January 25, 2019, 8:00-10 p.m. Modern Theatre, 525 Washington Street, Boston

Babylon: Journeys of Refugees, created and performed by the acclaimed Sandglass Theater and presented by Puppet Showplace Theater and Suffolk University.

Following the performance, Ford Hall Forum will host a discussion featuring Eric Bass, Sandglass Co-Artistic Director and Babylon director; Ragini Shah, Suffolk University clinical professor of law and founder and director of Suffolk’s Immigration Clinic; Rev. Amy L. Fisher, director of the Suffolk University Interfaith Center and the University’s chaplain and contributing author of Displaced Persons: Theological Reflection On Immigration, Refugees, And Marginalization; and moderator Iani Moreno, PhD, associate professor, Suffolk University Department World Languages & Cultural Studies.

This new production looks at the relationship of refugees to their homelands, lost and new, and the conflicts that exist within the American communities where they have fled. The tour of Babylon is supported by The National Endowment for the Arts and The Jim Henson Foundation, among others.

Babylon, is an ancient city in what is now Iraq. This fallen mythic civilization becomes a metaphor for the destruction and destabilization that is leading much of the world into a refugee crisis of mythic proportions. Sandglass Theater’s new production is a response to this crisis. Working with the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program, Sandglass Theater looked at the relationship of refugees to their homelands, lost and new. Sandglass artists interviewed resettled refugees in order to gain first hand insight into their plight, trauma, and the challenges of resettlement. This is a vital conversation in all communities, whether they are directly impacted by newly resettled refugees or not.

Using puppets and moving panoramic scrolls, Sandglass tells the refugees’ stories in original four-part choral songs. The artists work with simple means, not much more than someone could carry with them as they flee. In Babylon, the blending of actual testimony with unreal figures gives audiences a startlingly new perspective into how we can respond to the enormity of this crisis.

The Sandglass Theater and Babylon residency is made possible through the collaboration of Puppet Showplace Theater and Suffolk University’s Ford Hall Forum and Theatre Department.

Register today!