PUTNEY — On Friday and Saturday, April 28 and 29, Sandglass Theater will present the first full work-in-progress showing of Babylon at Next Stage Arts Project at 7:30 p.m., with an additional fundraising package for the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program on Friday after the show.
Babylon is a piece about refugees - their journeys, traumas, and challenges to resettlement. The show is performed by puppets and actors, with moving panoramas known as crankies, and with choral singing. Sandglass has been developing this piece for nearly two years, and will begin touring this fall.
The ruins of the ancient city of Babylon lie 59 miles southwest of Baghdad. According to a news release, “this fallen, mythic civilization becomes, for [the company], a metaphor for the destruction and destabilization that is leading much of the world into a refugee crisis of mythic proportion.”
Developed through interviews with resettled refugees, Babylon is a response to the rapidly escalating world crisis of asylum seekers and the challenges to individuals and communities in response to this migration.
In an effort to understand the physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges that face refugees, Sandglass Theater is also working with the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program in Colchester, one of 76 agencies in the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.
Friday evening's performance is followed by a preview reception that includes dessert, conversation with Resettlement Program Director Amila Merdzanovic, and time to meet the artists and directors of Babylon. Friday's post-show events are a fundraiser for the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program.
The show is co-directed by Eric Bass of Sandglass Theater and Roberto Salomon of Teatro Luis Poma, El Salvador. The music is composed by Brendan Taaffe, with a percussion score by Julian Gerstin. The cast includes Shoshana Bass, Kei Ching, Jay Gelter, Terrell Jones, and Kalob Martinez.