Riparia is an ongoing performance project motivated by my interest in storytelling as a potent and ancient form of popular edutainment. Specifically, I am interested in how storytelling and interactive performance generate curiosity and exchange between performer and audience, and allow participants to learn more about the place they inhabit. Riparia conducts ‘Web of Life Card Readings’ using a (still-evolving) deck of cards, emblazoned with images representing ecological and political themes. Tapping into popular interest in ‘fortune-telling’, Riparia does not claim to augur the future. Rather, the act of pulling cards effects a temporary, introspective space in which people are guided in responding to the images, reflecting on their relationship to the land, to their communities and to the forces of destruction and restoration. Riparia also utilizes a hand-sewn map of the Chesapeake Watershed and a small theater set inside an oyster shell (‘The Pearl’) to share stories about the history and ecology of this bioregion and explore people’s relationships to the Chesapeake and the bodies of water near their place of birth. The performances are intimate events for one or two people at a time.

Riparia is an ongoing performance project motivated by my interest in storytelling as a potent and ancient form of popular edutainment. Specifically, I am interested in how storytelling and interactive performance generate curiosity and exchange between performer and audience, and allow participants to learn more about the place they inhabit. Riparia conducts ‘Web of Life Card Readings’ using a (still-evolving) deck of cards, emblazoned with images representing ecological and political themes. Tapping into popular interest in ‘fortune-telling’, Riparia does not claim to augur the future. Rather, the act of pulling cards effects a temporary, introspective space in which people are guided in responding to the images, reflecting on their relationship to the land, to their communities and to the forces of destruction and restoration. Riparia also utilizes a hand-sewn map of the Chesapeake Watershed and a small theater set inside an oyster shell (‘The Pearl’) to share stories about the history and ecology of this bioregion and explore people’s relationships to the Chesapeake and the bodies of water near their place of birth. The performances are intimate events for one or two people at a time.

Riparia is an ongoing performance project motivated by my interest in storytelling as a potent and ancient form of popular edutainment. Specifically, I am interested in how storytelling and interactive performance generate curiosity and exchange between performer and audience, and allow participants to learn more about the place they inhabit. Riparia conducts ‘Web of Life Card Readings’ using a (still-evolving) deck of cards, emblazoned with images representing ecological and political themes. Tapping into popular interest in ‘fortune-telling’, Riparia does not claim to augur the future. Rather, the act of pulling cards effects a temporary, introspective space in which people are guided in responding to the images, reflecting on their relationship to the land, to their communities and to the forces of destruction and restoration. Riparia also utilizes a hand-sewn map of the Chesapeake Watershed and a small theater set inside an oyster shell (‘The Pearl’) to share stories about the history and ecology of this bioregion and explore people’s relationships to the Chesapeake and the bodies of water near their place of birth. The performances are intimate events for one or two people at a time.

Riparia is an ongoing performance project motivated by my interest in storytelling as a potent and ancient form of popular edutainment. Specifically, I am interested in how storytelling and interactive performance generate curiosity and exchange between performer and audience, and allow participants to learn more about the place they inhabit. Riparia conducts ‘Web of Life Card Readings’ using a (still-evolving) deck of cards, emblazoned with images representing ecological and political themes. Tapping into popular interest in ‘fortune-telling’, Riparia does not claim to augur the future. Rather, the act of pulling cards effects a temporary, introspective space in which people are guided in responding to the images, reflecting on their relationship to the land, to their communities and to the forces of destruction and restoration. Riparia also utilizes a hand-sewn map of the Chesapeake Watershed and a small theater set inside an oyster shell (‘The Pearl’) to share stories about the history and ecology of this bioregion and explore people’s relationships to the Chesapeake and the bodies of water near their place of birth. The performances are intimate events for one or two people at a time.

Gallery exhibition of the costume and performance objects from Riparia at the MICA Decker Gallery, September 2017.

The Pearl Theater on view at an exhibition of the Riparia costume and performance objects at the Decker Gallery, MICA, September 2017. Riparia is an ongoing performance project motivated by my interest in storytelling as a potent and ancient form of popular edutainment. Specifically, I am interested in how storytelling and interactive performance generate curiosity and exchange between performer and audience, and allow participants to learn more about the place they inhabit. Riparia conducts ‘Web of Life Card Readings’ using a (still-evolving) deck of cards, emblazoned with images representing ecological and political themes. Tapping into popular interest in ‘fortune-telling’, Riparia does not claim to augur the future. Rather, the act of pulling cards effects a temporary, introspective space in which people are guided in responding to the images, reflecting on their relationship to the land, to their communities and to the forces of destruction and restoration. Riparia also utilizes a hand-sewn map of the Chesapeake Watershed and a small theater set inside an oyster shell (‘The Pearl’) to share stories about the history and ecology of this bioregion and explore people’s relationships to the Chesapeake and the bodies of water near their place of birth. The performances are intimate events for one or two people at a time.

Web of Life Cards / Ecological Fortunes on view alongside the Riparia costume and performance objects at the Decker Gallery, MICA, 2017.

Riparia reading the Web of Life cards at the Fountain of Extinction Climate Procession organized by Laure Drogoul, Light City 2017.

“The Garment Worker’s Tale” follows the journey of a young immigrant who leaves her home country to seek her fortune in America. The story is inspired by historic accounts of garment workers at the end of the 19th century in Baltimore and New York City, and by events like the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire. The puppets are based on archival photos of immigrants and garment workers of the time, and the buildings and on historic street scenes of Baltimore. There is no dialogue or spoken narrative. The performance is accompanied only by a real time, electronic score created and assembled by Baltimore-based composers Jonah Beram and Patrick McMinn. There is no spoken text. Musical motifs for the characters were adapted from songs written in Baltimore by immigrant composers of the period. These fragments were developed into set pieces that play through the performance. A series of audio collages provide atmospheric backing. These are crafted by a custom software that stitches together recordings of small domestic objects in real time. (approximate length: 15 minutes, appropriate for all ages.)

“The Garment Worker’s Tale” follows the journey of a young immigrant who leaves her home country to seek her fortune in America. The story is inspired by historic accounts of garment workers at the end of the 19th century in Baltimore and New York City, and by events like the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire. The puppets are based on archival photos of immigrants and garment workers of the time, and the buildings and on historic street scenes of Baltimore. There is no dialogue or spoken narrative. The performance is accompanied only by a real time, electronic score created and assembled by Baltimore-based composers Jonah Beram and Patrick McMinn. There is no spoken text. Musical motifs for the characters were adapted from songs written in Baltimore by immigrant composers of the period. These fragments were developed into set pieces that play through the performance. A series of audio collages provide atmospheric backing. These are crafted by a custom software that stitches together recordings of small domestic objects in real time. (approximate length: 15 minutes, appropriate for all ages.)

“The Garment Worker’s Tale” follows the journey of a young immigrant who leaves her home country to seek her fortune in America. The story is inspired by historic accounts of garment workers at the end of the 19th century in Baltimore and New York City, and by events like the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire. The puppets are based on archival photos of immigrants and garment workers of the time, and the buildings and on historic street scenes of Baltimore. There is no dialogue or spoken narrative. The performance is accompanied only by a real time, electronic score created and assembled by Baltimore-based composers Jonah Beram and Patrick McMinn. There is no spoken text. Musical motifs for the characters were adapted from songs written in Baltimore by immigrant composers of the period. These fragments were developed into set pieces that play through the performance. A series of audio collages provide atmospheric backing. These are crafted by a custom software that stitches together recordings of small domestic objects in real time. (approximate length: 15 minutes, appropriate for all ages.)

“The Garment Worker’s Tale” follows the journey of a young immigrant who leaves her home country to seek her fortune in America. The story is inspired by historic accounts of garment workers at the end of the 19th century in Baltimore and New York City, and by events like the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire. The puppets are based on archival photos of immigrants and garment workers of the time, and the buildings and on historic street scenes of Baltimore. There is no dialogue or spoken narrative. The performance is accompanied only by a real time, electronic score created and assembled by Baltimore-based composers Jonah Beram and Patrick McMinn. There is no spoken text. Musical motifs for the characters were adapted from songs written in Baltimore by immigrant composers of the period. These fragments were developed into set pieces that play through the performance. A series of audio collages provide atmospheric backing. These are crafted by a custom software that stitches together recordings of small domestic objects in real time. (approximate length: 15 minutes, appropriate for all ages.)

“The Garment Worker’s Tale” follows the journey of a young immigrant who leaves her home country to seek her fortune in America. The story is inspired by historic accounts of garment workers at the end of the 19th century in Baltimore and New York City, and by events like the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire. The puppets are based on archival photos of immigrants and garment workers of the time, and the buildings and on historic street scenes of Baltimore. There is no dialogue or spoken narrative. The performance is accompanied only by a real time, electronic score created and assembled by Baltimore-based composers Jonah Beram and Patrick McMinn. There is no spoken text. Musical motifs for the characters were adapted from songs written in Baltimore by immigrant composers of the period. These fragments were developed into set pieces that play through the performance. A series of audio collages provide atmospheric backing. These are crafted by a custom software that stitches together recordings of small domestic objects in real time. (approximate length: 15 minutes, appropriate for all ages.)