Mix garbage, empty paper towel rolls, and the suggestion of rotten food and you have some of the theatre department's main characters in the theatre department's current production, Fanto: A Mysterious Vaudeville. Sound slightly repulsive? It's not. This play has come from the creative genius of professor Colette Searls, a relative newcomer to UMBC, but not to the theatre or world of puppetry. Searls has directed many plays that mix puppetry with live actors, including Weight of the Head, which ran at New York's HERE Theater's 2000 Puppet Parlor.
When someone thinks about puppets, Kermit the Frog or a "Sesame Street" character usually come to mind, something goofy for children to enjoy and learn from. "In the United States, when we think of puppetry, we think of a child's birthday party or the Muppets. We tend to relegate it to children's theatre," Searls says.
Fanto, aimed at a more adult audience, attempts to defy certain stereotypes that are linked with puppet theatre. "What I'm doing is not geared to making people laugh or being cute," Searls explains. While it is for a more mature audience, Fanto is something that all can enjoy. "It's not pretentious or so cerebral that you need an advanced degree to understand… it's for everyone."
In this new production, the puppets are being controlled by actors garbed in black, something that is known in the business as black theatre. "Most of the time the actors will not be seen very well -- the puppets will appear to be floating," Searls says.
Because the puppets will be the most visible thing on stage, the focus on the new creations will be intense. Enter Don Becker, a Virginia-based artist who constructed two of the puppets specifically for the production of Fanto. The remaining puppets were created by the actors. "It's like watching garbage coming to life," Searls says.
Fanto is a series of 10 to 12 unrelated scenes, linked together through the use of puppets. The lack of a specified plot gives the production a snapshot feel. Searls agrees with this sentiment. "The curtain blinks like an eye," she says, "Each time the curtain opens there is a new act."
Lying underneath it all, Fanto deals with emotions, with universal feelings. "My aim for this is to make it appealing on a human level," Searls says, "to express simple undistilled emotions."
Watch the New Media Studio's video about the production. (Real Player required.)
Fanto: A Mysterious Vaudeville runs through Sunday, March 16. All shows are at 8 p.m., except for Sunday, March 16, which is at 4 p.m. Admission is $5 and all proceeds go towards the Department of Theatre Scholarship Fund. Call (410) 455-2476 for reservations. Not suitable for infants and toddlers.
- Jennifer Leigh Gibson
