‘Raft Project (My Shapes Are in Turmoil)’ @ Hip Pocket Theatre
Graphic art by Carlos Guerrero, photos by Frieda Austin and Shannon Atkinson Cahoone
No contest, folks.
Hip Pocket Theatre wins “Best Line of The Week” with their promo:
"It’s ‘The Hip’ at ‘The Hall,’ Y’all!”
Looking to sidestep last summer’s heat-related cancellations of some of their outdoor shows, HPT took steps…straight to Fort Worth’s 1911 Southside Preservation Hall, a favorite of locals for its vintage vibe and super-flexible spaces. The Hall seemed made to order, just right for theater performance and music sessions—not to mention having some fine, fine air conditioning.
So indoors it is, from now through August 26, and even the nightly lineup of music groups and solo artists has turned up at the new venue—kicked off by an opening-night set from lively band Skeleton McKee.
The show in performance is Raft Project (My Shapes Are in Turmoil)—a short, flowing, and wordless piece full of music and movement, puppetry and dance. It’s a creation of (and co-directed by) Hip Pocket producing artistic director Lake Simons and her composer/musician partner John Dyer. As always, both concept and executive are simple and mesmeric. The six cast members, dressed by Susan Austin in the soft blues of a summer lake, are drawn from the headaches of daily life (hard chair, hard table, jarring radio sounds) and into a soft-landing waterscape where a raft becomes their refuge and transport.
And there we stay, watching them peer over the raft’s edge into the water, sway and stagger to the changing waves and currents, lie on their backs to see pink clouds float by, take off on separate adventures—and return. Left alone on the raft, Lake Simons worried eyes brighten as a child (Cy Dyer) floats by with a tray and a cup of restorative…tea? She smiles; she breaks into a giddy hornpipe; and the tensions she’s carried from the start of the show fall away.
Encounters are unaccountable. A lone man (Grainger Esch) pulls a palm tree and a tiny island into view, then sits down to clown a bit as he waits. For his socks to dry? For a shaggy seagull puppet to circle back and return the hat it stole away? For the floating child to explain herself? The rafters and swimmers return (Allen Dean, Shelby Griffin and Sara Rashelle round out the cast), with a bucket that brings up a sparkling green fish (another Simons puppet) that keeps them hopping. The gull of gulls flies by and they go with it, curving along the edges of the stage space, making us wish we were clinging to its great wings ourselves.
Stay in the moment. Jump with the actors from one star to another. Fall into the rhythms of Dyer’s quiet music and, as the program suggests: “Take a deep breath.” That’s all—and it’s enough.
After the show, there’s more music in HPT’s indoor “backyard.” The bands change most every night. Don’t hurry home—the Raft Project will make you want to linger.
WHEN: August 9-26, 2024
WHERE: Southside Preservation Hall, 1519 Lipscomb St., Fort Worth
WEB: hippocket.org
