Riot. Special thanks to the Western Avenue Lofts and Studios for all their support.

Tree Speech is produced and co-written by Jonathan Zautner with Alight Theater Guild. The mission of the guild is to advance compelling theatrical endeavors that showcase the diversity of our ever-changing world in order to build strong artists whose work creates empathy, challenges the status quo and unites communities. For more information about our work and programs, please visit www.alightheater.org.

Learn more about the podcast at: www.treespeechpodcast.com, and IG: treespeechpodcast