Falling for Patricia is easy. It happens as soon as she lumbers across the stage at Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts during a November performance.
Big, round, impossibly warm brown eyes; rather generous hips; a chiseled face heavily dusted with a bit more makeup than necessary; endearing ears that point far above her head; and a long, broad nose surprisingly easy to nuzzle. Her hair is spiky, unruly and somehow suits her. All that, and she’s expressive, emotional, responsive to kindness and downright lovable — removing any doubt about her appeal.
Patricia’s signature move? She paws with her right leg, resembling a stomp or, even better, a sassy, four-legged tap-dance. Sometimes she expresses a range of emotions by braying, which is part of her charm.
Affectionately known on stage as Donkey, she performs in The Aesop Project, a family-friendly music program presented by Les Délices (pronounced Lay day-lease), a classical music ensemble. Brought to life by Ian Petroni, she’s part puppet, part personality and part invitation for young audiences to embrace old stories in a brand new way.
“Classical and/or Baroque music is often assumed to be stiff or formal by uninitiated audiences,” said Debra Nagy, the founder and artistic director of Les Délices. (She’s also one of North America’s leading performers on the baroque oboe.)
“My hope is that Les Délices’ production of the Aesop Project showed both children and adults that Baroque music and instruments have the ability not only to tell stories but also that they can be fun, playful, engaging and enlightening for contemporary audiences.”
The production includes puppets designed by Petroni and a music ensemble featuring instruments such as the Baroque violin, viola da gamba, oboe, recorder and harpsichord, as well as narration by Ohio poet laureate Dave Lucas.
The Nov. 19 performance at Miller South was followed by an encore three days later at the Akron Public Library.
How Patricia took shape
He is always at Patricia’s side.
Petroni, who controls her movements with deft precision and intentional hand controls, has worked with Patricia since he transformed her in his basement studio from a pristine white cat that first trotted onto the scene in Les Délices’ 2022 fairy tale-themed opera to a grey donkey for the opera based on Aesop’s Fables.
Petroni was recruited by the early music ensemble to help create a puppet-driven narrative that gave Aesop’s Fables room to stretch, dance, trot and flap — all set within a multimedia performance shaped by Baroque music, storytelling and movement.
“I would like the audience to see the world in a new light, from a slightly different point of view,” he said. “Found objects and recycled materials are inspiring my process. I enjoy the challenge of conceiving unexpected ways to use found objects, and I enjoy surprising the viewer of how something can be used. Perhaps they will then see everyday objects as having creative potential.”
During the show, Donkey and her three puppet pals assert their freedom, shake off expectations and set out together, sharing stories of their fellow animals’ grief and glories along the way. They do this through a variety of handmade and hand-propelled puppets such as an eagle, rat, rabbit, turtle and lion — all fashioned and designed by Petroni.
Each puppet carries its own archetype — the flighty Bird, the playful and slightly sneaky Cat, the loyal Dog, and Donkey, the worker. Patricia’s favorite co-performer is the Bird.
“She just flutters so gracefully,” Patricia said after the recent production, complete with an animal-inspired score of Baroque music.
Each of the starring roles is given its own voice through Baroque instruments. Flute and violin often characterize the mischievous Bird’s fluttering, flying and nervous flapping; the cello expresses for the Donkey. The harpsichord offers varying sounds and music for the dancer, puppeteers and other character puppets as they are introduced.
The storyteller and vocalist captivate audiences with their voices and their expressive, dramatic and emotional movements.
From found objects to center stage: ‘People respond to puppets’
Puppeteering snuck up on Petroni, a Cleveland-based designer-builder.
One moment, he was part of Parade the Circle, an annual parade held at the Cleveland Museum of Art featuring giant puppets that people wore on backpacks — as high as 15 feet. He had also built props behind the scenes of several productions.
Then at some point, he said, “I realized how much people respond to puppets.”
Petroni creates a range of puppetry, from Japanese Bunraku to rod puppets, depending on levels of characterization.
For Akron audiences, that work now lives on in Patricia — the donkey who proved that old stories, like old music, can still surprise.