Caligula was a long overdue collaboration between myself and Bizzy Barefoot, who conceived the production and designed and built its puppets. She also played the title role. I served as dramaturg to trim Camus’s sprawling play down to some version of the text that would work with the puppets. (It’s a rule of thumb in puppetry that less dialogue is more when it comes to performing objects.) I also played Caligua’s nemesis Chorea, and Bizzy and I shared directorial responsibilities.

The show was produced at Chinkapin Craftstead in Canon County, Tennessee, outside of Nashville, and the entire cast was drawn from the substantial local Radial Faeries community, who have gravitated to the area because one of their major Sanctuaries is located on nearby Short Mountain. The Radical Faeries were founded by the gay activist Harry Hay in 1979 as a way for cisgender gay to reconnect with their spiritual roots through magickal practice, neopaganism, and providing mutual aid. Since that time, the Fairies have expanded to include cisgender females, trans folks, and those who identify as nonbinary. It has also made space for hetero-idenitying individuals  Any Faerie needing a place to live can go to the Sanctuary seeking food and shelter. 

Bizzy reconceived Camus’s existentialist political tragedy as an episode of the Muppet show, with the insane Roman emperor that week's guest star. We added musical numbers, choreographed processions, and when it came time for Caligula to murder his female lover, her puppet refused to play along, storming off instead. Performed under the moon and stars with hundreds of fireflies lighting up the field and the sound of a babbling brook nearby, the Chinkapin nature preserve stepped in with some serious nature magic. While only three performances, it’s definitely one of the most memorable shows I’ll ever work on.