Tree Speech

On this Veteran's Day we revisit Boston’s Liberty Tree, including its origin story and how that story evolved over time depending on who was telling it. We have wonderfully spirited conversations with distinguished actor, singer, dancer, and educator, Mark Linehan and historian Maddie Webster, a Boston University PhD student in the American & New England Studies Program. Then, we seek to uncover what liberty and liberation means in the present day with activist and Applied theatre practitioner Catherine Hanna Schrock, the Co-founder and Director of Imagine Brave Spaces, a San Diego-based theater company who shares a spoken word piece she wrote about her company which also serves as a call to action in making liberation a reality for all.

Mark Linehan is a Boston-based actor with extensive stage and dance experience. A native of Massachusetts, he has performed in theaters across New England as a professional singer, dancer and actor. Mark's specialty is musical theater, and he has also worked in children's theater, drama and film.

Maddie Webster is a PhD candidate in the American & New England Studies Program, where she studies urban history and historic preservation with a focus on Boston. Her dissertation explores Black Bostonians’ historic preservation efforts from the late nineteenth century onward, a story that comes into clearer focus by reframing what activities constitute preservation work. As a public historian, Maddie wants to collaborate with and bolster Boston’s citizen historians. Her partnership with the Initiative on Cities stems from this same impulse to engage with the modern city—and its challenges and opportunities—with the lessons of history close at hand.

Catherine Hanna Schrock is an Applied Theater Practitioner, which unites her roles as an educator, theatre artist, and community organizer. She designs creative programming that equips diverse communities to engage in complex dialogues toward social and community development.

Special thank you to Mark, Maddie and Catherine for their time and inspiration.

For more info:

Boston Historical Tours: https://www.bostonhistoricaltours.org/#/

Imagine Brave Spaces: https://imaginebravespaces.com

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, Massachusett, and Pawtucket people.

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. Please consider supporting the show through our Patreon. 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.alighttheater.org.

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

Gather round the campfire for a very special, supernatural episode. We have spooky, mysterious tree tales from around the world to get you into the Halloween spirit! Listen now, if you dare!

Special thanks to actor, educator, actor Peril - I mean, Cheryl Mullings, and dialect coach Charles Linshaw for joining our episode today. Learn more about Cheryl at https://cherylmullings.workbooklive.com/ and Charles at: https://www.charleslinshaw.com.

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. Special Halloween 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. To learn more about Tree Speech, please visit treespeechpodcast.com. We’re thrilled to be able to offer interviews, creative insights, and stories about the natural world we live in, and the trees who guide our way. Please consider supporting us through our Patreon - every contribution supports our production, and we’ll be giving gifts of gratitude including an invitation to Tree House, our new virtual community for patrons of all levels. Please also consider passing the word to tree loving folks, and rate and review us on Apple podcasts. Every kind word helps. Visit us also on instagram @ treespeechpodcast.

While we often speak of trees that tower over our heads, in this episode, we will examine what lies beneath to understand soil and how human interaction can affect the way we live on and with our land. We will also speak with Kesiah Bascom, who founded a mission-driven food scrap collection and composting program in the Merrimack Valley Region of Massachusetts.

Kesiah was the founder/owner of OffBeet Compost and has spent the past 7 years working in the sustainable agriculture and food justice realm. Raised in a household with a large garden, she has grown up valuing food and its unifying nature. Prior to starting OffBeet Compost, she was the Community Program Manager at Mill City Grows, a food access organization in Lowell, MA and she also worked at The Food Project as Assistant Grower which deeply influenced her path. Kesiah has found HOME in the Merrimack Valley Region, where she has resided for the past 6 years. She is currently in pursuit of a Masters in Public Policy at Tufts University and is a steering committee member for the Institute for Local Self Reliances Community Composting Coalition.

Composting Resources:

Compost Resources

Composting At Home | US EPA

Composting 101 | NRDC

Composting In The City (Best Ideas for Urban Composters!)

Community Composter Coalition

To learn more about Tree Speech, please visit treespeechpodcast.com. We’re thrilled to be able to offer interviews, creative insights, and stories about the natural world we live in, and the trees who guide our way. Please consider supporting us through our Patreon - every contribution supports our production, and we’ll be giving gifts of gratitude including an invitation to Tree House, our new virtual community for patrons of all levels. Please also consider passing the word to tree loving folks, and rate and review us on Apple podcasts. Every kind word helps. Visit us also on instagram @ treespeechpodcast.

This  week’s episode was written and recorded in Massachusetts on the native lands of the Wabanaki Confederacy, Pennacook, Massa-adchu-es-et (Massachusett), and Pawtucket people, in New York on the land of the Lenapee tribes, and in Virginia on the lands of the Nacotchtank and Piscataway Peoples.

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. More information at https://www.dorirobinson.com

Logo design by Mill Riot. Special thanks to the Western Avenue Lofts and Studios for all their support and we would like to acknowledge the support of King Philanthropies for Drawdown Lift.

Tree Speech is produced and co-written by Jonathan Zautner.

In this episode, we will examine the intersections of reproductive rights with climate solutions, and will be speaking with Kristen P. Patterson, the inaugural Director of Drawdown Lift, launched in early 2021 as a part of the nonprofit Project Drawdown.

We’ll also be speaking with Christina D. Eskridge, the Founder and Executive Director of Elevate Theatre Company, who worked to combine her expertise in performing arts with her public health background to facilitate and amplify healthcare topics through theater and storytelling.

Both our guests today - Kristen and Christina, are two inspiring leaders, who will tell us how they engage in justice work and lead by example, and we are so grateful that they joined us for this important episode.

To learn more about Tree Speech, please visit treespeechpodcast.com. We’re thrilled to be able to offer interviews, creative insights, and stories about the natural world we live in, and the trees who guide our way. Please consider supporting us through our Patreon - every contribution supports our production, and we’ll be giving gifts of gratitude including an invitation to Tree House, our new virtual community for patrons of all levels. Please also consider passing the word to tree loving folks, and rate and review us on Apple podcasts. Every kind word helps. Visit us also on instagram @ treespeechpodcast.

This  week’s episode was written and recorded in Massachusetts on the native lands of the Wabanaki Confederacy, Pennacook, Massa-adchu-es-et (Massachusett), and Pawtucket people, in New York on the land of the Lenapee tribes, and in Virginia on the lands of the Nacotchtank and Piscataway Peoples.

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. More information at https://www.dorirobinson.com

Logo design by Mill Riot. Special thanks to the Western Avenue Lofts and Studios for all their support and we would like to acknowledge the support of King Philanthropies for Drawdown Lift.

Tree Speech is produced and co-written by Jonathan Zautner.

We are so excited to be entering into our fourth season with an exploration of this magical time of year, the Autumnal Equinox!

Much gratitude to our guest, Heather Porter of Animisma podcast for her moving thoughts and insights regarding this time of year, and the benefits of sacred rot. To find out more about her, please visit her website, thepathofintegrity.com.

Heather is a writer, storyteller, and advisor.  She's been called an empath, a sensitive compass of compassion, and a 'Rosetta Stone' for the soul and was led to her work through a lifetime of translating the intersections of the ecological, spiritual, and scientific for others. Rooted in her Celtic ancestry, those who lived closely to the land, waters, and seasons, she lives as an animist and her work contemplates the myriad aspects of a sovereign life, seeking to reveal the wonders of the natural and the etheric in service of connection, reverence, and deep, honorable communion.

Spirit, grace and a deep, unyielding love of the Earth are at the heart of all she does. She has undertaken depth studies in animistic, shamanic, Celtic, and Eastern spiritual practices and holds a Bachelor of Environmental Science with Honors and a Master of Environmental Law.

Her bloodlines are of the Norse-Gaels, the Picts, and the Insular Celts and she was raised in Sydney, Australia on the unceded ancestral lands of the Cammeraygal Clan of the Eora Nation. She currently resides in Denver, Colorado, on the traditional lands of the Ute and Arapaho Nations and the Oceti Ŝakowiŋ, the Seven Council Fires.

To learn more about Tree Speech, please visit treespeechpodcast.com. We’re thrilled to be able to offer interviews, creative insights, and stories about the natural world we live in, and the trees who guide our way. Please consider supporting us through our Patreon - every contribution supports our production, and we’ll be giving gifts of gratitude including an invitation to Tree House, our new virtual community for patrons of all levels. Please also consider passing the word to tree loving folks, and rate and review us on Apple podcasts. Every kind word helps. Visit us also on instagram @ treespeechpodcast.

This  week’s episode was written and recorded in Massachusetts on the native lands of the Wabanaki Confederacy, Pennacook, Massa-adchu-es-et (Massachusett), and Pawtucket people, in New York on the land of the Lenapee tribes, and Colorado on the traditional lands of the Ute, and Arapaho Nations and the Oceti Ŝakowiŋ, the Seven Council Fires.

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. More information at https://www.dorirobinson.com

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.

Give us your hands, dear friends, as we lead you along the path of our own Midsummer Night’s Dream! We conclude this season with a celebration of Midsummer and the summer solstice. Listen as our host hikes her way through the day, all while sharing stories about summer rituals and traditions from around the world.

We have a newly-launched Patreon! We at Tree Speech strive to bring you insightful stories and information about trees and those who engage with them, including interviews with a wide range of people who care about them. As we keep growing, we would appreciate your support! We now have a Patreon, and every dollar helps us continue to produce this podcast. Every contribution supports our production, and we’ll be giving gifts of gratitude including an invitation to Tree House, our new virtual community for patrons of all levels.

If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please like us on social media, and rate and review us on apple podcasts. Every kind word helps. To learn more about the episode see our show notes and visit us at treespeechpodcast.com, and on instagram @ treespeechpodcast.

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. More information at https://www.dorirobinson.com

This week’s episode was written and recorded in Massachusetts on the native lands of the Wabanaki Confederacy, Pennacook, Massachusett, and Pawtucket people, 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.

We at Tree Speech and Alight Theater Guild are incredibly grateful to John Philip Newell for joining us today.  Newell is a Celtic teacher and author of spirituality who calls the modern world to reawaken to the sacredness of Earth and every human being.

Canadian by birth, and a citizen also of Scotland, he resides with his family in Edinburgh and works on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2016 he began the School of Earth and Soul (originally called the School of Celtic Consciousness) and teaches regularly in the United States and Canada as well as leading international pilgrimage weeks on Iona in the Western Isles of Scotland.

His PhD is from the University of Edinburgh and he has authored over fifteen books, including A New Ancient Harmony, Sounds of the Eternal, The Rebirthing of God, and his latest award-winning publication Sacred Earth Sacred Soul.

Newell speaks of himself as ‘a wandering teacher’ following the ancient path of many lone teachers before him in the Celtic world, ‘wandering Scots’ seeking the wellbeing of the world. He has been described as having ‘the heart of a Celtic bard and the mind of a Celtic scholar’, combining in his teachings the poetic and the intellectual, the head as well as the heart, and spiritual awareness as well as political and ecological concern. His writings have been translated into seven languages. In 2020 he relinquished his ordination as a minister of the Church of Scotland as no longer reflecting the heart of his belief in the sacredness of the earth and every human being. He continues, however, to see himself as ‘a grateful son of the Christian household’ seeking to be in relationship with the wisdom of humanity’s other great spiritual traditions.

In 2011 John Philip was awarded the first-ever Contemplative Voices Award from the Shalem Institute in Washington DC for his prophetic work in the field of spirituality and compassion. In 2022 he received the Sacred Universe Award from the Well Center for Spirituality in Chicago, IL in recognition of his significant work in furthering humanity's relationship with the sacredness of Earth.

If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please like us on social media, and rate and review us on apple podcasts. Every kind word helps. To learn more about the episode see our show notes and visit us at treespeechpodcast.com, and on instagram @ treespeechpodcast.

We have a newly-launched Patreon! We at Tree Speech strive to bring you insightful stories and information about trees and those who engage with them, including interviews with a wide range of people who care about them. As we keep growing, we would appreciate your support! We now have a Patreon, and every dollar helps us continue to produce this podcast. Every contribution supports our production, and we’ll be giving gifts of gratitude including an invitation to Tree House, our new virtual community for patrons of all levels.

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. More information at https://www.dorirobinson.com

This week’s episode was written and recorded in Massachusetts on the native lands of the Wabanaki Confederacy, Pennacook, Massachusett, and Pawtucket people, in New York on the land of the Lenapee tribes as well as the lands of Edinburgh.

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.

We have a newly-launched Patreon! We at Tree Speech strive to bring you insightful stories and information about trees and those who engage with them. As we keep growing, we would appreciate your support! We now have a Patreon, and every dollar helps us continue to produce this podcast. Every contribution supports our production, and we’ll be giving gifts of gratitude including an invitation to Tree House, our new virtual community for patrons of all levels.

We at Tree Speech and Alight Theater Guild are incredibly grateful to Rhyd Wildermuth for joining us today. Rhyd is a druid, theorist and writer originally from Appalachia and now living in the Ardennes. He is the director of publishing for Ritona / Gods&Radicals Press and the author of six books, most recently Being Pagan: A Guide to Re-enchanting Your Life. He writes at From The Forests of Arduinna.

If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please like us on social media, and rate and review us on apple podcasts. Every kind word helps. To learn more about the episode see our show notes and visit us at treespeechpodcast.com, and on instagram @treespeechpodcast.

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 written and recorded in Massachusetts on the native lands of the Wabanaki Confederacy, Pennacook, Massachusett, and Pawtucket people, in New York on the land of the Lenapee tribes as well as the lands of the Arduinna Forest.

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.alighttheater.org.

We at Tree Speech and Alight Theater Guild are incredibly grateful to Stephanie Kaza for joining us today.

Dr. Stephanie Kaza is Professor Emerita of Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont and former Director of the UVM Environmental Program. She co-founded the Environmental Council at UVM and served as faculty director for the Sustainability Faculty Fellows program. In 2011 Dr. Kaza received the UVM George V. Kidder Outstanding Faculty Award for excellence in teaching. Kaza received a prestigious Religion and Science course award from the Templeton Foundation for her course on Buddhism and Ecology. She lectures widely on topics of Buddhism and the environment.

Also much gratitude and endless love to our mothers, Miriam Robinson, Anne-Marie Roach and Jackie Vandenberg for sharing their sapling stories, and for everything. 

If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please like us on social media, and rate and review us on apple podcasts. Every kind word helps. To learn more about the episode see our show notes and visit us at treespeechpodcast.com, and on instagram @ treespeechpodcast.

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 written and recorded in Massachusetts on the native lands of the Wabanaki Confederacy, Pennacook, Massachusett, and Pawtucket people, in New York on the land of the Lenapee tribes, as well as the lands of the Confederate Tribes of the Siletz Indians, and the Grand Ronde Cowlitz.

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.alighttheater.org.

We at Tree Speech and Alight Theater Guild are incredibly grateful to Aaron Mair for joining us today. 

Aaron Mair is an environmental justice pioneer who has worked over the last 40 years in the spaces of health, environment, climate change disparities, and wilderness protection. He is an urban environmental activist and a regional and national environmental justice organizer and strategist who has advised two presidents and Congress, served on the national board of directors of the Sierra Club as its 57th president, and as the New York State Atlantic Chapter Chair.

Link to the article that Aaron co-wrote for Earth Island Journal:  "Who Was John Muir, Really?" 

If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please like us on social media, and rate and review us on apple podcasts. Every kind word helps. To learn more about the episode see our show notes and visit us at treespeechpodcast.com, and on instagram @ treespeechpodcast.

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 written and recorded in Massachusetts on the native lands of the Wabanaki Confederacy, Pennacook, Massachusett, and Pawtucket people, in New York on the land of the Lenapee tribes, as well as the lands of the Iroquoian Mohawks and Algonquin Mahicans. 

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.alighttheater.org.