Singing Bone Medicine Show
Puppetry, the theater of haunted rags where trickster speaks from behind a mask
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Elaborate Talking Socks
There once were two sisters, call them Mythic and Modern. Mythic sang the songs that found resonance in the blood, bone and souls of the “common” folk. Modern chose a prose that appealed to the elites self-serving notions of advancement and progress. One day, jealous of her sister’s love and popularity among the people, Modern killed Mythic, burying her bones high in the hills under a Juniper Tree. With Mythic gone, Modern remade much of the world in her image, fancying herself the New Queen. However, as Modern’s power grew the hearts of the people sank, and in time, they could take no more. It was then that some began digging into the dirt of the subconscious, of dreams, of the umbral hauntings found beneath the Juniper Tree. When they eventually unearthed the old bones of Mythic, those bones began to sing. Their songs revealed Modern’s betrayal and reawakened that deep and resonant hum within the people. The Singing Bone Medicine show is blessed to work with such songs and bones.
The Singing Bone Medicine Show, as the name would suggest, both digs for and shares with others the living, yet often obscured, “song bones” that are the dreams of the earth given form in the myths, fables, legends and stories of the world’s variegated patchwork of human cultures. Our medium for this work is equally as olden and arcane as the stories themselves– puppetry, the theater of haunted rags where trickster speaks from behind a mask.
We offer ourselves and the song bones we carry to you. Dark or light, glimmering or umbral, we weave our varied performances to cater to both the old and the young. Festivals, schools and celebrations could find us a welcome guest (our shows at the crossroads, however, might be better off missed). Give us space for our stage and a slice or two of time and you’ll presently find your bones singing too.
A Troupe
of Fanciful Vagabonds
Samuela Akert
Bonnie Barker
Jacquie Hill
Heather Jameson
Chloe Watkins
Singing ‘La Loba’ to life
By Melina Laroza
Imagine a gypsy caravan traveling through the Rockies, popping out a puppet theater and handmade wares to tell a magical story, old as time. Bonnie Barker, Sami Akert, Jacquie Hill and Heather Jameson make up the Paonia-based Singing Bone Medicine Show that presented at True Nature on Saturday, March 25. Each woman has a special gift that together immerse the audience in a powerful, sensory tale: a shadow puppet show like no other; Waldorf aesthetic meets “Women Who Run with the Wolves” rhetoric to create a setting that both haunts and delights. The theater itself is a work of art, wrapping the audience in a winter bruja forest of author Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ imagination.
Song and story, guitar and fiddle, interwoven with English and Spanish to create a show suitable for babies, children and the child within each of us. I sat in utter awe and fascination as the story of an old woman who had been forgotten and forgot herself, sang us back to ourselves by digging up bones she found around her house in forgotten woods. Assembling them became her instinct-driven mission while singing an ancient song of wild wolves and women. Over time, a wolf appeared before her — its wholeness completing something in me. This adaptation of “La Loba” from “Women Who Run with the Wolves” is medicine for the soul. If you get to see this show, let it speak to you. Let the memory of your inner wild woman, or wild women you love, come alive in your love for your children.
With the theater and nature-inspired accouterments packed away, melodious harmonies echoing in our heads still, the four mamas headed to their carefully-crafted booth. Here they joyfully answered questions, let the children see the puppets and sold their herbal medicines, once again tethering the audience to La Loba’s bones from Mother Earth’s soil.
photo by Sue Rollyson
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