Though Crossing John at the Crossroads is in essence a ritual, the play itself is not sacred. It is rather a joyous act of "sacred play." Subtitled, A Metaphysical Play on Words With Music, it is like a musical — but different. The story centers around a young videographer, known only as Sojourner, and Crossing John, an eccentric street musician and self proclaimed "spirtitual shape-shifter".
In his unsuccessful efforts to make a video documentary about Crossing John, Sojourner is forced to confront his deepest fears and the personal demons that have left him "lingering at the crossroads of life." Crossing John offers to assist Sojourner in getting back on track with the aid of a mysterious instrument he calls a "heal-u-phone" and a necessary, though complex, rite of passage.
Despite his own resistance, and with the often humorous help of Crossing John, a "totem voice" named Mbira, and an "ancestral" musical ensemble called Nem, Sojourner finally manages to "dance" his way out of his constrictions and move on to a fuller experience of himself and the world around him.
With an aesthetic informed by what the project's creators call the "black-magician/musician-mythos," the piece seeks to theatrically map the territory of self-transformation. By telling the story through the blending of text, music, dance and video, all of the elements work together to take us where no single element could.
