Ponderosa Pine
by Andraea Sartison
Mythical Memoir
A PTE Production
Inspired by a collection of true family stories, Ponderosa Pine is family history turned legend, turned myth. One young girl bears witness to the rise and fall and rise again of a community: an ensemble of Scandinavian ancestors who inhabit a mythical Prairie town called Valhalla, trapped between the mountains and the sea, with a horizon that thunders on to eternity. At the centre of the town is a tree that sprouts and grows magically from a tiny seed – a symbol of the community itself. Lyrical, haunting and beautiful, Ponderosa Pine imagines heaven as a small Prairie town.
"If heaven is real, it is a small Prairie town. If you go there when you die, you become the truest version of yourself for eternity. If so, how old are you, and what are you doing? Asking my family these questions is how the characters of Ponderosa Pine were born."
- Andraea Sartison