Tucked away amidst the industrial shops on Cherry Street stands an unassuming warehouse, with no marking other than a red circle with a stem. This is not another lighting appliance showroom, it is the Cherry Artspace.
A former English teacher who stumbled into puppetry, Gershon said that she and her partner, Matthew Ocone, first encountered the old art form at a puppet convention. There, they saw a performance by papercut artist and fellow puppeteer Katherine Fahey.
“We heard that in Baltimore, (Fahey) did a whole festival, just like we’re doing now,” Gershon said. “We went to see it, we loved it, and we were like, ‘we got to have this in Ithaca. We can do this.’”
In its third annual installment, the Crankie Cabaret held five shows from Thursday, Nov. 7, through Sunday, Nov. 10.
Gershon said that she especially enjoys the teamwork and collaboration involved in organizing the performances.
“My favorite part is getting everyone together and working together as a crew, and kind of seeing how we can help people make their ideas come to life,” Gershon said. “Which is why I don’t think I am going to get bored of this. Because it’s not just like ‘Oh, I need to churn out this piece of art,’ it’s like a whole group of people who inspire each other, and are so creative and fun to work with.”
Writer and actor AJ Sage is one of the members of this emerging crankie community. Accompanied by the visual artistry of his collaborator Tori Oxalis, Sage wrote and performed a narrative monologue for their piece, We Are Still Married, described as a “plaintive reminder that love is never a finish line.”
As a long-time performance artist, Sage said that he doesn’t consider himself particularly talented in visual arts, but he appreciated the opportunity to become involved.
“When they asked me about it, I felt a little embarrassed. Like ‘you know all I can draw is stick figures, right,’” Sage said as he laughed. “I’ve seen the last couple Crankie Cabarets, and I was out there thinking, ‘this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, it’s such a shame that I can’t participate in it.’ And now, it turns out that I can.”
Sage also said that he values the community of artists that has been forged through the Crankie Cabaret.
“I’m part of about a dozen artistic groups in this community, and all of them are supportive on some level of the support spectrum,” Sage said. “But this particular group of artists, despite the fact that were not spending tons and tons of time together all year round, it’s a very safe environment in which to work and I really appreciate that.”
Gershon plans to continue building this artistic community.
“As long as there’s people who are inspired and want to make them, and as long as I’m not bored doing this, I think I’m just going to keep doing it,” Gershon said.
As Ocone, who hosted the show, said to the audience:
“We want to make Ithaca the crankiest place in the world!”
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