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"The Pomology of Sweetness and Light" is a large-scale puppet operetta that involves an interdisciplinary collaboration with the fields of stop motion animation and dance. Our narrative is a thematic exploration of the co-development of apples and the American identity, centralizing the theme of adaptation. We follow the tale of Johnny "Appleseed" Chapman, an American folk hero whose wholesome identity is complicated by the esoteric fact of his thwarted engagement to a ten year old girl. Legend has it Chapmen ended the engagement when he saw the girl flirt with a boy her own age. It was Chapman's belief that every creature and action on Earth is an echo of the realm of the ‘Spirit.’ Our story is told from the child bride's perspective. Her understanding of the world and Chapman's philosophy are expressed through puppet craft and acrobatics. This is a story of exceptional beings. Inspired by the journey of the apple on the frontier, our work is an exercise in selective adaptation. Onto the backdrop of the American Eden, we graft the figures of Dionysus and Snow White, of St. Lydwina and the Big Bad Wolf. We put these fables into conversation to tell a story of misfits seeking their place in the new world. Through a juxtaposition of scenes from our collective folklore and a marriage between puppets and dance, we seek to create newly meaningful hybrids and revive a story of forgotten love.
Company Mission and Biography The Fancies recently showcased our puppet operetta: “The Tragical Ballad of Black Bonnet: a kitchen maid's secret ” in the New Orleans Fringe Festival in November, 2008 receiving an audience pick for " best in festival. " Black Bonnet" was brought back for an encore performance in New Orleans in July, 2009 and a featured act at the Indianapolis Fringe Festival in August. In November 2009 we premiered our latest work in puppetry and mixed media theatre, " The Pomology of Sweetness and Light" at the Second annual Fringe Festival in New Orleans. In January 2010 we were awarded a grant from the Jim Henson Foundation for " The Pomology of Sweetness and Light." The Black Forest Fancies are thrilled to premiere this work at such a fantastic space as Manhattan's Theater For the New City. JUNE 1, 2009 The Gambit Weekly- Best of New Orleans -
Onstage Section Johnny Appleseed was a real person, though his actual name was John Chapman (1774-1845). A cross between Thoreau and Nature Boy, he was an eccentric wanderer who became a legend in his own time, partly because of his obsession with planting apple orchards on the Ohio, Indiana and Illinois frontier. He often went without shoes and wore secondhand clothes. He's the central character in The Pomology of Sweetness and Light, a remarkable "puppet operetta" recently staged at the Studio at Colton School by the Black Forest Fancies and Aurora Aerial company. Although it sounds poetic, "pomology," derived from the Latin word for apple, is a horticultural term for the cultivation of tree fruit. But it's the development of a romance between the aging Appleseed and a 12-year-old girl he took on as a ward that pulls the operetta towards tragic inevitability. After years of following and helping Chapman, the girl falls for a boy her own age. Pomology saught to capture the mythic aura of Appleseed and the real failed relationship. In plain view, company members dressed in black manipulated large puppets while elegant aerialists performed overhead, wrapping themselves sensually and expressively on long looping drapes, often to live accompaniment of mournful music played on violin or cello just behind the puppets in a sort of yurt. The aerial ballet was only tenuously connected to the story, but it added an evocative, fanciful dimension. Pandora Andrea Gastelum and Nina C. Nichols founded Black Forest Fancies puppet theater and wrote, designed and directed Pomology. They also worked some of the puppets, along with Amanda Stone, Liron Dan and Raven Hinojosa. Aurora Aerial featured performers Hinojosa, Andrea Duhe and Elena Brocade. The original music was composed and played by Stix Duh Clown, Jesse Stoltzfus and Alleyn Evans. I look forward to seeing the next phantasmagoria this bold theatrical coven conjures up for us. — Dalt Wonk
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CINO THEATER Thursday - Sunday, March 25 - April 4 Thursday - Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 3pm All Seats $20
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