One Clap Speech and Debate
One Clap Speech and Debate is a resource for Speech and Debate coaches and competitors. We interview heroes of the Speech and Debate community about the transformative power of the activity and work to provide free and helpful content for Speech and Debate enthusiasts. Lyle Wiley, an English teacher and Speech and Debate Coach in Thermopolis, Wyoming, hosts the show.
One Clap Speech and Debate
Camp One Clap 2, Episode 18: Jay M. Roccaforte on Embracing Gratitude and Hope through "Hadestown"
6:18 - Camp One Clap 2024: Day 18
For notes and details about the episode, check out the website here:
https://www.oneclapspeechanddebate.com/post/camp-one-clap-2-episode-18-jay-m-roccaforte-on-embracing-gratitude-and-hope-through-hadestown
Jay Roccaforte is back to share his transformative experiences as he dives into the parallels between the struggles faced by characters in Anais Mitchell's musical "Hadestown" and the real-life challenges encountered in the world of speech and debate. Through Jay's personal anecdotes and the powerful themes of "Hadestown," we explore how Greek mythology and modern storytelling can illuminate our own fears and aspirations. Expressing love through art, even in the face of adversity, is a central theme Jay passionately discusses. He reflects on the importance of gratitude and hope, drawing valuable lessons from historical tragedies. Don't miss it!
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Well, hey, campers, camp One Clap Two is gliding into day 18 and we are just absolutely thriving out here in the clapocalypse. Today's speech superstar at the high school and college level, jay Roccaforte, is here with part two of his series. I'm your camp director and host of the One Clap Speech and Debate podcast, lyle Wiley. Hopefully this year at camp we're helping coaches and competitors take on fear and embrace all the unknowns in this coming speech and debate season. Quick reminder check the One Clap socials for today's social media challenge. And with us today is fabulous performer and friend of the podcast, jm Roccaforte.
Lyle Wiley:Jay has become comfortable calling himself an artist and a poet. Throughout six years of forensics competition, jay became a four-time national champion and an international champion as of 2023. After taking a year off from school focusing on mental health and volunteer coaching for his high school team, jay will be returning to competition with the Western Kentucky University forensics team. Pursuing his bachelor's in art education, jay is back at the clapocalypse and he's about to share an episode with a whole lot of heart. This is not one you want to miss. It's time to go on a poignant journey with Jay through Hadestown and beyond right now.
Jay Roccaforte:Casper Mountain in Wyoming is where I first embarked, alone, with my thoughts, in nature's grip. Of course, I'd been hiking out in that dense wilderness before always, with friends and family, but in fall of 2021, I was away from home for the first time to begin school, a boy burned by young love and in need of cold introspection. So I began writing songs, poetry, and after all the fraught, split-end words of self-pity and confusion, I realized that I still had a bleeding heart pouring out love, and you cannot let perfectly good love go to waste. Love go to waste. So I lived on and we'll come to see how this little tale of mine holds a familiar tone with the infinitely fruitful themes of two famous tales in Greek mythology.
Jay Roccaforte:Today, I am happy to relive and reiterate Anais Mitchell's Hadestown. If you haven't at least listened to the Broadway cast recording of this musical, do yourself the favor. And look, am I saying Hadestown is the best musical I've ever listened to? That's exactly what I'm saying, hands down. I've got a thick Google Doc to back up that claim. So come at me. I have three goals for this segment today. One to sum up the main plot of Hadestown, which will result in you being just as obsessed with this story as I am, maybe not as obsessed.
Jay Roccaforte:Two we'll analyze the anxieties that reflect the internal and external struggles each of our lovers face and how it influences their actions and choices throughout the musical. Then three relate all of this back to the treacherous lifetime endeavor that is speech and debate. I promise I did not forget that's what we're talking about here. So as you listen to this story, please try and think of these conflicts in the context of facing your own fears in forensics. So on the railroad line on the road to hell, we are audience members to the songs of Hades, god of the dead, persephone, goddess of the seasons, orpheus, a poor boy working on a song, and Eurydice, a young girl looking for something to eat. Long before the events of Hadestown and best told in the three epics, orpheus performs. Throughout the show we learn where the seasons come from and how the songs and love of Hades and Persephone make our world go round. Once upon a time, hades, king of the underworld, while gazing to the world above, saw Persephone gathering flowers in the sunlight and fell in love. So he takes her home to become his queen, and without her above, none of the flowers would grow. Rough weather raged on. Rough weather raged on. So the two came to an agreement that for half of each year she would stay with Hades in his world below and the other half she could walk again in the sun, making it burn twice as bright Winter and summer With Hermes acting as the narrator and wingman to Orpheus. The actual plot of the musical follows the lovers Orpheus and Eurydice and the journey they take through an industrialized underworld. These lovers are so down bad they sing songs about it. Orpheus is going to bring the world back into tune with his music. He's gonna marry this girl and spring will come again. But when that train from down below brings Persephone and summer to the surface, eurydice is finally like wow, okay, if things are always like this, of course we can get married. But then Hades calls for Persephone back to Hadestown. I mean, they agreed on six months and this girl was out of hell for like literally five minutes total in the musical.
Jay Roccaforte:See, hades is high-key, a stand-in for capitalist propaganda, and the music is not even on the down-low about it. He burns the fossils of the dead, creating a landscape of neon electricity oil, and Persephone is not into it at all. Quote it ain't right and it ain't natural. He has nameless workers that build this wall in the name of freedom and keeping out the enemy. And who is the enemy of Hadestown, according to Hades? Poverty. He has his workers convinced it's his way or the highway. He demands obedience and security in order to maintain everything that he owns, including the workers.
Jay Roccaforte:When times above ground are struck with chaotic weather caused by Hades climate change, our boy, orpheus, is still working on his song, trying to bring spring again, and Eurydice is starting to wonder if this boy can really keep her safe. They need food, firewood, shelter, and this guy is singing away, too caught up in his dreams to see his love is fading away. Hades tricks Eurydice into taking a ticket and signing a deal Come work for him in this warmth and safety of Hadestown. So she leaves Gone. Orpheus finally comes looking for her and Hermes is like my guy, while you were strumming and humming, your fiancé got a ride to Hadestown and now you're going to have to go after her if you want that happy ending. And he does.
Jay Roccaforte:Orpheus walks the entire way, sings his songs of love, sings his songs of love and wins the sympathy of both Persephone and the rotting workers of Hadestown. Hades is unimpressed about to absolutely annihilate this boy but is like okay, you know what my wife likes your singing. Go ahead and sing one more song. Okay, make me laugh, make me weep. And so Orpheus sings Epic Three and actually succeeds in moving the heart of this king of the dead.
Jay Roccaforte:I'm actually going to read a few lines from this song, because Orpheus really unpacks Hades as a character perfectly here. Quote the more he has, the more he holds, the greater the weight of the world on his shoulders. See how he labors beneath that load, afraid to look up and afraid to let go, afraid to look up and afraid to let go. Then, a bit later, where is the treasure inside of your chest Bars? Where is the pleasure? Where is your youth? Where is the man with his arms outstretched to the woman he loves, with nothing to lose? That song goes so hard. Eurydice is like take me home right now, I'll walk back with you, hand in hand. They dance and the songises shows their growth from the beginning. How now they understand that the road ahead will not always be sunshine and roses. But no matter what hardships wait, they'll brave this world together, side by side.
Jay Roccaforte:Orpheus goes up to Hades and is like so can we dip? And Hades is like I don't know. See if he makes Eurydice stay after hearing that song. He's a heartless man and Orpheus becomes a martyr to the workers of Hadestown. But if he lets them leave, then all of the workers will think well, if this guy can do it, so can we. It's a lose-lose for Hades. But ah, he's got a plan. Hades lets them leave, but only under the condition that Orpheus walks ahead and Eurydice follows behind. And if Orpheus turns around to be sure Eurydice is following him, then she will stay in Hadestown forever. It's a trial of faith and trust. Easy, right After everything, this guy's gone through this final lap. You know he can brave it. At least it seems that way. So they leave and with the song, doubt comes in.
Jay Roccaforte:We follow Orpheus alone on the road with his thoughts. No crowd of believers to raise his spirit, no hand of Eurydice in his. He begins to wonder if he's actually beaten Hades Quote who am I? Who am I to think that she would follow me into the cold and dark again? Why would he let me win? Why would he let her go go? Who am I to think that he wouldn't deceive me, just to make me leave alone? Where is she even after everything he's done in the name of love, his passion, his talent none of it is real. Alone with his thoughts, he believes he's been tricked, that he was the entire time following, trusting and devoted, and never to be his again. And that is Hadestown. Orpheus, the embodiment of the poetic human spirit, our desire for creativity and expression. Defeated only by his own doubts, hadestown can help us understand the essential essence of the tug of war that is life's love and fear.
Jay Roccaforte:Doubt and anxiety consume each of these characters at different points throughout the musical. Eurydice fears the material conditions that plague her life. Fears the material conditions that plague her life. She's a bird that can only migrate and follow her hunger. When the weather turns on her again, it's only natural for her to want to leave Orpheus and take her ticket to Hadestown. She's convinced by Hades that she can truly live down there, be safe and secure. It's only after she's signed the deal when she comes to understand how the security she was promised is in actuality a cage.
Jay Roccaforte:She's a nameless worker, exploited and manipulated, all in the false name of freedom Freedom from what Hades claims to have. Everything Externally, he's living Eurydice's dream, king and owner of all he could ever need a wall that guards it all and a system, obedient to his every whim. And Hades' biggest flaw lies internally. What he's forgotten is his love for Persephone. He needs her in a cage just like everyone else. Like Orpheus, Hades dreads that his lover will never return to him, but, like Orpheus, tells him what he is defending is already gone. Persephone belongs in the world above and as Hades loses sight of this, forcing her to stay with him longer and longer with each year, the world dies in her absence and she becomes numb.
Jay Roccaforte:In her song, our Lady of the Underground, persephone copes with alcohol and various other drugs, providing them for the workers of Hadestown as well. When denied access to the pleasures of the real and natural world, people will turn to the less likely, the less healthy options in order to get any feeling of pleasure they can. This is actually a lesser talked about issue that creates addiction in our culture. If you treat your workers like dead men walking, it becomes easier and easier for those workers to rationalize, doing anything to make themselves feel alive again. But what gives everyone hope is the song, and that is the message of Hadestown.
Jay Roccaforte:Orpheus, in his supposedly radical act of speaking for himself, being heard rather than quietly obeying rules, he creates hope for a better future. And that is exactly what speech and debate does. I never judge or compete in a round of a tournament with the expectation that this speech will save the world, fix all of our problems, bring everything back into tune. But nearly every round leaves me with this sense of hope. If all of these students are passionate enough to advocate for this better future they've never witnessed, then the world of Hadestown is not a promise. Hardship is unavoidable, and things you love will be taken from you. But in order to carry on the legacy of that love, you must sing anyway, again and again, summer or winter.
Jay Roccaforte:To be human is to fall in love, in spite of yourself and in spite of the fear that haunts each of us. So please again picture me, often doubtful, like Orpheus, walking alone down a path where I brought myself. There are many days I feel as afraid as he, dreading that what I have I have not earned, that where I am heading I will not belong, that no one is coming with me. The journey is treacherous, yet with each step I must have faith that my past is following close behind. I cannot let my dread consume the potential of my future, for I have promises to keep, for better or for worse, I will continue to love, to sing of love and share what can only be given.
Jay Roccaforte:If you have love in your heart, compete in this activity. If you have hate in your heart, compete in this activity. Hate is only the willingness to ward off the threat that faces all you love. Do not let this hate carry your melody and do not let fear convince you that you are alone. In the practice of repeating and recognizing tragedy in Hadestown and beyond and beyond, we can remain grateful for what we have and hopeful that we may learn from history's shortcomings. The average song can hardly provide a meal, no material shelter or warmth, just the passionate expression as giving and willing as the wind. Expression as giving and willing as the wind. While it can be falsely argued that pursuing art has a less practical appeal than slaving away in the mines, this musical clearly values the importance of expressing your love any way. The wind blows.
Lyle Wiley:Thank you so much to Jay for that beautiful and heartfelt message to all of us today and best of luck to him on his adventures this year at Western Kentucky University. What's going on in the clapocalypse tomorrow? Well, friend of the podcast, sharina Villegas, is here to chat about keeping your personality and performance and platform. Among other things, remember to check the social media challenges on our socials and we'll see you tomorrow. Campers it's super hard to teach zombies the writing process. The only part of it that they're actually really good at is brainstorming for camp one clap. This is camp director wiley signing off.