'Arborlogues' offers community a chance to perform for an audience of one: A tree

LACONIA — A new and immersive form of outdoor theater has made its way to the Lakes Region for the weekend. "Arborlogues, a Botanical Recital Performed for One Tree" is open to the public for reservations. The show is free, but there’s a catch. A 130-year-old black walnut tree at Prescott Farm Environmental Education Center is the only audience member, and the performer is a single person from the public.

That’s right, anyone who attends will have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to privately perform for a tree. 

The Laconia performance is a collaboration between Powerhouse Theater Collaborative and Prescott Farm.

“We’re both nonprofits here in the Laconia community, they reached out to us to ask us if we’d be interested in this,” said Prescott Farm Executive Director Jude Hamel. “It’s such an interesting intersection between nature and theater, how could we say no?”

The play lasts about 10 to 15 minutes, and consists of one reader, the tree, a curtain, and the play’s creator Dan Daly during intermission.

The performer steps into a red curtain that circles the tree and reads the play from a script. When participating, it’s best not to think of it as a full-fledged performance, but rather an artistic sort of conversation between yourself and the black walnut tree. At least, that was this reporter’s takeaway after giving the experience a shot.

Daly, the artist behind the "Arborlogues," is a production set designer with a long history of working in theater both in the Lakes Region and his current home in New York. Daly was the production designer behind the Powerhouse Theater Collaborative's presentation of "Our Town" last winter, and has built sets with the Winnipesaukee Playhouse for around 10 years.

“This began during COVID while working with the Peace Studio,” Daly explained. “We met in groups around the world to talk about how we can further peace around the world. I got a small grant from them.” 

Daly’s background in production design got him thinking about his own relationship with trees, waste and the world around him. 

“I was sort of realizing how much waste there is in theatrical set design,” Daly recalled. “Every time you have seen a play, every piece you’ve ever seen, all of that scenery gets thrown away. All that lumber is used for two weeks and thrown away.”

Daly wanted to do something different, and incorporate a living, breathing tree directly into his piece with a focus on its relationship with humanity. The first version of the "Arborlogues" focused on a cedar tree in Brooklyn for about six days. Each time the play is performed, it requires a bit of a rewrite to tailor to the specific tree.

The original script was written for a cedar, and included the history of the tree, including some of the Native American stories and legends about it.

“Since we’re no longer talking to a cedar tree, that doesn’t make sense anymore," Daly said. We’re talking about a black walnut. Its roots secrete a poison that kills off all the plants around it. It is a loner tree. It doesn’t want people to be near it or touching it. That’s how we were all feeling. We're working with a tree that pushes everyone away.”

The black walnut featured in this play is the largest of its kind in Belknap County and is a centerpiece at Prescott Farm. 

“It’s the place where our campers play and you can see the black walnuts are falling right now,” Hamel said. “Black walnuts have been pretty important over the years. They were a food source and the black sticky substance around the shell was used to make ink and it can be used to make dyes. We actually incorporate it here in some of the programs."

To participate, sign up for a 15-minute slot at belknapmill.org/arborlogues or swing by Prescott Farm Saturday, Sept. 24, and Sunday, Sept. 25, from 9:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.