GREENSBORO – The audience at the Highland Center for the Arts in Greensboro was treated to a very imaginative, original and humorous journey in a production of a new play entitled Greenwood by Ira Karp last Sunday afternoon, in the midst of an unwelcomed late April snowfall. This was a fast-moving, madcap event with some 18 chapters in two parts, with many scenes and costume changes and a variety of puppets and props, all given continuity (more or less) by reference to the seasons and annual holidays.
There were seven participants and they introduced themselves at the beginning of the show. Ira Karp, the 17-year-old son of Josh Karp and Maria Schumann of Greensboro, was the author and impressario of this work, playing many of the roles. Last summer he performed “The Honey Let’s Go Home Circus” that was very entertaining at the same venue.
Amelia Castillo was a character named Lucy, and she said that she liked to wash her hair with bubble soap. Clare Dolan (of the Museum of Everyday Life in Glover) was a nurse, who enjoyed taking people’s temperature. Tom Cunningham, as Edmund, particularly found pleasure in riding his bicycle and eating yummy snacks, while Adam Cook, portraying John Piper, found satisfaction in doing his chores as a dairy farmer. Maura Grahan (of Vermont Vaudeville) as Rose Marie, wearing a real fright wig, also liked washing her hair. Maria Schumann (of Bread and Puppet), impersonating April Brown and many other roles, liked to ride in the ambulance.
Ira then pointed out the details of a large painting in the center of the background curtains, which was a landscape presumably of Greenwood. In the lower left corner was a section of the ocean with a crocodile and octopus, with a crowd of people above in the middle and a city with a hospital at the top. Elsewhere were various houses and a windmill in a rural landscape, as well as a cow, a pig, a crow, a pumpkin and even a giraffe.
Part-one started with Chapter One, an amusing skit about making cheddar cheese from the milk of Daisy the cow, an escapee from Bread and Puppet’s Circus.
Chapter Two was named “Television,” which had a T.V. screen with curtains, first giving an advertisement and then a song from the “Wizard of Oz,” “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Mysteriously a strawberry-rhubarb pie came out of the T.V. screen, complete with whipped cream from a can.
Chapter Three was called “Accident,” in a ludicrous sequence where Cunningtham, on a tiny child’s bicycle, was hit by a small black paper car held by Karp, and fell down. Then Schumann performed a hilarious operation on Cuningham with a shovel, rake and other implements, with absurd things coming out of him like a stuffed toy dog, until she declared, “You are all better!”
Chapter Four was themed “Easter.” Cook, in a rabbit hat and tail, took eggs from a basket and hid them around the stage Castillo and Cunningham were then lead by Karp up and around into the audience searching futilely for the eggs, finally returning to the stage where they discovered a few.
In Chapter Five, Karp became Doctor Scrub and delivered a baby from pregnant Graham, with ridiculous complications. Next Ira appeared dressed in an over-the-top costume of overhanging layers in the manner of his favorite contemporary pop singer, Dua Lipa, who “came all the way from London.”
Chapter Six was “Christmas,” where Cunningham was decorating an extremely small tree with candy canes and a star, joined by Graham and Schumann in Santa Claus suits.
Chapter Seven, “Bumper Cars,” was especially funny, as several people go to a giant country fair in the summer and pretend to bump into each other until they all fall down.
Chapter Eight was “Storyland,” where they gathered around to hear a book being read, singing “Oh, My Darling Clementheart.”
After intermission in Part-two, Chapter One was about thunder and lightning and rain, with great lyrics. Chapter Two celebrated Thanksgiving, where first Cunningham was blindfolded and had to sacrifice a turkey. Then everyone brought somewhat incongruous foods in paper models to set on the table, such as chips and salsa, spaghetti and meatballs, English muffins pizza and cheese ravioli. They pretended to eat with spoons and then fed the baby all at once with their spoons.
Chapter Three had Adam giving he full history of Halloween, which started with the death of Babi Yaga in her spooky mountain retreat.
Chapter Four was about another “Accident,” this time a stove improbably falling on Castillo’s foot, which nurse Dolane lifted up, freeing her, with Cook declaring, “I am unstuck.”
Chapter Five was about “Winter,” and Karp became the Winter Enchantress in a long white costume with fur stoles hanging from the shoulders, bringing snow and ice.
Chapter Six as a “Spelling Bee,” while Chapter Seven was a recurrence of the inexplicable “Accident” of the stove on Castillo’s foot. Once again nurse Dolan rescued her, while Karp as Dua Lipa made another appearance singing, “You got me inside.”
Chapter Eight saw Cunningham offering a raspberry pie to Castillo, only to have it thrown back in his face in the classic vaudeville stunt, followed by Karp giving another song from Dua Lipa’s repertoire, “You got me in love again.”
Chapter Nine had Cunningham and Cook wearing pig noses, down on all fours making pig sounds, while Castillo tried to help them by creating mud with a spray bottle,
In the last scene, Chapter Ten, called a “Walk,” all the cast was brought together for a finale. The audience expressed its delight in the whole performance by giving them a standing ovation. We look forward to future productions by Ira and this wonderfully talented group.
David K. Rodgers
David K. Rodgers is a writer, mason and card carrying dilettante, who dabbles and babbles in art. He has lived in East Craftsbury for the past 40 years.
