Flying Lessons

Created by Caitlin Brzezinski
and Libby Schap
On a dark night, as a storm brews on the horizon, three women take refuge in an abandoned house. Inside sleeps a strange world of memory and desire, awakened by their presence. Soon the women are lured into confrontation with their deepest “chimera” or desires; desire for transformation, for family, and for escape. Through play and experimentation, Flying Lessons asks us to imagine a world in which our fantasies are possible — in which surrealist, disjointed dreams become reality — if only for the night. Recommended for adults and teens.

Flying Lessons is a dance-like shadow puppet show, using traveling shadow screens, flying puppet characters, and non-traditional lighting. Blurring the line between puppet, set, and plaything — characters cross the fourth wall, are lit in front of or behind a screen, merge to form visual hybrids, and appear in surprising ways. This art nouveau aesthetic, with a graphic novel twist, results in an enchanting and unsettling evening of theater for adults.

Performed by Caitlin Brzezinski, Libby Schap, and Lisa Joyce. Original music by Marshall Daniels and Everett Hardin. This production has been awarded the Jim Henson Foundation Workshop (2018) and Production (2019) grant.