It begins, as so many of these stories do, with a knock at the door. A young couple discovers a cardboard baby on their stoop. They grow to love the child, who is completely flat, as their own. Then someone or some thing takes away the baby to the Flat World, a planar landscape populated by characters whimsical, sinister, and flat as pancakes. The couple, both ordinary and round, must enter this two-dimensional world to get their baby back. Can they rescue their adopted child and escape from a parallel universe in which there is up-and-down and side-to-side, but no way out?

For Cankerblossom, director Dan Rothenberg has teamed up with cartoonist and pioneering puppeteer artist Beth Nixon, whose fantastical cardboard creations work alongside stop motion animation, video projection, live music, and Pig Iron's signature physical style to create this shadowy fairytale land. In the spirit of The Phantom Tollbooth and Spirited Away, Cankerblossom invites you into a hidden, magical world that once you enter has no intention of letting you leave.

"Inventive staging and sublime displays of whimsy.”
The New York Times

In short: dark whimsy, life in 2D, once upon a time, next door universe, cardboard baby, passionate eyeball.

Last year, Live Arts Festival favorites Pig Iron Theatre Company brought joy to sold-out audiences with Welcome to Yuba City (2009). Cankerblossom also features the work of New Zealand gypsy musician Rosie Langabeer.

Conceived and Created by Pig Iron Theatre Company Direction Dan Rothenberg Text Tim Sawicki and Pig Iron Music Rosie Langabeer Cardboard Artist Beth Nixon Set and Animation Mimi Lien Lighting James Clotfelter Projection Design Josh Higgason Performers Hinako Arao, Beth Nixon, David Sweeny, Alex Torra

Post-show discussion moderated by Aaron Cromie, freelance director, performer, and mask and puppet designer, following the 6pm performance on September 5.
Post-show discussion moderated by Andrew Simonet, co-artistic director, Headlong Dance Theater, following the performance on September 14.

Cankerblossom will be performed at the Christ Church Neighborhood House, which now has air-conditioning and elevator access.

To read blog articles about this show, click here.

Dan Rothenberg (director) is a founding member and co-artistic director of Pig Iron Theatre Company. Dan has directed almost all of Pig Iron's original performance works, including Poet in New York, Gentlemen Volunteers, Isabella, Pay Up, The Lucia Joyce Cabaret, and the Obie Award-winning Hell Meets Henry Halfway and Chekhov Lizardbrain. In 2001, Dan co-directed Shut Eye with Joseph Chaikin. Other projects include creation of audio works to accompany the paintings of Alexandra Grant at MOCA in Los Angeles, improvisation research with Headlong Dance Theatre and Miguel Guttierez, and ongoing collaborations with Stockholm's Teater Slava and the alt-comedy group The Berzerker Residents. In April 2010, Dan directed the English-language premiere of Toshiki Okada's Enjoy for Play Company in New York.

Beth Nixon (performer/creator/animator) is the human behind Ramshackle Enterprises. She builds puppets, masks, piñatas, parades, pageants, palindromes, magical lands, and other spectaculah, on her own and in collaboration with people of all ages. She comes from Rhode Island, lives in West Philly, and mostly uses cardboard, science, and the imagination to navigate and survive. Beth is a coconspirator of Philly's Puppet UpRising and has created many shows, both tiny and giant, including Mite We? (though a 2008 Independence Foundation Fellowship), Sloth Teeth, Is Enough Enough?, Flossing Between Miracles, and 3 ½ Thoughts on Pelicans. She has performed at The Andorra International Festival of Women Clowns in the Pyrenees Mountains and other less far-flung locales. Beth teaches workshops and gives guided tours to places that don't yet exist. Please visit: www.ramshackleenterprises.net.

Hinako Arao (performer/creator) was born in Hiroshima, Japan. At the age of 17, she embarked on a journey learning truco in Argentina, playing with Tasmanian devils in Australia, farming in Spain, hammerhead sharking in Honduras... She got a B.A. in theater from Temple University in Philadelphia, where she worked with Pig Iron Theatre Company as an Associate Artist on Love Unpunished, 365 Days/365 Plays, Pay Up, Come to My Awesome Fiesta, It's Going to be Awesome, Okay? and Welcome to Yuba City. She also studied at London International School of Performing Arts. Now, after 10 years, she's happily living in Tokyo where her lovely family of four fits into a tiny bento box apartment, with loving and occasional barking. Special thanks to Chuck and Amy.

David Sweeny (performer/creator) is a performer and musician based in South Philadelphia. He is the creator/ producer of Johnny Showcase and the Lefty Lucy Cabaret, which rocked the 2009 Philly Fringe with Purr, Pull, Reign: A Litigious Fantasy in D. He has appeared with numerous theaters in and around Philly, including Swim Pony Performing Arts (SURVIVE!), Arden Theatre Company, Tribe of Fools, The Joe Hill Project, Shakespeare in Clark Park, and Delaware Theatre Company, as well as internationally with Teatro delle Due in Reggio Emilia, Italy. David is a graduate of the University of the Arts and an alum of the National Theatre Institute. Thanks to the Pigs. Love to Nancy Drew.

Alex Torra (performer/creator) is the associate artistic director at Pig Iron Theatre Company, where he has worked as a performer in Welcome to Yuba City, PAY UP, 365 Days/365 Plays, and Anodyne; as assistant director on Chekhov Lizardbrain and Sweet By-and-By; and as director of Come to My Awesome Fiesta, its Going to be Awesome, Okay? Other acting credits include Enjoy (Play Company, NY). Directing credits include: the upcoming Punchkapow (Team Sunshine Performance Corp.); Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare in Clark Park), Anaerobic Respiration (The Shifting Company) at the 2005 NY International Fringe Festival. Awards include the 2007 Princess Grace Award (Grace Le Vine Theater Award), 2007 Oregon Shakespeare Festival F.A.I.R. Directing Fellowship, and 2006 Drama League Fall Directing Fellowship. Alex received his MFA in directing from Brown University.

James Clotfelter (lighting designer) is committed to the creation of collaborative and socially conscious work for theater, dance, and the living space. He is an artistic associate with Pig Iron Theatre Company, resident lighting designer and production manager for Miro Dance Theatre, company member of johannes wieland, and cofounder of Mlab, a laboratory for innovations and design technologies in the live arts. James has had the pleasure of collaborating with artists and choreographers such as Rennie Harris, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Bill Shannon, Reggie Wilson, Antony Rizzi, David Szlasa, and Sara Shelton Mann, as well as companies such as The Play Company, Rainpan 43, Gas & Electric Arts, Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental, Southern Repertory Theatre, Z Space Studios, and Lubelski Teatr Tanca. www.jcld.net.

Mimi Lien (set designer/animator) is a designer of sets/environments for theater, dance, and opera. She was born in New Haven, CT, and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Mimi is an artistic associate with Pig Iron Theatre Company (previous projects include Love Unpunished and Welcome to Yuba City), and resident designer at BalletTech. Her work has been seen at A.R.T., Berkeley Rep, Public Theater, Wilma Theater, Signature Theatre, Alliance Theater, The Joyce, Dance Theater Workshop, and The Kitchen, among others. She was a semifinalist in the Ring Award competition for opera design in Graz, Austria, and her work has been recognized by a Barrymore Award, two Barrymore nominations, an American Theatre Wing Hewes Design Award nomination, and an invitation to the NEA/TCG Career Development Program.