Q2: Habitat--A Synopsis

The porcupines are in the garden—which only becomes a problem when the “garden” is one belonging to us. The heron is in the cove—which only becomes a problem when he is eating our bait, or in the way of our kayaks. The excavator is noisily building new homes—which only becomes a problem when it is In My Own Backyard. And the people need homes—which only becomes a problem when we use more resources than we need, crowding others out of “our” habitat.

Q2: Habitat takes us through the evolutionary habitation of this beautiful place we call home on the Down East coast of Maine. Where once the magnificent mother porcupine Quilla and her babies roamed freely, and the Heron ruled his watery kingdom, now they find themselves surrounded, trapped, and pushed away by our human needs and uses for these same places. There are a lot of us striving for our own piece of this “turf,” and our uses for this turf end up competing and conflicting with those around us: animals, golfers, truck drivers, insects, dream home owners, contractors, fish, vacationers, conservationists and more.

Q2: Habitat takes our existing struggle for co-habitation one step further, imagining ways we might all become aware of and make room for other creatures’ needs for habitat. The Primordials are giant backpack puppets conceived and constructed by Mia Kanazawa and Mark Kindschi, and animated by dancers Mark Fucik, Christopher Grant, and Matt Kent under Alison Chase’s choreography. They represent fog and wind, our planet’s elemental forces, larger than us and capable of creating transformation. In Q2: Habitat they appear at a devastating juncture—Quilla and the Heron have been trapped and seemingly vanquished—to transform the inhabitants’ understanding of the need to share habitat. With the help of Rick Weed’s primal excavator, they push back the humans from their overexpansion of turf, freeing Quilla and reviving the Heron. This opens up a celebration for all, in which the humans recognize their sprawl and ultimately create a more compact form of living in relationship to our wild friends and habitat.