World renowned puppet-theatre master, Tony-nominated Julian Crouch comes to the Race Brook Lodge with his groundbreaking theatre piece, Birdheart (co-created with Saskia Lane), which answers the question: “how does a piece of trash learn to fly?”
A widely celebrated show that’s toured the world multiple times and has even been performed privately for His Holiness The Dali Lama, Birdheart comes home to roost in Sheffield, Massachusetts in a multi-day run in the Barn on the first weekend of October.
Built for infants, great grandparents and everyone in between, Birdheart defies expectations.
Through a series of animated images built in front of the audiences’ eyes, Birdheart creates something achingly beautiful from the humblest of beginnings: a sheet of brown paper, found objects, shadows and a box of sand. What results is an intimate and stunning chamber piece of animated theatre about metamorphosis, loneliness, and the urge to fly.
Inspired by an image of litter washed up on the shore and poisoning Albatross nests, Julian Crouch and his co-creator Saskia Lane have created a puppet show that largely eschews traditional narrative and favors instead the magical art of visual transformation. Birdheart holds a mirror up to humanity, reminding us of the profound simplicity of form, story, and emotion that is possible when artists return to the elemental within themselves. The piece is a quietly powerful, utterly compelling articulation in miniature of the mystical idea that the whole of life can be conjured from sand, sticks, paper, and the will to imagine.
Originally commissioned by The New Victory, Watermill Center, St Anne’s Warehouse and the Henson Foundation, Birdheart is an example of puppetry practiced at the highest levels of human artistry and expression and it will transform all who are lucky enough to witness it.
The performance is about 80 minutes long
Ticket Price: $25 adults, $10 for children.
(kids under 4 are free) - Get Tickets
Three Shows!
Friday, Saturday & Sunday October 6-8
Friday 6pm
Saturday 6pm
Sunday 3pm (sold out)
The Stagecoach Tavern is open for dinner before or after the Performance on Friday and Saturday, or for brunch on Sunday before the event, with live Jazz!
ARTIST BIOS
JULIAN CROUCH is an independent director, designer, librettist, illustrator and musician; co-founder of Improbable, and co-director and designer of Shockheaded Peter. Opera work includes The Egyptian Helena, Hansel and Gretel and Ernani for La Scala Opera, Milan; Satyagraha, The Enchanted Island, Doctor Atomic, Marnie for the English National Opera and the Met Opera; The Barber Of Seville for the Dutch National Opera; The Magic Flute Welsh National Opera and King Arthur for Berlin Staatsoper. On Broadway he designed Little Shop of Horrors, The Addams Family Musical, Big Fish, Head Over Heels and Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Tony Nomination). Julian co-directed, co-composed and designed Jedermann for the Salzburg Festival and co-created The Aging Magician for BMP at the New Victory Theater. Ballet designs include The Nutcracker for Christopher Wheeldon and The Joffrey Ballet, Cinderella for the Dutch National and San Francisco Ballets. His production Birdheart played for the Dalai Lama in Brussels and has toured as far afield as Zimbabwe and Abu Dhabi. Recent residencies and commissions include New York’s Park Avenue Armory; the inaugural commission by BRIC House Fireworks Residency in Brooklyn, NY and his ongoing residency at ALT developing The Opposable Thumb with composer Jorge Sosa. A lifetime multidisciplinary collaborator, Julian’s works and companies have won Drama Desk, OBIE and Oliver awards.
SASKIA LANE a Juilliard-trained bassist, composer, performer, puppet maker and educator whose work spans many genres. Currently Saskia appears each summer at the Salzburg Festival in the celebrated annual production of Jedermann and this fall she will continue to tour her show, Birdheart, co-created with director/designer Julian Crouch. In addition to traveling to the far East, she had the honor of performing the piece for the Dalai Lama in Belgium. Since 2010, Saskia has been a member of the noted theater company, Checkov at Lake Lucille, as performer and composer, and is set to appear in the group’s soon-to-be-released feature film of The Seagull (Anton’s Week; currently in post-production). Saskia worked for several years with the British-based Improbable Theatre Company on The Devil and Mister Punch, which toured internationally. Her work has received residencies at The New Victory Theater, BRIC, Park Avenue Armory, Watermill and St. Ann’s Puppet Lab
Race Brook Lodge is a hidden gem in The Berkshires, at the foot of Mt. Race and a short hike from the Appalachian trail. The yoga & event barn at Race Brook is simultaneously rustic and sublime, steeped in hundreds of years of New England history. The Stagecoach Tavern is unpretentious fine dining, exquisite farm-to-table cuisine in a relaxed atmosphere. Much of the food is sourced from Race Farm, right on the property!
