I Am the Village is a puppet spectacle, a play, and a parade celebrating the life and art of Marc Chagall. Written in verse, the play follows Chagall's life from a materially poor child in a shtetl in the Pale of Settlement to world famous artist. Chagall briefly worked in the Moscow Yiddish Theatre, where the luftmenschen were born. The word is Yiddish and refers to men who are more interested in dreams and intellectual pursuits than the practical world. They became stock characters of the Yiddish theatre, carrying umbrellas to show their futures were always up in the air. I Am the Village features four of Chagall's works on umbrellas used as performance objects, four large masks of Chagall that float through space, and several characters from his paintings come to life as colourful, cardboard puppets. The piece is being scored by Nat Seelan of transcendental American klezmer group Ezekiel's Wheels. 

Writer/Performer: Alyson Doyle
Performers: James Hyett and Tuhi Sen