'The Mushroom that Swallowed the Moon Whole' is a folk opera oscillating between fact and friction, while hovering over the year 2024. It is 'godhuli bela' - a time of twilight - a time for mosquitoes, thresholds, and transits. A child in an imperiled and disputed patch of forest in Central India sits over an underground fungal network and writes his nightly letter to the moon. He meets a strange-looking and stranger-sounding mushroom. He is intrigued by her glassy cap that reflects the drone-filled sky, her gossamer spores that entrap the story-listener, her vascular gills that speak truths, and a labyrinth of mycelium that carries them!
Using narrative memory, oral histories, and a live storytelling orchestra, this piece conducts a creative inquiry into climate colonialism. It converges multiple artistic disciplines and indigenous practice-led writings on the ecological crisis and the human condition. It is thoroughly inspired by the work of 'The Third Eye Portal' - a community campaign in India to co-create radical pedagogical practices addressing caste, climate, and gender.
Conceptualized by Ritika Ganguly - The event is aimed at bringing our communities into conversation with performance-based forms of critical inquiry. Audiences will experience music that communicates complex ideas about place, privilege, mobility, and climate migration.
There will be an Artist Talk-back post show on Saturday, September 21.
Team Credits:
Story and Music: Ritika Ganguly
Libretto, Music, Graphic Design: Shinjan Sengupta
Artistic Direction: Masanari Kawahara
Scenic and Costume Design: Joshua Martin
Lighting Designer: Heidi Eckwall
Sand Artist: Sofia Padilla
Musicians: Clay Man Soo, May Klug, Praful Kelkar, Cameron Fassett, Shinjan Sengupta, Abhinav Sharma, Ritika Ganguly
Narrator: Vusumuzi Zulu