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WELCOME TO THE ROOFLESS HISTORY PAGE

“Roofless” is a musical theatre production about the lives of the Hip-Hop generation.  The show centers on 10 highly creative teenagers who hang out on the top of an inner-city High rise and takes a hard look at the all-too-common circumstances that may be at the root of the nation’s rapidly rising suicide rate, particularly among young  African American teens.  Although “Roofless” deals with difficult, and often dark, socials issues, it’s the pure energy and high entertainment value of the show that has captured the eyes, ears and hearts of audience members and critics alike.
 
“…a fast-paced work of art that must be the most uplifting look at teen suicide ever produced. “
–    The Tulsa World

The History of “Roofless” dates back as far as 1991 when the first drafts of a musical tentatively titled “Toppers” were scratched out by playwright Tim Long.  (2 songs from this original draft survived the decade to show up in the Aug 2002 premiere performance: “When it Comes to Love” and the emotional solo “All That’s Real in Me,” the latter of which still remains a pivotal moment in the show.)

When Triqueta Creative Group was founded in 1999 co-founders Tim Long and Jerome Johnson had their hands full writing and producing their first fully realized stage musical “A Song of Greenwood” a musical drama that centers around the events of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921.  “A Song of Greenwood” was a resounding success, praised not only for being an accomplished work of Musical Theatre, but also for the bold and effective way it dealt with Tulsa most taboo subject, race relations resulting from the worst race riot in American history. More information about “A Song of Greenwood” can be found below).  When considering their next project Tim and Jerome felt it was time to deal with issues even closer to their lives and the lives of the young adults they worked with on a regular basis.  And this time their first musical language of Hip-Hop could take center stage.
The themes of self-destructive behavior and suicide soon began to rise to the surface as possible topics for the new musical.  This choice was bolstered by the discovery of the first ever congressional hearing on the subject of teenage suicide was taking place on Sept 7 of 2001, a fact that would be eclipsed by the events of Sept 11.  

“After 9/11 the state of mind the country was in caused us to second-guess the wisdom of continuing with our plans to produce a show about suicide.  We sought the counsel of our board and many friends and acquaintances about whether or not to proceed.  The opinions were all over the map but we decided to stay true to our mission statement of helping youth find their voice and life purpose through the creative arts.  We had to deal with the important issues of our generation so work on “Roofless” continued.  (An interesting side note: we were in the middle of composing “Another Day” --- the finale number of “Roofless”--- on 9/11.  Over the next several days our personal feelings and the atmosphere of the country helped us create the sense of “hope against all obstacles” that drives “Another Day.”)
“Innovate, but keep it real.”   That was the banner under which Tim Long and Jerome Johnson operated as they developed the musical numbers and structure of “Roofless.”  Starting with the song concepts they pulled together all their knowledge of musical history, often requiring hours of additional research to find the emotional background to particular traditions or song styles.  The research led into areas as diverse as slavery-era musical traditions, German Opera of the 30’s based on 12th century poetry, Flamenco dance traditions, Ragtime, Gospel, and of course, the foundation for the score, Hip-Hop and the music of American Musical Theatre.  

“Once we were armed with this wealth of musical knowledge we set ourselves to the task of creating musical numbers that would naturally flow out of the characters we created.  The result is a score that is both emotionally effective and very new.  Even the numbers that are traditional raps are structured as theater songs, so they have a more narrative feel and a performance style that takes the rap into a very new direction.  The greatest triumph of the score however is the fact that each number truly captures the voice of the character who performs it, making it very natural and real for the audience.”
(To the right the costumes for the Misfortunate production number were created by Eddie and Brenda Cleveland of TICAS Technical Institution of  Cosmotology Arts and Sciences.)
In the second and third rewrites of the show the talents of Tulsa’s top Hip-Hop artists David “Sho’Tyme” Holmes and John “Johnny Polygon” Armour were given more of a spot light as they became co-writers of many of the new numbers.  Likewise, in the true tradition of Hip-Hop, many of the performers cast in the shows brought their innovative free-style artistry to the show including some outstanding Break dancing from B-boys Chris “Boogi” Walker, Adam “Tek” Acosta and Elliot “E-Dub” Kauley. Additional choreography was also provided by longtime Triqueta collaborators Jamin Jackson and Erin Miracle.
Roofless Hits the Stage
While it was still in the development stages, “Roofless” previews were taken to Dallas in early 2002 for the prestigious WaterTower Theatre’s first “Out of the Loop” Festival.  By their own accounts, “Roofless” was the runaway hit of the festival.  A review in the Dallas Morning News not only praised the performances but actually encouraged Texans to travel to Tulsa to see the premiere of the full musical in Aug of 2002.  Subsequently, the Out of the Loop Festival was named best new theatre festival in the Dallas/Ft Worth Metroplex.  

The official world premiere of “Roofless” took place at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center in Aug of 2002.  The show prompted Tulsa World Entertainment writer Michael Smith to break the rule of not reviewing single weekend shows.  Not only did he write a rave review of the piece, the Tulsa World devoted a full half page to “Roofless.”   Though still largely unknown to the general public, “Roofless” made a big impact on all those who saw it.  Among those who saw the premiere was Tulsa’s award-winning Actor/Director Tyrone Wilkerson. Tyrone convinced American Theatre Company, one of Tulsa’s oldest and most well respected Theatre companies, to add the show to their 2003 line up.  

The ATC/Triqueta production of “Roofless” hit the stage in Feb of 2003 with a number of new scenes and additional songs.   Again, the audiences and critics raved.  This time the Tulsa World pulled out all the stops in praise of “Roofless.”  A full page article and glowing review, along with the cover story in the Entertainment magazine “The Spot” helped pack the house for the 2 weekend run.  The following month, by special request “Roofless” returned to the WaterTower Theatre’s second annual “Out of the Loop” Festival as the headline production.  Being selected as the Dallas’ Hot Ticket Event for the weekend and additional positive reviews from the Dallas Morning News helped to bolster the growing buzz about this new, innovative Hip-Hop Musical.
“Throughout the process of taking the show to the next level “Roofless” may seem to disappear from local and regional audiences who are still clamoring for more performances.  But we feel confident that when “Roofless” reemerges on the scene it will have the eyes of the nation on it and Tulsans can share the pride of knowing they witnessed the birth and nurturing of a new innovative form of American Musical Theater.”

Below are quotes from the regional reviews “Roofless” received in 2003 - 2004:      
“Smokin’…dynamic, spiritual, raw, tight and very cool”
-The Tulsa World
“…blows the roof off the place.”
“A marvel of studied syncopation…brilliant improvisation”
“…a beautifully unstructured collection of musical blasts and amazing dance performances.“
“…a visually stunning work of art”
“…nothing short of fantastic.”
The Cyber B-boy Masks created by Eddie Cleveland of TICAS added to the ominous atmosphere of the Misfortunate number.
The following are quotes from The Dallas Morning News:
“Sooner or later, there’ll be another Rent, and Triqueta Creative Group has a contender in its hip-hop musical Roofless”   - Tom Sime, staff critic
“Vivid rants and dances…”
“…a roiling mass of eye candy…”
“…spine-tingling, intoxicating and haunting”
“It takes off from Stomp! and Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk,” but there’s a simplicity and  emotional directness these larger-scaled shows lack.”  
- Lawson Taite, Dallas Morning News
“This highly stylized work features so much energy, goodwill and passion that it may surprise even some of those who saw the production that the overriding theme of the show is suicide.”    
“Considering the standing ovation at the show’s conclusion and the myriad of positive comments following it, apparently no one young or old left the theatre disappointed.  And how could that be? The amazingly talented group of young people on several occasions produced performances of the musical’s 15 original songs that nearly provoked standing ovations during the show.”
“…creates something strong and hopeful from the darkest moments of the American experience.”
        - Lawson Taite, The Dallas Morning News

 

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