Cherry Arts’ ‘Storm Country’ offers West End fiction

By Rob Montana
Tompkins Weekly

The return of ‘Storm Country,’ The Cherry Arts audio walking play that uses Ithaca’s West End as its backdrop, got underway during Spring Writes 2017 this past weekend, but there will be more chances for people to take it in during its revival run this month.

In September 2016, Storm Country marked the Ithaca area’s first exploration of the “headphone play,” interweaving the geographical and historical truths of Ithaca’s West End with “Tess of the Storm Country,” an iconic fiction of this part of the city. A 1909 pulp novel written by Ithaca native Grace Miller White and set in Ithaca’s West End, “Tess of the Storm Country” is a story of class struggle between squatter fishermen and their wealthy neighbors.

The novel and its fiery heroine, Tessibel Skinner, captured the imaginations and hearts of the entire country and was adapted multiple times for the screen, including two silent films starring Mary Pickford. While blending fact and fiction, Storm Country explores issues that remain as vital in today’s Ithaca as they are in the novel: finding home and being denied it, trespassing and security, the power of the water to transform and be transformed.

Sam Buggeln, The Cherry’s artistic director, said the idea for the audio walking play came as the theater was getting it start.
“We started the company and we knew were going to be able to build this space, but then, you get these artists together and the space takes time to build,” he said. “We thought about what we could do in our ‘homeless’ season, and it seemed like the perfect area to do an outdoor walking play, especially because we’ve been getting to know the neighborhood.
“Headphone theater is a way to make the neighborhood the set and, given the history of the neighborhood, this gives you a sense of time and history,” added Buggeln. “You’re not only walking through the blocks of the neighborhood, but through the years that have led up to this one. It seemed like a great thing for an innovative theater company, that didn’t yet have a theater, to do.”

The response to the fall showing of the play is what prompted The Cherry to bring it back this spring.
“We were really bowled over by the response, at how accessible people felt it was,” said Sam Buggeln, artistic director for The Cherry. “Alongside the actors and writers, the sound design is amazing. It basically does the same thing the text does, with a soundscape in the present, but also in the past, and cruises you through a time that is dizzying and beautiful. And the music is by Anna Coogan, an Ithaca singer songwriter.”

The play itself involves walking about one mile over the course of 70 minutes, with several stops for people to sit and reflect. The walk begins at the Lookout Point of Erie Barge Canal at the tip of Ithaca’s Inlet Island and finishes at 102 Cherry St., about a 15-minute walk back to the origin point.
“You wind up walking a mile, but it’s a very leisurely mile,” Buggeln said, “with stops to reflect and rest and listen and look at things you’re supposed to look at.
“Because of the story of the melodramatic novel and its events happen within the actual history of the neighborhood where the novel is set, you can learn things,” he added, “such as where a building used to be or the functions a building used to have, and it all weaves through the story.”

Upon advance request, drives will be available from the end of the walk back to its origin. Audience members who use wheelchairs or who are otherwise concerned about mobility are encouraged to contact The Cherry to discuss the best ways in which to participate. You may do so by emailing info@thecherry.org or leaving a message at (607) 241-0703.

There are a limited number of spots available Saturdays and Sundays through May, with scheduled walking times at 15-minute intervals from 3-5 p.m. Tickets for “Storm Country” are $20, and are available at TheCherry.org.