“What are the wishes of fireflies? Can we summon fireflies to return to our backyards? What is the etiquette that will repair our relationship with our most magical neighbors?” asked Wonderland Spectacle Co.’s “How To Walk To Walk Among The Stars: A Shadow Puppet & Firefly Lantern Pageant,” which was performed at the Manship Artists Residency in Gloucester on Sunday, June 1, 2025.
The event, created and directed by my sweetheart Kari Percival and growing out of our joint residency at Manship last summer, began with a strawberry shortcake social. Then guests were led around the back of the barn to a grassy spot between two quarry ponds where performers danced a maypole dance. Shadow puppetry followed in the arbor, telling the story of how sculptor Paul Manship didn’t cut the grass at the residency property until late each summer to let fireflies flourish. (The residency continues this tradition as part of its firefly restoration program.) Then the shadow puppet show urged the audience to resist pollutions that harm our environment.
A performer costumed as a firefly then led the audience to the gazebo, which was lit by lanterns that performers handed out to audience members as pledges to care for fireflies and the environment. Four performers with glowing wings danced across the grass, before leading the audience back to the arbor. There Percival collected the lanterns, everyone sang a song, and in the quarry pond below a rowboat appeared with two performers floating the lanterns on the water like a constellation across the dark pond.
The full cast of “How To Walk To Walk Among The Stars” performers and creators: Ailsa Craig, Michele Del Vecchio, Helena Froehlich, Amber Gaumnitz, Moishe Howse, Yogi Howse, Daryl Jackson, Jeannine Lynch, Kari Percival, Ulysses Percival Cook, Rebecca Reynolds, Jessica Semeraro, Aubrey Sours, Lianna Sours, and Kirsten Wiberg.
