As Artsweek Peterborough wraps up this weekend, you have one more chance to don an animal mask and participate in Woodland & the Wilds Promenade, with the final performance taking place at 2 p.m. on Saturday (May 13) at Ecology Park in Peterborough.
The promenade is a celebration of local wildlife and the animals that make the local ecosystem unique. The idea of the event is for audience members to participate in an embodied experience celebrating local ecology while engaging with the city’s artistic community.
Among the animals you can expect to encounter — or become — during the performance include foxes, bears, wolves, crows, and owls, with the masks created by Laurel Paluck. The performance also feature stilt-walkers in the guise of a monarch butterfly, a moose, a heron, and a praying mantis.
While the promenade is led by stilt-walkers Jennifer “Opal” Elchuk, Jeff Cadence, Victoria Kopf, and Victoria Wood with musical accompaniment provided by fiddler Jay Edmunds, everyone is encouraged to join by donning one of the available masks.
“It’s definitely not like a sit-down and spectate, although I guess it would still be fun to watch if you were not someone who wanted to promenade around,” Elchuk tells kawarthaNOW.
While the artists and performers in Woodland & the Wilds Promenade have worked together in the past, with the stilt-walkers members of the Peterborough Academy of Circus Arts, this is a new performance created for Artsweek Peterborough.
“Two of the stilt characters have been out at a couple of other performances over the last couple of years,” Elchuk says. “Jay did the music for a production I did with an aerial canoe and Jeff and Victoria Kopf were a part of that as well. Jay has also been with Laurel for her promenades in the past.”
Beyond the masks that will be lent to willing participants, there will also be the opportunity for audience members to dress in costume and join in on the proceedings.
“There are some costumes that allow audience members also to be woodland animals,” Elchuk explains. “People even without a costume can join our celebratory promenade.”
As the number of costumes and masks available for the public is limited, audience members are also welcome to bring their own costumes and join in.
“Anyone would be welcome to come with any animal ears or masks or costumes that they happen to have,” Elchuk says.
Woodland & the Wilds Promenade was first performed during Artsweek Peterborough’s opening night in downtown Peterborough last Friday, and again last Sunday afternoon at the Riverview Park & Zoo.
As well as mentioning her gratitude for Theatre Trent, which donated some funds for Woodland & the Wilds Promenade, Elchuk adds that some Peterborough Academy of Circus Arts students may join the stilt-walkers.
“We’re offering it as an opportunity for some of our students who’ve been getting really skilled at so far,” Elchuk says.
The final performance of Woodland & the Wilds Promenade takes place from 2 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 13th at Ecology Park, located at 1899 Ashburnham Drive in Peterborough. Parking is available in the Beavermead Park parking lot. Pedestrians and cyclists can access the park using the Trans Canada Trail entrances from the parking lot or from Ashburnham Drive.
For more information about Artsweek 2023, visit artsweekpeterborough.ca.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be the official media sponsor of Artsweek Peterborough 2023.
