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Set in a mythical world where cuckoo clock birds talk, furniture blows by in the wind, and ants form armies, Bird House is the story of two longtime friends, Syl and Louisy. The play follows their struggle to understand the nature of their relationship and who they are within it (and without it) when the outside world intrudes upon their secluded lives.
The play was written for Sarah Petersiel, a great actress and clown. When I began writing the play I was greatly inspired by the clown work with which she and I were involved. For me, clowns experience the world for the first time, every time. They make no assumptions, so everything is a discovery and nothing is given. I strove to capture this quality in the writing.
In the play, the world is divided into two halves. On “The Bright Side,” Louisy and Syl live in a tiny house nested in a tree. Out the window, the world slopes green and gentle. Clotheslines in the distance remind them that they have neighbors. On “The Lop Side,” the grass turns to gravel. Furniture is caught in the bones of trees with the leaves blown off. Household remnants blow about in the wind. The play is set in war-time and examines the relationship between the place where war is a reality and the place where war is a story. – Kate Marks, Playwright
