Squonk performs the show “Brouhaha” Sunday in the Amphitheater — an encore performance is set for 7:30 p.m. tonight.
Puppetry performance collective Squonk will bring their riotous romp to Chautauqua’s Old First Night festivities in a 7:30 p.m. performance tonight in the Amphitheater.
The high-energy immersive spectacle engages audiences through participatory group performances in which the audience frequently — and literally — plays a major role. Squonk is led by co-artistic directors Jackie Dempsey and Steve O’Hearn.
Mike Goldstein, left, gets an assist from Bill Schenck to glue a handle to his bat puppet during Squonk’s street puppet workshop Monday on Bestor Plaza. Chautauquans can bring their puppets to Squonk’s performance at 7:30 p.m. tonight in the Amp and participate in the parade that kicks off their show.
Tonight’s event is the final portion of a three-stage event — a “mini-festival” as Vice President for Performing and Visual Arts Laura Savia calls it. At 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, the collective performed “Brouhaha” in the Amp, followed by a puppet-making workshop Monday on Bestor Plaza in which community members were invited to make their own puppets and signs for the third, and biggest, phase of Squonk’s residency.
The group’s performance of “Brouhaha” is described as being an “immersive outdoor spectacle bursting with rollicking music, dazzling imagery, and the thrill of audience participation,” according to their website. Following Sunday’s performance, Squonk will once again seize the spotlight tonight with a “Brouhaha” encore in the Amp, part of an extensive night of Old First Night programming and festivities.
“To honor our 150th around Old First Night, I wanted to do something really special, family-friendly, and different from our typical fare — something that would leave a lasting impression,” Savia said. “Squonk is a troupe I’ve had my eye on for some time — their large-scale puppets and the way they make music in super-creative ways is lots of fun for kids and kids at heart.”
During “Brouhaha,” audience members are not only invited, but encouraged — implored, even — to take part in the performance by playing the Squonkordion, which the troupe describes as an “enormous musical instrument powered by behemoth bellows topped with towering tuba bells.”
From left, Tom Speller, 7, Taylor Nickerson, 5, and Chloe Bontempo, 8, color a cardboard drawling of the sea during Squonk’s street puppet workshop Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, in Bestor Plaza.
In combination with the foghorn organ played by participants, Squonk musicians, per the troupe’s website, “add driving rhythms, vibrant keyboards, wild winds, and hypnotic guitar riffs to the Squonkordion’s rich and brassy sound.”
Culminating in a 30-foot puppet head made out of vibrantly colored banners that blinks its eyes and shoots smoke out of its ears, “Brouhaha” is a performance that aims to bring together many voices into one song and celebrate community and togetherness.
“They don’t have to be musicians, but by the end of the show, we will all embrace the joy of making sounds — and the risk and camaraderie that entails,” Squonk promises.
Savia thinks the night will be an unforgettable one, “not only because they make a big visual impression, but because they are participatory” — specifically calling out the chance for everyone to help play the ever-so-fun-to-say Squonkordion
“They are a band, they are puppeteers, and,” she said, “they are just an all-around good time.”
