FESTIVAL UNBOUND

What would happen if the places we remember most were to tell the story of what happened there? If the houses, street corners, alleyways, neighborhood parks, and storefronts could talk, what stories might they share? 

A community is so much more than addresses and alleyways. A community is the lives that have been lived there, year after year after year. Each generation’s memories settle into the familiar streets, helping create a deep sense of what this place is to the people who call it home.

Touchstone Theatre is proud to launch a four year creative memory making project called I Remember This Spot! While Bethlehem is justifiably proud of its rich past (from Moravian settlement to industrial powerhouse to an arts and culture center) it is the stories of all the people who live, work and go to school here that make it the great community it is. This project asks the question: what did/does it feel like to be here?

History as told by the people who lived it will be the centerpiece of this project. From story-gatherings, oral histories, digging deep into the archives, and man-on-the-street interviews, the stories of place will spring to life in an interactive geo-located app specific to different neighborhoods throughout Bethlehem. Seeing this city through other people’s eyes can help us not only feel more connected to each other, but more rooted to the place itself. As each story gets added, the community begins to recognize itself.

Who Is This Project For?

• Lifelong residents who want to preserve a memory before it fades.
• Newcomers who want to understand the community they’re becoming part of.
• Students discovering local history through the voices of the people who lived it.
• Visitors who want to experience Bethlehem through stories instead of guidebooks.
• Families sharing memories across generations.
• Anyone who has ever looked at a place and thought, “I remember this spot.”

Click here for more information about the App and the launch party!
And, be sure to attend The Southside Experience, Touchstone’s love-letter to the Southside originally created 25 years ago, now revisited and retold for a new generation.

Interested in joining the story? Click here for more information about our Story Gathering events.

[Image description: An old, somewhat faded postcard image of 3rd St. on the Southside of Bethlehem. On either side of the street we see cars and buildings stretching off into the horizon. In the middle of the street run two lines straight down it, presumably for some sort of trolley or streetcar. Scattered throughout the image are various people going about their day. Above all of this is a beautiful blue sky filled with white fluffy clouds. Based on the look of the cars and clothing, I would date the image to be sometime from the early 1900s.]