The Orchid Flotilla

a story of flourishing in barren places

April 2009 – International Association for the Environment, Space, and Place Conference

Late 2009 – The Dreyer Theater, Towson University, Baltimore, MD

May 2010 – International Association for Environmental Philosophy: Geo-Aesthetics in the Anthropocene

March 22 – April 6, 2012 – Salvage Vanguard Theater

September 4 – 20, 2014 – Salvage Vanguard Theater

Written & Directed by Caroline Reck

Featuring Caroline Reck and Gricelda Silva

Original Composition by Adam Sultan

Sound Design by K. Eliot Haynes Lighting Design by Megan Reilly Scenic Design by Caroline Reck and Connor Hopkins

Shadow Puppetry by Erin Meyer

Vocal Performance by Chris Gibson

The Orchid Flotilla is a tiny floating island of refuse, upon which a solitary woman scrounges for survival in a not-so-distant future. The orchids she tends become a metaphor for her own capacity for resilience and adaptation. Lurking below the water and eventually joining her on the craft are other characters in both human and object form.

A visual theatre performance about the human capacity to overcome ecological disaster. Sophisticated contexts. Not for young children.

Nominated for B. Iden Payne Awards for Outstanding Original Script, Production of a Drama, Lead Actress, Sound Design, Original Score, Scenic Design, Puppetry

Nominated for Critic’s Table Awards for Outstanding Theatrical Event and Lead Actress

A bare foot was all it was, and yet . . . that foot acquired sentience . . . Which, of course, made the illusion of intelligence, of a separate aliveness, all the more wondrous and wondrously comical. And in that moment, any doubts that Caroline Reck, the owner of both foot and leg, was destined to make theatre, were permanently dismissed.

It is best that you just experience it, like the works of Beckett... which the piece very much reminds me of. Allow yourself to be immersed in the evening and I guarantee you days and nights of discussion over what you have experienced to follow... and you won't miss dialogue at all.

It’s a rare gift to be able to tell a story without using words. And it’s even less common for us to get to witness such beauty on Austin stages.

Caroline Reck, crouched in a shopping cart, alone and adrift on unknown seas, proved how much can be done with little. Her grace, her wistfulness, her silence, her sense of play, left both a joyful ache and an admiration for her artistry in my heart.