Fort Point Theatre Channel
in collaboration with
Ipswich River Watershed Association
presents
Ocean of Rivers
IMPROVISATIONS WITH CLIMATE:
Transformations, Migrations, Interconnections
ARTISTIC COLLABORATION AIMS TO RENEW CONNECTIONS WITH NATURE
Ocean of Rivers is working on a dance and puppet film, a pop-up performance, and socially distanced experiences with augmented reality. With live participatory performances and workshops on hold this past year, the Ocean of Rivers participants deepened our artistic exploration of the interconnections of humans and nature, habits and habitats, in light of recent events. This time has brought opportunities to broaden the participation of diverse artists, and bring the work to a larger audience, in and beyond Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk counties. New research finds that migratory freshwater fish populations have declined 76 percent on average since 1970. How is so large a change unnoticed, how do we make it visible?
SPRING 2022 ACTIVITIES
In Spring 2022, Improvisations with Climate: Transformations, Migrations, Interconnections offered live performances.
WALKS WITH PERFORMANCES:
Saturday, April 23, Hood Pond (Pye Brook), Hood Pond Road, Topsfield
Saturday, June 11, Topsfield Rail Trail, Topsfield Rail Trail, HIgh Street (Route 9), Topsfield
Click here to view the playbill Click here to learn more about the migrating fish
WALKS WITH INSTALLATIONS:
Saturday, May 7: Boston Brook. Intersection of Sharpners Ponds Road and Salem Street, North Andover
Saturday, May 14: Norris Brook. Independence Greenway Russell Street Trailhead, Peabody
Larry Plitt and Nick Thorkelson created and performed the music for Ocean of Rivers. Click the links above to hear the music to two songs, "Dream of a Golden Eel" (vocalist Olivia Brownlee) and "Hard Stop" (vocalist Robin JaVonne Smith). The singer on June 11 will be Lindsay Eagle.
Spring 2021 Activities
IPSWICH RIVER WALK AND PERFORMANCE, IPSWICH, Saturday, May 22, 2021: Along the River Walk, dancers and musicians responded to several particular environments. The artists’ improvisation partners may have been trees, birds, the soil, the water. It may have been an individual, a community, or system. Whatever was alive to the artist. To end the evening, the dancers and musicians presented a final performance at the terrace next to the Ipswich Mills Dam.
Saturday, May 1, 2021 @ 10 a.m. in Boxford: Socially distanced walk in Lockwood Forest. Volunteers led the walk, with simultaneous live-cast, focused on river connectivity and resiliency. The walk included a dance and musical installation/performance by Ocean of Rivers artists. Templates to create fish puppets were shared, and participants were invited to participate in the socially distanced performance on May 22nd, at Ipswich Local Color. Click here for more info.
Sunday, April 18, 2021 @ 10 a.m. in Topsfield: Socially distanced walk along Howlett Brook culminating at Hood Pond. Volunteers led the walk, with simultaneous live-cast, focused on river connectivity and resiliency. The walk included a dance and musical installation/performance by Ocean of Rivers artists. Templates to create fish puppets were shared, and participants were invited participate in the socially distanced performance on May 22nd, at Ipswich Local Color. Click here for more info.
Saturday, March 27, 2021 @ 10 a.m. via Zoom: Join author of the New York Times best-selling graphic novel Baba Yaga’s Assistant Marika McCoola for a Live Zoom Eco-Puppet Workshop. This free Online Puppet Making Workshop was sponsored by the Ipswich River Watershed Association and Fort Point Theater. Marika led adult and youth participants in creating and learning how to work with fish puppets.
Coming Soon: Puppet Dance Film
Ocean of Rivers: Improvisations with Climate Staff
Conceived and Coordinated by Anne Loyer
2022 Staff
Movement: Monkeyhouse
Music: Lindsay Eagle, Larry Plitt, Robin JaVonne Smith, and Nick Thorkelson
Puppet and Set Design: Rick Dorff, Anne Loyer, and Nancy Sander
Graphic Design: Mario Avila Design
Costumes: Susan Paino
Stage Managers: Christine Noah and FPTC members
Producer: Christine Noah
Associate Producers: Marc S. Miller, Anne Loyer, and Rachel Schneider
Curriculum design: Rachel Schneider
2021 Staff
Movement: Kim Holman, with Angelina Benitez, Jessica Chang, Nicole Harris, Audrey MacLean, Katie McGrail,
and additional dancers (Luminarium Dance Company)
Music: Olivia Brownlee, Mike Migliozzi, Larry Plitt, Robin JaVonne Smith, and Nick Thorkelson
Puppet design: Rick Dorff, Anne Loyer, Nancy Sander
Curriculum design: Rachel Schneider
Video Projection: Greg Kowalski
Videography: Selene Means, Ron Cox
Costumes: Susan Paino
Stage Manager: M. Grace Dolan
Associate Producers: Marc S. Miller, Rachel Schneider
Graphic Design by Mario Avila Design
Project Associates: Mary Driscoll, Naomi Ibasitas, Mike Jacobs, Amy Merrill, Christine Noah, Sally Nutt, Amy West
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“This dance of species happens unseen around us,” says Anne Loyer of Fort Point Theatre Channel. “This project uses art to make visible the interconnections of nature and humans, and weave the human story into the fabric of other species.“
About Ocean of Rivers
Ocean of Rivers includes a series of walks, presentations, workshops, paddles, and performances, offering many opportunities to learn about ongoing restoration projects to improve river connectivity and the migratory species that this work will benefit. The events run are offered free of charge, thanks to support from IRWA , the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the Boxford Trails Association/Boxford Open Land Trust (BTA/BOLT), the Middleton and Topsfield Stream Teams, and FPTC. The project is supported in part by grants from the Boxford, Ipswich, and Topsfield Cultural Councils, local agencies supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
Herring, a catch-all species name that includes bluebacks, alewifes, and shad, leave the ocean and swim up the Ipswich River to spawn in ponds while American eel swim downstream to spawn in the Sargasso Sea. These migrations created a beneficial ripple effect for species throughout the area, including the people.
Many people are hard at work in a myriad of approaches to restore river connectivity and bring back the dance of migration. At project workshops, participants build puppets of herring and eel from natural and upcycled materials. Ocean of Rivers provides instructions for basic puppets online and at all project events, as well as distributing them to local libraries and schools. The project led to a live performance in downtown Ipswich in May. The public was invited to join trained dancers and puppeteers in a performance that embodied the natural flow of nature and the interweaving of our human stories with the fabric of other species.
Restoring river connectivity and preserving the ecological functions and biodiversity of the Ipswich River is part of the mission of the Ipswich River Watershed Association (IRWA). Thanks to a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, IRWA is working with Trout Unlimited’s Nor’east Chapter and municipal partners to restore the Howlett Brook watershed. A subwatershed of the Ipswich, this area has potential as herring habitat.
Other restoration projects highlighted by Ocean of Rivers include herring habitat assessments and efforts to remove dams for species like American shad. With the assistance of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, IRWA plans to stock the Ipswich River with herring this spring. The restoration efforts highlighted by Ocean of Rivers will be crucial to ensuring these herring are able to return to the river in subsequent years.
Ocean of Rivers is part of a suite of events all over the globe that celebrate World Fish Migration Day. More information about World Fish Migration Day can be found at www.worldfishmigrationday.com.
In September 2020, Ocean of Rivers participated in the Guided Pye Brook Walk and the Guided Fish Brook Walk. Ipswich River, BTA/BOLT, Fort Port Theater Channel, and the Masconomet Environmental Club partnered on these DIY walks for Essex National Heritage Area’s Trails and Sails. Along the routes, walkers found QR codes. Using their smartphone, they could enjoy physically distanced guided walks with videos, additional information about river species, and restoration on whatever day, and at whatever time, worked for them.
More information on Ocean of Rivers is available on the website of the Ipswich River Watershed Association.
Ocean of Rivers is supported in part by grants from the Boxford, Ipswich, and Topsfield Cultural Councils, local agencies that are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. Additional support comes from Boston’s Arts and Culture COVID-19 fund.
