Storm Country, Ithaca’s first exploration in the pioneering form of walking headphone theater, was a sold-out success in 2016, so we brought it back by popular demand in Fall of 2017!
The set design of this show is the city of Ithaca itself. Called a “beautiful” and “haunting” “audio adventure” by the Ithaca Journal, Storm Country immerses audiences in a world of voices, music, and environmental sounds as they travel among the ghosts of Ithaca’s West End. Inspired by “Tess Of The Storm Country” (a wildly successful 1909 Ithaca-based novel, made into two silent films starring Mary Pickford), Storm Country interweaves the strands of Tess’ melodrama with the hidden histories of the neighborhood where the action happens. In doing so, Storm Country explores the issues that remain as vital in today’s Ithaca as they are in the novel: finding home and being denied it, trespassing and the need for security, the power of the water to transform and be transformed.
Storm Country was a unique theatrical experience which involved a walk of about one mile over the course of 75 minutes, along Ithaca’s west end and waterfront.
Patrons met Cherry staff members at Lookout Point on the Erie Barge Canal, at the tip of Ithaca’s Inlet Island (behind the Boatyard Grill restaurant), and were given an MP3 player and other materials to take along on their journey.
The walk culminated at 102 Cherry Street on the banks of the Cayuga Inlet, at the home of the brand new Cherry Artspace!
