Kea's Ark

(in development)

Music by Ted Kociolek

Lyrics by James Racheff

Book by James Racheff and Ted Kociolek

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KEA’S ARK is an original book musical based on the true story of Kea Tawana, an indigent Asian-American woman who, through her own vision and industry, fashioned a huge, twenty-ton ark from the debris of an inner-city wasteland. Conceived by Kea as a vehicle of independence from a lifetime of hardship, the ark becomes a source of controversy in the community, hailed as a joyful symbol of self-determination and grassroots/outsider art, damned as an eyesore by the town elders. Her cause rallied international support but, ultimately, she lost the battle to the city inspectors and their bulldozers. How Kea achieves her dream and revitalizes a dying community has the makings of a contemporary myth of beauty and power for our fragmented times.