Birdie – a theater/dance piece by Lorraine Chapman

Dancers: Anthony Bounphakhom, Jenna Gross, Maya Infascelli, Jill MacLaughlin, Janelle Abbott Staley, Lisa Travis

Location: Canterbury Shaker Village’s Merry, Merry Canterbury celebration

Date: December 2021

Conceived of and choreographed by Lorraine Chapman, Birdie honors the story of Alberta Kirkpatrick, the last orphan accepted by the Canterbury Shakers. In collaboration with Canterbury Shaker Village’s archivist, Renee Fox, Lorraine not only researched Kirkpatrick’s personal story while at The Village but also, the Canterbury Shaker’s unique tradition of creating theater productions that they “the Entertainments”. Birdie combines dance, song and acting, using first person letters that Kirkpatrick wrote to her father during her stay. He struggled to find employment in a changing landscape of growing industrialization and placed her permanently with The Shakers.

The Shakers got their name from their use of dance in worship. Dance was a defining aspect of the Shaker’s deep expression of their faith. Dance is an authentic and powerful story telling tool that expresses a range of human emotions for which words can only hint at.

Curated by partners Karina Kelley and Bill Stelling, “The Dysfunction of Social Practice” features the art of Zackary DeWitt, Emmett Donlon, Rosemary Mack, Heather Morgan and Meghan Samson. As artists in particular and people in people general come back to gathering as we once did, what scars remain and how do we rebound? Dancers Kelly Diamond, Alyssa Desruisseaux, Anthony Bounphakhom and Sallie Werst will embody the humor, awkwardness and tenderness of those experiences.