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Wednesday, November 5, 2014





BAREBONES EXTRAVAGANZA 2014

Last year my friend Marisa put together a group of people to attend the 20th Barebones Extravaganza.  She had been to this event a few times before, but that was my first year to attend.  While the event had some really powerful moments as it dealt with the topic of grief, it wasn’t outstanding.  However it was good enough for me to want to go back again this year.

We entered the event through the belly of a whale.

The ever present souvenir tent.

The crowd dressed warmly for the chilly evening

Waiting for the performance to begin.

Usually there are aerial acrobatics, but the evening proved too windy for that.

Founded in the mid-1990’s, Barebones’ mission is “To bring art into community and community into art through movement, puppetry and spectacle performance; creative re-use, education, and collaboration.”  The annual Halloween Extravaganza is one of the many ways they successfully achieve this goal.

From the rocks . . . 

. . . came the little sparks . . .

. . . that ignited the fires of creation.




This year’s performance, entitled Metemorphosoup, in their words “takes the legend of Stone Soup, and mixes it together with the oozy history of the Primordial Soup.”   The parallel between the two was brilliantly executed, beginning with the fires of creation and continuing down through the evolutional chain.  Magnificently portrayed with giant puppets and live performers, the production was nothing short of amazing!

Sea creatures soon appeared.

The jellyfish were spectacular!

The dinosaurs . . .

 . . . came down out of the crowd.

This was only my second year to attend the Halloween Barebones Extravaganza, but I am completely hooked.  This will now be an annual part of my fall activities going forward.  I highly suggest getting this on your radar now so you don’t miss this experience next October.  You be very disappointed if you do.

The "Remembering" chant gave us the opportunity to name loved ones 
who have passed, and was the perfect segue way . . .

. . . to the Remembering Tree.




(Marisa Myhre contributed a photo for this post.)


***Do you attend any annual Halloween programs?












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