Bio
Worry Noise Dirt Heat began in 2015 to share new musical theater—in 2020, expanded to include extra-theatrical, recorded music. In both media, WNDH work embraces the most powerful and accessible tools of creative expression to promote empathy for strangers, nature, others, the unknown.
Lane Dombois, Artistic Director
Lane (he/him) is a playwright, composer, and recording artist from around Arizona (unceded Yavapai Apache, Hohokam, and Tohono O'odham territory), currently in Brooklyn, Lenapehoking.
He's written and composed two musicals: I love you, and I want you to be my bird. (developed with Jesse Freedman) and No Only (developed with Nic Adams, Fernando Gonzalez, and Sophie Zmorrod). With composer Ana Garcia, he wrote book and lyrics for the musical Salvador.
Lane has performed for and co-composed every album by the band Banquets/Blankets (with Charles Myers and Andrew Lane) and released his own work as Madame Zero, Lane Dombois, and Footsteps Follow.
WNDH coalesces Lane's serial collaborators (those named above and more) and the values and ambitions they hold in common.
Values
Empathy, Support, Access
WNDH believes art is empathy—understanding and witnessing another perspective, experiencing outside one's qualia is the goal.
WNDH supports artists by giving equal import to all project collaborators—with financial compensation for every project and attention to each collaborator's vision for the project. WNDH strives to make all collaborators in whatever medium feel comfortable and safe to contribute fully, to create a space that allows for vulnerability, easy communication, and thorough exploration.
And access: WNDH products (musical plays and recordings) are affordable and available. There is conscious avoidance of scarcity, elitism, or cost thresholds that need be overcome to experience WNDH work. It's made to be known.
Ambitions
Interconnectedness in the Climate Crisis
The climate crisis is pervasive. It affects everyone, though is currently and will increasingly distress with unequal exaggeration communities of color and communities burdened by resource lack—often a demographic crossover due to systemic racism.
With a primary goal of connecting and changing—of finding collaborators and an audience that will question experiential expectations and grow through the push and pull of shared ideas—WNDH contributes to increased interconnectedness in the climate crisis.
With each album and play, achieving connection leads to understanding and action—to diversify perspectives and advocate for a more equitable society, in opposition to colonialism and capitalism.
