Inspired by Sir Ernest Shackleton’s harrowing expedition to Antarctica in 1914, Phantom Limb unites marionette puppetry, dance, film, history, and photography with contemporary music to create a stunning vision of the great arctic continent—past, present, and future. Dotted with icebergs designed by Jessica Grindstaff that rise from the ground like ghosts, Shackleton’s crew – played by half-life-size marionettes by Erik Sanko, operated by six performers atop stilts - struggles to survive in this vast landscape that incorporates an original score by Sanko, recorded by the Kronos Quartet, mixed with glacial field recordings from the company’s research trip to Antarctica; the junkyard aesthetic of Sanko’s band Skeleton Key; the stage awash floor to ceiling with photos and film from the expedition mediated by video designers Shaun Irons and Lauren Petty; dim lights by Andrew Hill that streak across the foreboding terrain; with explorative and explosive choreography by Andrea Miller; and costumes by fashion design impresarios threeASFOUR.

Putting into stark relief the power of endurance and camaraderie and the price of knowledge 69° S. mines the inherently bittersweet and complex nature of the Shackleton experience and what the future may hold for this fragile environment.

Video: Behind the Scenes of Phantom Limb's 69°S

April 18 - 21

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