BRATTLEBORO-Internationally known Sandglass Theater of Putney is sharing some of its puppets with the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) this summer and fall during the exhibit "From Home/To Home," currently on view through Oct. 19.
The exhibit highlights two Sandglass productions and coincides with the theater's 12th "Puppets in the Green Mountains" festival, which takes place Sept. 7 to 15 at multiple locations throughout Brattleboro.
Sandglass was established in Germany but, in 1986, moved to Vermont, where founders Eric Bass and Ines Zeller Bass and their colleagues wove themes from local history, culture, and weather into several Sandglass productions.
The puppets and props showcased at BMAC are from two shows that continue to hold relevance in southern Vermont today, although they were first presented years ago.
The first is All Weather Ballads, initially created in 2010. The production focuses on the physical landscape and changing seasons: ice fishing shanties, muddy roads, apple ladders, and wood piles, all framed by the story of a young girl and boy who grow up and enter the winter of older age. Their sense of home is rooted in the land and how they navigate it. Even as Vermont's weather patterns change, the objects, tools, and phenomena that are so familiar in rural life remain consistent.
In 2016, Sandglass embarked on a multi-year project about migration and refugees, titled Babylon, exploring questions such as what "home" means, what makes people leave home, and what things they take with them to survive and keep their sense of home alive. The characters are six refugees who fled war and violence in their countries; the exhibit also includes objects of significance, such as life vests, toys made in refugee camps, and pages torn from a special book.
Sandglass brings these productions back to the forefront two years after southern Vermont began welcoming refugees who, having fled conflict and danger in their home countries, were resettling in Brattleboro and surrounding areas. In Vermont, they blend the objects, activities, and traditions of their homelands with the ones they are learning about in Vermont.
With "From Home/To Home," Sandglass aims to contribute to the conversation about where people in the local community come from, where the community is going, and how Vermont remains a unique place.
During the "Puppets in the Green Mountains" festival, Sandglass will host a gala celebration at BMAC on Thursday, Sept. 12, at 5 p.m. with entertainment, food, beverages, a silent auction, and a ticket to Sandglass Theater's newest work, Feral, which premieres at 7:30 p.m. at New England Youth Theater. For more information, visit sandglasstheater.org.
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.