As the audience enters the theater, the space feels like a peaceful underwater world.
Scenic designer Marie Yokoyama and lighting and projections designer Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew worked together to create this immersive setting. Martha Redbone and Aaron Whitby’s music demonstrates why they are Tony Award-nominated composers, deepening the sense of being beneath the sea. Playwright and director Nehpril Amenii brings us into a mythic world where humans are extinct. Blending African storytelling with blues, jazz, and soul, she creates a puppet show that asks the audience to consider what it truly means to be human.
The audience is actively involved throughout the production. Before the performance, guests can participate in a free puppet-making workshop using recycled materials. A brief audience-led procession of these puppet makers then brings everyone into the theater. Thus, the puppets made in the workshop become part of the performance. Children with small, handmade puppets frolic on the empty stage before the production begins. The calm ocean sounds are suddenly interrupted by explosions, and we meet Yemi, a mermaid who protects the waters. As she explains, “In the beginning, when all the waters were created, so was I.” Yemi has been given the task of making sure “that waters flow.” Khatilah Smith, whose regional theater experience includes work in Philadelphia, Bermuda, New York City, Asheville, and Atlanta, gives the puppet a watchful presence without overpowering the stage.
After Yemi’s introduction, the production returns to the peaceful underwater scene. Fish puppets enter, followed by mobiles of schools of fish, and then jellyfish drift across the stage. We are introduced to Nacci, a curious young seahorse portrayed by Kamau Nosakhere. He is a recent graduate of Fordham. His work in different facets of theater gives him a flexibility that is evident in this role. Nosakhere is especially effective at engaging the audience. As Nacci searches for Akashi, an octopus, he asks whether anyone has seen “big head,” and the children eagerly call out to help him. The audience is drawn into Nacci’s search for the truth. Akashi, who remembers everything that has ever happened, is brought to life by three actors: Karlo Siriban, whose Broadway credits include Miss Saigon, Into the Woods, and Company; Kelah Winfield, who works in theater, film, and television; and Ava Jones, an Off-Broadway performer who also serves as head of outreach for The Liminal Theatre Collective. Together, they create the presence and movement of a single octopus.
Nacci learns that humans were “once the universe’s most wonderful creations,” full of joy, music, celebration, and togetherness. But they changed as they began seeking power. “They wanted more than what was ever needed,” and eventually began to sell everything, even things that were not truly things, until they had sold their souls. Nacci refuses to believe that humans are gone forever because he believes magic will always endure. Akashi argues that their extinction was part of natural selection because they had forgotten how to be human. He lists the actions and inactions that led to their disappearance. Hoping to restore humanity, Nacci asks the audience to name the good that humans are capable of, prompting us to examine what it means to be human. The final decision about whether humans should be restored is left to a council of enslaved spirits whom Yemi rescued from the Middle Passage. Kelah Winfield and Ava Jones portray two members of the Council at the Bottom of the Sea.
This 70-minute production is recommended for audiences ages three and older. The music, sets, and puppets will captivate children, while adults are invited to reflect on what it means to be human during a time of deep division. Human explores human rights, ancestral memory, and collective responsibility.
The Shed’s mission is to welcome and present innovative art and ideas. By encouraging shared understanding, it seeks to help audiences make sense of a changing world and build community through art. Human clearly fulfills that mission.
