book & lyrics by Jenifer Toksvig
with music by Ben Cohn
 
Wilderness is non-specific in terms of staging. It's a theatrical soundtrack open to any interpretation that seems appropriate. It's ten minutes long, and takes the form of Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass. Here are the basic lyrics, although there is much repetition and overlap in the actual piece.
 
Running
We are running
 
We are running, we are running
running fast and fast and faster
and we're changing our direction
with the signal of the master
who is running (running)
He is running (running)
 
He is running, he is running,
running faster faster faster
and the wind is running backwards
and the ground is running backwards
as we chase, chase the master
who is running ever faster.
 
Nothing more than the pace,
it's the chasing of the place,
of the place that lies ahead of the chase.
Nothing wrong, nothing right,
nothing more than the sight
of the master chasing day into night.
Nothing less, nothing more,
this is what we're living for.
This is everything we know,
this is everywhere we go.
 
So we're running.
We are running.
 
To the beat to the beat to the beat to the beat
to the beat to the beat to the beat beat leap
to the beat -- to the beat -- into the beat into the beat turn
New beat.
Beat to the beat to the beat turn
New beat, into the beat to the beat to the beat turn...
 
We are running, we are running, we are running ever running...
(To the beat to the beat to the beat to the beat...)
Nothing more than the pace (we are running ever running)
It's the chasing of the place (we are running)
Nothing more than the pace (breathing)
It's the chasing of the place (running ever running)
Nothing more than the pace (running running)
It's the chasing of the place (running breathing)
Nothing more than the pace (running)
It's the chasing of the place (breathing)
 
Pace... beat... breathing
Pace... beat... breathing
Pace... beat
Pace... beat
Stop.
 
Still
Still
Breathing
Still... breathing
Still
Earth is standing
Breathing
Still
Earth is standing... breathing
Air... still
Still breathing (air)
Earth is standing
still
Air... is...
Earth is standing
still
... breathing
 
Air is breathing, earth is standing still
 
Earth is standing still
Earth is standing still
Earth is standing still
Earth is standing
I am breathing air
I am breathing dust
I am kicking dust
I am eating dust
 
Still...
feel, I hear, I smell, I taste, I sense, and -
something, something, something, something -
 
- closer, something stronger, something faster
Start to turn, turn, turn, turn
 
I am stronger, I am faster
I will be the master
 
Drive survive
Die survive
Emerge
Urgency
 
Drive
Die
Emerge
Urgency
 
Emergency
 
We are running (running), we are running (running)
 
We are running, we are running
running faster faster faster
and we're changing our direction
with the signal of the master
who is running (running)
We are running (running)
 
We are running, we are running
running faster faster faster
We are running, running... run...
 
Emerge
Ahh -
Ooo -
 
There is peace, there is peace
and the air is ever peaceful
and the earth is ever peaceful
 
There is light, there is light
and the air is full of light
and the earth is full of light
and the light is all we see.
 
We are silently, silently
free
 
Wilderness was a 10 minute project written at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. The brief for the project was that the characters had to be animals. Choosing not to go down the anthropomorphic route, a herd of wildebeest was the inspiration.