Finding Each Other: Notes on the 2026-27 season
I am going to begin with a bit of a non-sequitor, so I apologize in advance. I promise I am headed somewhere with this thought.
Philadelphians are into birds right now. I read recently that since 2020 (likely related to our COVID experiences), the number of people who track their birdwatching on eBird doubled, and the number of people who use the bird-identifying app Merlin Bird ID more than quadrupled. Philly has a birdwatching group for everyone, from the In Color Birding Club to Feminist Bird Club Philly to Philly Queer Birders. I have always loved birds, so I am delighted that so many more people are looking for, writing about, and taking pictures of birds.
I recently fell down a rabbit hole reading about flocking behavior. Flocking is essentially how a group of birds behaves together in flight. It is generally believed to emerge from a need for cover and protection — turning to the group to keep each individual safe. It usually operates on an emergent code, meaning that there is no central leadership or coordination, but arises from the responses of the specific birds interacting with each other. Scientists have been able to distill a number of general principles that tend to govern flocking behavior:
Separation — avoid crowding your neighbors
Alignment — steer in a similar direction as your neighbors
Cohesion — stay close to each other
It turns out that flocking behavior also shows up in humans. And here’s where the beauty of the new Journey Arts season joins this story. We are so fortunate to be the home for two beautiful, emergent flocking stories this season. Stories of humans finding each other for cover, healing, and companionship. Learning to listen to each other and move forward as a group, giving space for individual stories and creating something living and expansive in the alchemy place where those individual stories meet up.
In February we will present Shavon Norris’s THE CRONING. In this gorgeous theatrical meditation, an ensemble of women discover what it could mean to age-while-Black, and to be seen as a full person in the midst of that transformation. Through dance, storytelling, and singing, this piece unearths, explores and celebrates the journey of Black women into old age, and reclaims the joy and sanctity of croning. The performance is the culmination of months of creative sharing within the ensemble, hearing each other and finding flight for their singular and shared experiences.
In June we premiere KINTSUGI, a new play developed in partnership with the Japanese American Citizens League of Philadelphia that asks, What does it mean to be Japanese American in this moment, and what are the lasting societal effects of isolating and punishing a group based on identity? Inspired by the traditional Japanese ceramic art of the same name, KINTSUGI fuses the stories of a connected but diverse community into a whole, with golden connective bonds that highlight rather than hide lines of break and repair.
Curated by Rob Buscher, directed by Makoto Hirano, underscored with original music by Sumi Tonooka, and with community facilitation by Amy Danford and Cliff Akiyama, KINTSUGI is a performance by community members, based on the stories of Japanese Americans in Philadelphia, shared over many months of intergenerational gatherings.
We’re thrilled to share both of these culminating productions with you, and to invite you to gather with others to experience them. Journey Arts shows are always an opportunity to unplug, to open your senses to what is around you, to breathe, to be moved. And to be with others facing the same direction. Kind of like flying in a flock for a moment.
