Last West: An immersive experience into the making of Roadsongs for Dorothea Lange

As dusk falls over Western Hills Garden, join poet and playwright Tess Taylor and director Ciera Eis for an intimate evening inside the making of Last West: Roadsongs for Dorothea Lange.

Hear readings from the play, watch an unforgettable slideshow of Dorothea Lange's California photographs, and go behind the scenes of an extraordinary production in development.

Tess and Ciera will be in conversation about the images, voices, and stories at the heart of Last West — Lange's road journals, her Dust Bowl migrations, her portraits of ordinary Californians navigating water, land, work, and belonging — and what her vision asks of us now.

The evening will also open into a broader conversation about the vital role spaces like Western Hills Garden play in sustaining artists and art-making in California today. Wine, snacks, and a light soup and salad supper included.

Join us for an evening of art, conversation, and California light bites including a simple soup, salad, and bread meal. Space is limited.

5-8pm • $60

Artist Bios:
Tess Taylor is a poet, playwright, and cultural critic, and the author of five poetry collections including Last West: Roadsongs for Dorothea Lange, Rift Zone, and Work & Days (named one of the New York Times' 10 Best Poetry Books of 2016). Her criticism appears in Harper's Magazine, The Atlantic, and The New York Times. She served as on-air poetry reviewer for NPR's All Things Considered for over a decade and was awarded an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship in 2024. Her sixth collection, Come Bite, is forthcoming from Milkweed Editions in April 2027.

Ciera Eis is a bicoastal director who develops socio-political new work. Recent credits include Last West: Roadsongs for Dorothea Lange (Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Oakland Museum of California, ColLABo at Carnegie Mellon University), Hadestown (American Conservatory Theatre YC), and Love U: A New Musical (Z Below). For five years she was a producer on Berkeley Repertory's New Works Summer Program, The Ground Floor. She is a founding member of the Bay Area Directors Collective and a 2024 Directors Lab West Recipient.