A scary “Gloomie” is not as scary when you know that it’s someone like Aurora Schelmeske in disguise. Inset: The Heat Wave shadow play featured a puppet warming up on the sun!
The audience that withstood a freezing drizzle on Sunday, December 21 was treated to a delightful shadow puppet pageant at North House Folk School. The Good Harbor Hill Players offered a whimsical look at the dark of winter and the hope that the sun will return.
In old-fashioned Punch and Judy style, a shadow character is beaten down by Gloom and Doom as he tries to shop and decorate for the holidays. Determined to not let the Gloomies defeat the world a rocket is launched from “Mission Control” with the goal to bring back the sun.
After the audience helped with the rocket countdown, with a little audience member impatiently calling out the numbers before the puppeteers, the crowd was treated to a lovely rendition of From a Distance. The rocket floated along to the melody courtesy of GAMEPALAJ until the rocket—with its shadow man and sidekick rooster, Buck Rogers— landed on the sun.
The band then launched into an energetic version of Heat Wave. Warmed by the music and the silly images of the shadow man relaxing on the sun, it was time for him to return to earth, bringing the sun back—via a zip line—accompanied by a soulful Tom Wait song, I Always Take the Long Way Home.
With the sun back in its rightful place, the play ended with the famed Johnny Nash tune, I Can See Clearly Now. The celebration continued with a bonfire where participants tossed gloomies representing their troubles into the flames and a potluck to warm everyone on the longest day of winter.
One of the songs performed by GAMEPALAJ (Gospel and Mother Earth and Peace and Love and Justice) at the Winter Solstice pageant, as the shadow rocket circles the Earth:
From a distance the world looks blue and green,
and the snow-capped mountains white.
From a distance the ocean meets the stream,
and the eagle takes to flight.
From a distance, there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land.
It’s the voice of hope, it’s the voice of peace,
it’s the voice of every man.
From a distance we all have enough,
and no one is in need.
And there are no guns, no bombs, and no disease,
no hungry mouths to feed.
From a distance we are instruments
marching in a common band.
Playing songs of hope, playing songs of peace.
They’re the songs of every man.
God is watching us. God is watching us.
God is watching us from a distance.
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