Disfarmer November 6, 2009

Disfarmer is a portrait of an artist, a piece of puppet theater that examines the contradictions in the life of hermit Mike Disfarmer, who was born in 1884 and died in 1959 alone in his photo studio. His solitary world comes to life through “table-top puppetry,” Magic lantern slides and 8mm home movies; old Edison wax disks and haunting Ozark mountain music create an atmosphere of old times faintly remembered. Disfarmer is represented by a series of puppets, each an exact replica of the last except two inches smaller — shrinking like much of rural America until he is completely gone.

Estimated Runtime: 90 minutes

Official Website: http://claricesmithcenter.umd.edu/2009/c/performances/performance?rowid=9174