I wish I could say that I stood here, in view of the Steelstacks bellowing smoke into the air, feeling the bustle of that beating-heart industry of this town. However, I was not around 30 years ago to witness that… nor was I around 20 years ago when Bethlehem Steel shuttered… I was not even around 10, 5, or even one year ago. 

Transplanted to the Lehigh Valley in November of 2018, I was drawn at once to the culture that bubbles up here in Bethlehem. I grew up in the shadow of New York City, and loved the essence of art that you could taste as a citizen there. However, I loathed the perpetual alone-ness– always feeling like a cast-off droplet in a mighty sea. I moved around since then, followed life’s serpentine path– and ended up here, with family in tow. My daughter is theatrical in talented way that certainly doesn’t come from me. Looking for interesting ways to get involved in the community, I came across the call for community participants for Festival UnBound and felt right away that it was something that would suit us quite well. She is getting bigger– no longer a tote-around toddler– a young woman, I guess you could say. So taking time, a couple of days out of the month to commit to creating art and being part of a bigger community has been a lovely and absolutely memorable experience. I think the only thing that’s better than the valuable time we have spent at auditions and practices and rehearsing at home will be the exhilaration of the actual performances forthcoming. We’ve both learned things about each other, connected with new friends, and found inspiration in the collaborative spirit that this festival calls forth.

I have come to realize, you don’t need to be a native of this place to be called a community-member. And you don’t need to have lived here during the height of its industry to understand the story of the place– Bethlehem’s historical epic shines bright as the Moravian Star. I am thrilled to have been accepted into this artspace and so is my daughter. What we like to talk about most is the exciting future that we have here– where art doesn’t judge, doesn’t exclude, doesn’t ridicule. Theater exists in this place because it brings joy and tends to the very real and vast array of human emotion and experience that makes a place like Bethlehem. Together, my daughter and I feel overwhelming pride in knowing we in any small way could participate in that.

~ Larissa Nemeth