The story defies synopsis, but…the simplest of means—hardware-store technics, slide projections, an old radio, admirable puppets, and gorgeously-painted banners—and sophisticated use of their tiny traveling stage space… come together in a series of events that, while not conventionally logical, ring with emotional truth and, like ripples in a pond, seem to expand out into the universe.
In the wilds of Siberia, Charles Darwin goes off in search of the Yeti. The Yeti (if she exists) enters a radio station’s dance contest, hoping to win an all-expenses-paid vacation to a place that doesn’t exist yet. Darwin’s research companion—a little brown bat—falls in love with the radio station’s electromagnetic emissions—but how could that ever end happily? Meanwhile, Siberia’s caves are home to a secretive tribe of ropemakers—but their disintegrating family structure may cause their ancient craft to be lost forever.
Through the lens of the real life allegory of the Flying Wallendas’ famous high-wire act, two performers on a tiny stage unfold Darwin’s laboratory, unfurl anatomic diagrams of the yeti, and try to tease out the difference between miracles and non-miracles.
Der Vorfuhreffekt Theatre
