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IN INCUBATION UNDER THE SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE OF

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IN 1977, NASA LAUNCHED A PAIR OF UNMANNED VOYAGER SPACECRAFT ON A SCIENTIFIC "GRAND TOUR" OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM. EACH CRAFT WAS OUTFITTED WITH A "GOLDEN RECORD" OF MUSIC, GREETINGS, AND IMAGES OF LIFE ON EARTH TO CARRY BEYOND THE PLANETS INTO INTERSTELLAR SPACE.
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THIS IS THE STORY OF TWO VOYAGERS WHO MADE A RECORD AND TOOK IT ON TOUR.
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SAGUARO CITY MUSIC THEATRE is proud to partner with songwriter Cameron Hood (Ryanhood) in the development his new work, Voyagers: A Space Rock Opera. Highly researched and richly allegorical, Voyagers is a sung-through musical about a space-obsessed musician who wrestles with his own ever-expanding ambition as he and a female partner create a gold record and embark on a grand tour inspired by NASA’s twin Voyager space probes.

Inhabiting a theatrical space between Pink Floyd's The Wall, Broadway's Hadestown, American Idiot, and Once: The Musical, Voyagers uses rock music storytelling, dramatic acting, and immersive visuals to explore the aches, dreams, and fears of two ambitious musicians. Their story is told symbolically through the actual mind-bending history, science, and sounds of NASA’s Voyager program.

Launched in 1977, the twin Voyager space probes are the farthest things humans have ever launched from Earth. They visited and studied all four outer planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—in a flight path officially called “The Grand Tour.” And they both carry a phonograph record nicknamed, “The Golden Record,” as a time capsule of life on Earth in case they are ever discovered a million years from now by another civilization somewhere out in the Milky Way.

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CAMERON HOOD is a singer/songwriter and graphic designer from Tucson, AZ for whom inner transformation is the most important precursor to societal change. Interested in both big-picture, systemic thinking as well as the detailed nuances of wordplay, Cameron has been fusing together his interests in songwriting, narrative storytelling, spirituality, and theatre for the creation of Voyagers: A Space Rock Opera, co-written with college English teacher John D. Larson.

As part of the indie-folk acoustic duo Ryanhood, Hood has released seven albums of original music, performed over 1000 shows in 3 countries and 47 US states, and been named, along with Green, “Best Group/Duo” in the 2014 International Acoustic Music Awards. 

In 2017, Hood co-created a modern ballet about the life of gangster John Dillinger with Ashley Bowman of Artifact Dance Project, called Surrounding Dillinger, about which Arizona Daily Star said, “It’s contemporary dance. It’s theatre. It’s a concert. And it is, simply, astounding.” More recently, Hood spoke and performed along with frequent collaborator Ryan David Green at the 2019 TEDx Tucson [R]evolution Conference, in a TED Talk called, “How Bad Things Can Make Us Good People.” 

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THE FOLLOWING ARE SELECTIONS FROM VOYAGERS, WITH MUSICAL DEMOS AND ACCOMPANYING LIBRETTO
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"THE NIGHT SKY"

The Night Sky
00:00 / 04:00

ONE

Too many cars like me on the road
Too many idiots pushing to go

Carving our own headstones, we groan

Beneath the crushing weight
The crushing weight
Of life

There's too many buildings, too many rooms

Too many endless things to do

Too many empty days just scraping through

But looking up does it reframe you?

Where you fit and who you pray to?

Does it make you want to close your eyes

And cry?

Oh, to the night sky

Oh, to the night sky

How to do reach out, touch it, taste it?

How do you rise above the race?

How do you get some sense of space

In billions and billions?

How do you reach out, touch it, taste it?

And fly to the place where there's no pain?

And how do you climb above the weight

Of billions and billions and billions and billions

And billions and billions and billions and billions

And billions and billions and billions and billions?

Maybe I could be the first

To write it all inside a verse

To rise and leave this heavy Earth behind

And fly

Oh, to the night sky

Oh, to the night sky

"THE BALLAD OF ONE AND TWO"

The Ballad of One and Two
00:00 / 03:05

TWO

One, two, one, two . . .

ONE

“There is the sister of my soul”

I remember thinking

From the first two moments

She is like me in a way I know

We could be gold

I caught her eye at the JPL

Where there were rumors of a Mariner 11 and 12

But I told her that I planned to go beyond the belt

And she should go

We fell in love and we left the ground

Burning through the stages at the speed of sound

Ganymede and Io and Europa bound
Feeling bold

I've always been afraid to stay for too long

Afraid of missing out on something else I want

But I don't want to get too far ahead with this song

So here we go

 

Words she said to me

Always stay with me
The words she said to me

Words she said to me

Always stay with me
The words she said to me

TWO

One, two, one, two . . .

ONE

What does it take

To change your eyes?

Can you do it alone

And is it worth the price?

Well, listen how I lost the light

And tried to find my soul

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"ECLIPTIC BLUES"

Ecliptic Blues / The Same Three Streets
00:00 / 06:20

ONE

Beneath the sky, far from town

The evening lights are coming out

We’re almost there, just a little more

TWO

Can you tell me what

What we’re looking for?

ONE

My dad’s a star, he’s gone at night
My mother’s sick, the bills stack high
My brothers fight who gets the bigger bed

I come out here, look overhead

And think that I was born
For something more than ordinary

I’ve been writing something
I’ve been hiding something
Quite exciting
Something grand

Now turn your head to the side

And trace between the brightest lights

That's Venus there, and Jupiter

And it makes a line around the Earth

It's all a plane, a ring that's spun

A ball and chain around the sun

I think that I was born
For something more than ordinary

I’ve been writing something
I’ve been hiding something
Quite exciting
Something grand

I think that everyone I know

Just goes in circles bending low

Tell me, don’t you wanna go

Make something gold?

 

TWO

We could change our lives

People do it all the time
If you wanna change your life

Then change your eyes

We could change our lives

People do it all the time
If you wanna change your life

Then change your eyes

"THE SAME THREE STREETS"

NOTE: This song is part of a medley and begins at 3:29 in the player above, immediately following "Ecliptic Blues"

ONE

Oh, hallelujah, there is so much to see
A trillion kinds of life living under this tree
And more unknown than known swimming under this sea
But I drive the same three streets

I drive the same three streets

Every week

TWO

Oh, hallelujah, there is so much to see
In the waves and all the wonder of a humble heartbeat
And more unknown than known dreaming deep within me
But, yeah, I drive the same three streets

ONE

Why drive the same three streets

Every week?

When it’s so wide

It’s so wide open!
So wide open
So wide open

For you and me

ONE

Oh hallelujah, there is so little time
Let’s make a record of it all, and you can sing at my side
We’ll find a way to leave the weight of life behind
Instead of driving round the same three streets
Crying ‘bout the same three streets

Every week

TWO

Oh hallelujah, dream of leaving the ground?
Well, I’d love to sing
the stars with you

And then settle down

ONE

I’ve seen gravity pull everybody
Back to this town

ONE AND TWO

But what if it’s a gift
The lift that pushes us out there?

Beyond the belt, among the cloud

Where it's so wide open!

So wide open

So wide open

So wide open

So wide open

So wide open

So wide open

TWO

For you and me

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"CAPE CANAVERAL DAY"

Cape Canaveral Day / Over the Ocean
00:00 / 07:47

ONE

The air was warm, the day was golden
For being born again
By mid-morning, shaking off the ice
From the womb of night, and an unlived life

The crowd came down to Kennedy

To see it all up close
Turn on, turn on!
Counting down I saw the smoke

And felt the life below

Turn on, turn on!

I believe I was conceived and born

In Pasadena where the air is warm

But my life began on Cape Canaveral Day

Let’s get born, and get unfolded
Stretch my arms, find my star, a
nd begin
And by the evening I’ll be on my way
With a brand new attitude

And a heart to break

The crowd came down to Kennedy

To see it all up close
Turn on, turn on!
Counting down I saw the smoke

And felt the life below

Turn on, turn on!

I believe I was conceived and born

In Pasadena where the air is warm

But my life began on Cape Canaveral Day

I believe I was conceived and born
In California, in the swarm
But life began on Cape Canaveral Day

"OVER THE OCEAN"

NOTE: This song is part of a medley and begins at 4:46 in the player above, immediately following "Cape Canaveral Day"

ONE

So long, little Mercury
You may be missing me
But I won’t be

Goodnight, to the evening light

Venus shining bright

From the horizon

And Mars, Mars, Mars
I’m only missing you

By a month or two

Goodnight moonlight
I love you but I’m leaving you tonight

Farewell, to the ocean blue
I know I’m seeing you

For the last time

Goodbye, Ma, I won’t forget to write

But I’ve crossed the Karman Line
And it’s my time

Goodnight moonlight
You’ll try to call me home
But I won’t go
Goodnight moonlight
I love you but I’m leaving you tonight

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MAKE YOUR TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION NOW AND HELP LAUNCH VOYAGERS

WHAT WE NEED

 

Saguaro City is looking for your financial support to provide Cameron and his innovative new musical the "space" to explore, the talent with which to explore, and the time to fully realize this incredible vision onstage.

 

Your donation will go to support:

  • Rehearsal Space

  • Actors

  • Props and Scenic Elements

  • Musical Development

OUR PROGRESS SO FAR

October–November 2022
Workshop #1(feat. Xander Mason & Celeste Lewis)

August 2022
Fundraising Lyric Videos Created (feat. Cameron Hood & Lisa Gollenberg)

March 2022
Research & Development Grant awarded by
Arizona Commission on the Arts

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November 2019
First Public Performance of the song "Two" (feat. Cameron Hood)

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SAGUARO CITY MUSIC THEATRE

is a 501(c)3 organization

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