How Big We Are. And What We Do.
Hand to Hand is propelled by 2 giant puppet hands, each the size of a house and rigged like a sailing ship, and music that blows the roof off. The Squonkers, dwarfed by the hands, climb a multi-tiered stage. Music rises from a single finger flicking an organ key, as natural an expression of humanity as a wave or a fist.
Squonk’s original progressive rock drives a journey that is spectacular, plaintive, and comic. In this melee, the giant thumbs detach to become truly opposable and challenge each other with guitars. Audience members come together to grab the rigging, each individual powering a larger movement of giant fingers, a web of connections, a single dance. We want to encourage shared discovery, people face to face, festive, and making a community of the imagination. Hand to Hand.
Co-commissioned by the Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C), Artscape (Baltimore, MD), Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership (Pittsburgh, PA), Moraine Valley Fine & Performing Arts Center (Chicago, IL), FirstWorks (Providence, RI), and Discovery Green (Houston, TX).
Created in 2019.
Squonk Brouhaha
Brouhaha is an immersive outdoor spectacle bursting with rollicking music, dazzling imagery, and the thrill of audience participation.
At the center of this riotous romp is the Squonkcordion, an enormous musical instrument powered by behemoth bellows topped with towering tuba bells. At the peak of the performance, Squonk invites the audience to play this foghorn organ, welcoming them to experience the joy of a brass band and the fireworks of community. They don’t have to be musicians, but by the end of the show, we will all embrace the joy of making sounds — and the risk and camaraderie that entails.
Throughout this visual extravaganza, Squonk’s musicians add driving rhythms, vibrant keyboards, wild winds, and hypnotic guitar riffs to the Squonkcordion’s rich and brassy sound. A raucous fusion of styles, Squonk’s music ranges from propulsive and exhilarating to celebratory and majestic.
The show ends with a 30-foot head made of brilliantly colored banners, comically blinking its eyes and shooting smoke out of its ears.
Raw, loud, feel it in your body, see it in your neighbor’s face in the bright sunshine: many voices, one song.
Join the brouhaha!
Commissioned by ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, MI.
Created in 2023.
Song Confessional
What if you could have a custom song written about your life by the best songwriters around? Step into the song confessional at Artsplosure and provide an anonymous confession on the spot to be recorded – and it just might inspire a new hit song! Today’s top bands and songwriters turn anonymous stories into new original songs. Each episode features the “confession” that inspires the original song, the song premiere, and an interview with the songwriter. Song Confessional is hosted by Walker Lukens and Zac Catanzaro and is a collaboration with KUTX radio in Austin, Texas.