This story was originally published by ArtsATL.
One of the many bitter ironies of our human-driven climate catastrophe is that plastic trash makes for beautiful puppets. That dissonance is on full and gorgeous display in ”Human,” a work by award-winning puppet artist Nehprii Amenii playing at the Center for Puppetry Arts through January 28.
Set beneath the sea in a world where humans have gone extinct, “Human” is nonetheless populated by the stuff they’ve left behind, from errant shoes to drifting water bottles and an entire submarine that settles on the ocean floor, windows dark. Many of the nonhuman creatures are made from their stuff, too: globular fish shaped from shopping bags; jellyfish emitting long tendrils of plastic. It’s a haunting cautionary tale made tangible, but it’s also disarmingly beautiful — one of Amenii’s many triumphs in this short but powerful play.
“Human” was originally produced and workshopped by the Asheville Creative Arts theater in North Carolina in 2022. This Center for Puppetry Arts Puppetry NOW production retains some of that crew, including choreographer Amparo Chigui Santiago, Amenii as director and puppeteer Khalilah Smith, whose whirl of onstage charisma and powerful musicality make her essential to the show. Exquisite original music by Martha Redbone and Aaron Whitby also carries over in this new iteration.
Credit: Stephan Pruitt
Credit: Stephan Pruitt
This production features beautifully crafted puppets by designers Genna Beth Davidson and Eric Wright, as well as lighting by Paige Seber, sound by Joshua Langman and projections by Joshua Legate, all of which contribute to a lush immersive experience that feels uncannily like being underwater.
As shafts of sunlight ripple through the sea, a haunting wall of floating detritus is briefly illuminated behind a scrim, reminding us of the toll of human excess. Before a plot unspools, the show opens with a dazzling sequence of music, light and puppets that by itself is worth the price of admission. Kids and adults alike will be enchanted by the parade of creatures drifting to the symphonic percussion of Redbone’s and Whitby’s music.
A mermaid named Yemi, one of Nacci the seahorse’s underwater friends, is puppeteered by Khalilah Smith.
The plot that unspools is sweet but deceptively complex. A curious and playful seahorse named Nacci — delightfully puppeteered by Evan Hill Phillips — is drawn to the things left behind by the humans and pesters his friends, the wise octopus Akashi and the mermaid Yemi, with questions about the long-lost species. Slowly, Akashi reveals the truth: Humans, once a beloved part of the community of life on Earth, became disconnected from themselves and other living things. They began to sell everything, including each other, and, eventually, even their own hearts.
Credit: Stephan Pruitt
Credit: Stephan Pruitt
Nacci dreams of creating a better, more heart-centered human, and asks Akashi if he will give one of his three hearts to bring back the humans. For permission, the friends must visit the Council of the Bottom of the Sea, the only humans left. As the plot reveals, these humans, who have experienced the worst of human evil, are the ones who can testify to the possibility of grace and redemption.
It’s a complicated story, equal parts heartache and hope, but rendered exquisitely through puppets, which have disarmingly emotional power. Amenii makes wise use of staging over exposition, often using puppets or projections to tell the story rather than relying on script. It’s the physicality of puppets that is so enthralling to watch, and this production makes wonderful use of them, from the way Yemi swims through the water to a sequence that transforms undulating waves into Akashi’s tentacles.
A few elements fall flat. Akashi is voiced chaotically by rotating cast members, sometimes three at a time, which worked best, but otherwise sounding as if no one knew who was supposed to play him. Songs with lyrics puncture the celestial beauty of the nonsinging score, which is incredible and didn’t need the campy musical elements to soar. Nevertheless, it’s a marvelous production and well worth a family trip to the puppetry center (tickets to the show include museum access, including a special exhibition curated by Amenii).
Kids of all ages will love the interactive elements of “Human” from helping Nacci locate his friends in the theater to the prop fish they are asked to wield for a sequence at the end of the play. The cast asks them to shout out their thoughts about human goodness, rendering responses both wise (”We recycle!”) and irreverent (“We play Minecraft!”). Like all good theater, it will have small humans thinking big thoughts, but, whatever part of the message they digest, they’ll surely remember the plastic bag jellyfish and manta rays, bringing the world alive in that peculiar, magical way that only puppets can.
THEATER REVIEW
“Human”
A Puppetry NOW presentation at the Center for Puppetry Arts. Through Jan. 28. Regular tickets: $27 adults; $22 children 2-12. 1404 Spring St. NW. puppet.org/programs, 404-873-3391
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Rachel Garbus is a writer, editor and oral history maker in Atlanta. She’s a contributor at Atlanta magazine and the editor-in-chief of print for WUSSY Mag, which covers queer culture with a Southern lens. She performs improv and sketch comedy around town and has been known to pen the odd satire. She lives in North Druid Hills with her wife and her anxious dog.
Credit: ArtsATL
Credit: ArtsATL
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