ADRIFT
A Medieval Wayward Folly
Collaboratively devised by the ensemble
Ensemble/Performers
Gwen Grastorf, Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, Sarah Olmsted Thomas & Alex Vernon
Painted Puppets
Sabrina Mandell
Hell Mouth Shadow Puppets
Sarah Olmsted Thomas
Creature Puppet
Alex Vernon
Set & Prop Design/Construction/Painting
Sabrina Mandell, Mark Jaster, Alex Vernon, Nancy Rodrigues
Music Direction
Gwen Grastorf & Mark Jaster
Lighting Design
Kris Thompson
Costume Design and Construction
Sabrina Mandell
Production Stage Manager
Darielle Shandler
Magic Consultation
Annie Montone and Brian Kehoe - School of Magic Arts
Show is approximately 80 minutes with no intermission
Note from the Directors
Happenstance has taken inspiration from visual art and artists over the years: Edward Gorey, Joseph Cornell, 17th Century Dutch Memento Mori Still Life, DadA, and Early Circus posters. With ADRIFT we’ve taken a dive into the late, Western European, medieval world of Hieronymus Bosch with a sidelong glance at Pieter Bruegel. We took as a point of departure Bosch's painting, The Ship of Fools, and harvested images from larger paintings like The Haywain and The Garden of Earthly Delights, to create a world as strange and wonderful, even if you’ve never seen the sources that inspired us. The world Bosch paints is often apocalyptic, and many of the images are vast and complex with hundreds of characters, surreal juxtapositions, and radical contrasts of scale. We explored a number of his recurring themes, like the owl as unseen witness, metamorphic combinations of animal, plant, and human forms, fantastical creatures, fruits, musical instruments of the period, and people with tolerant expressions of the delights and horrors happening to and around them. We were also fascinated by the medieval science of Alchemy, the Tarot, and ways in which magic and mystery were woven into everyday life, when people still felt they were not so separate from the natural world. In our current moment in history, humanity is facing a reckoning with nature. The dire global climate crisis has us seeking ways to adapt and manage. Perhaps if we listen closely to the mystery, we can discover how. We hope you’ll find the world we’ve created mysterious and engaging and that your imagination will set you free.
- Mark Jaster & Sabrina Mandell
Visual Inspirations
The Holkham Bible Picture Book
Paintings of Hieronymous Bosch
Paintings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Das Narrenschiff by Sebastian Brant, published 1494
Tacunium Sanitatis - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacuinum_Sanitatis
Splendor Solis - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splendor_Solis
Rider-Waite Tarot
Music
The Arrival and the Reunion | by Dead Can Dance from album Aion
This is the Way the World Ends | by Artisan from album Breathing Space
Spiritus Sanctus Vivificans | by Hildegard Von Bingen from The Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum, 12th Century
Douce Dame Jolie | by Guillaume de Machaut, 14th Century
Abbots Bromley Horn Dance | Traditional
Soldiers Three | Traditional appearing first in Thomas Ravenscroft's Deuteromelia (1609)
Travelers Prayer | John Renbourn, 1998
Saltarello II | Anonymous, 14th Century Traditional
Gaudete | thought to have been composed in the 16th century, arranged by Karen Hansen, lyrics re-written by Mark Jaster
Other Inspirations
Tarot - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarot
Hildegaard von Bingen - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_of_Bingen
Jester - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jester
Fool - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fool_(tarot_card)
Crone - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crone
Medieval Women Mystics - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_women%27s_mysticism
Magic: A History: From Alchemy To Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present by Chris Gosden
Performer Bios
Mark Jaster (Artistic co-Director of Happenstance Theater/Ensemble) studied mime with Etienne Decroux, and served as teaching assistant to Marcel Marceau. He was a member of the Round House acting company back in its early days on Bushey Drive, and was the movement and mime director for Our Town in 2001: the first Round House production at its new and current home under the direction of Jerry Whiddon. Mark has been co-director and performer with Happenstance Theater since its founding in 2006, winning the Helen Hayes/Robert Prosky Award for his performance in Impossible! A Happenstance Circus. In addition to his work with Happenstance, he now regularly teaches and consults on movement issues, and has performed for 39 seasons at the Maryland Renaissance Festival as A Fool named ‘O.’ He is profoundly happy to play again on the Round House stage with brilliant and beloved colleagues in this 20th year of Happenstance. And he feels somehow at home in ADRIFT, among the curious shadows of Heironymous Bosch, the Tarot, and the echoes of ancient sounds.
Sabrina Mandell (Artistic co-Director of Happenstance Theater/Ensemble) is the founder, Artistic Co-Director, Executive Director, and “Visionary Tornado” of Happenstance Theater. Sabrina has written, produced and performed prolifically since the company's founding in 2006. She was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Actress in 2017 and has won two Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Costume Design. Under her co-Direction, Happenstance has been nominated for two Drama Desk awards. Sabrina performed for 10 years with the Big Apple Circus’ Clown Care Program in DC and Baltimore and has taught Theatrical Clown and Physical Comedy at the Shakespeare Theatre DC, Everyman Theatre in Baltimore, Round House Theatre, Duke Ellington School of the Arts, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She is also a poet, visual artist, graphic designer, vintage clothing enthusiast and blooming Crone. Sabrina is delighted to be back on the Round House Theatre stage.
Gwen Grastorf (Ensemble) is a performer and actor based in the DC metro area. She has been devising with Happenstance since 2009 and has been a company member since 2012. She is also the Social Media Maven for Happenstance. Gwen has worked elsewhere in DC with Constellation Theatre, Faction of Fools, Taffety Punk, Washington Revels, Rorschach Theatre, and the Tarot Reading. Gwen was raised in Frederick, Maryland, and got her degree at the University of MD, College Park.
Sarah Olmsted Thomas (Ensemble) is a fifth generation performing artist. She is half of Alex and Olmsted, an internationally acclaimed puppet theater and filmmaking company based in Baltimore. A&O highlights include Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and HERE Arts in NYC, the Kennedy Center, the Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes in France, the Puppet Festival Chuncheon in South Korea, and others. Sarah is a company member with the award-winning Happenstance Theater with whom she devised 12 full-length productions. With Happenstance, Sarah was nominated twice for Outstanding Lead Actress at the Helen Hayes Awards. Sarah trained with Bread and Puppet Theater in Vermont, the Pig Iron Theatre Company in Philadelphia, and Le Samovar, École de Clowns, in Paris. B.A., Sarah Lawrence College.
Alex Vernon (Ensemble) has been a Happenstance company member since 2012. He is an actor and puppeteer whose previous work has been seen with Constellation Theatre, Pointless Theatre, Imagination Stage, Adventure Theatre, WSC Avant Bard, and Washington Revels. He is also the other half of Alex and Olmsted, with which he creates original puppet works that have toured internationally.
Happenstance Theater, winner of 5 Helen Hayes Awards has been called “DC’s leading peddler of whimsy” by the Washington Post. www.HappenstanceTheater.com
SPECIAL THANKS:
The original creation of this piece was generously sponsored
by John J. Shields, Dirk Keaton in honor of Sofya Leonova, Holly Hassett, and Dick Kovar
and this Round House Production has been generously sponsored by
Bob Atlas, Cass Cannon & Charlotte Dean
This production would also not have been possible without the help of our company angel,
Nancy Rodrigues.
Also thanks to Round House Theatre staff, Dody DiSanto, Nadia Gaylin, Leah Hewitt, Stephanie Baird, Washington Revels, Sharon Crissinger, Jessica Lefkow, Marianne Ross, Rachel Faeola, Margaret Loomis, Karen Hansen, Irene Glasse, April & Jerry Blum, Nancy Mendez, Chris Patton and Joe's Movement Emporium. Happenstance is ever grateful for the support of The Share Fund, Morgan Fund at Seattle Foundation, Nora Roberts Foundation, the Charles Hazlehurst Moura Family Foundation, and all those who have donated to Happenstance Theater through Fractured Atlas.
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