Songs, shadows, and puppetry transformed the Newton Free Library on Tuesday evening as the Shadow, Sound, Spectacle ensemble performed their multimedia show, “Literary Monsters.”
“I grew up queer in Texas, you know, late ’80s, early ’90s, and I definitely felt like I fell in the monster spectrum,” said singer-songwriter Jess Martin.
The performance was a unique blend of songs and art that depicted literary stories and characters in modern ways. Beneath the whimsy was a prevailing sense of personal reflection and emotion, solidifying the show’s central theme: monsters as metaphors for identity and otherness.
Martin makes up the “Sound” part of Shadow, Sound, Spectacle, alongside master of video and puppetry Amy West, and narrator Abby Hanna. The three showcased their unique talents throughout the night, riffing off each other and working together to bring their stories to life.
The show reimagined characters, such as Edgar Allan Poe’s raven, through a queer, contemporary lens. Each character had their own song and artistry, and the audience gained some insight into their production process.
In one music video, “Danger in the Deep”—a play on the science fiction adventure novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea—depicted a giant squid, just trying to make a friend. West initially designed the massive, tentacled puppet for a production at the Boston Center for the Arts.
“It started its life as a pool noodle—pool noodles are very, very versatile for puppet-making projects,” West said. “I used pool noodles, Saran Wrap, bubble wrap for the little suckers, and a lot of layers of liquid latex.”
The group members are spread out across Massachusetts, with Martin and Hanna from Northampton and West from Boston. They brought their act close to home with a song about the famous Amherst native, Emily Dickinson.
The piece reimagined a lesbian romance, depicting Dickinson as a recluse watching Polish immigrant women pass by her window on their way to the factory. The monster in this story wasn’t a person or creature: it was society.
“Emily’s looking out the window every morning and evening, and she sees the same woman,” Martin said. “They’re separated by glass, by class, by the time they live in.”
One audience member, Boston-based theater producer and director Roxanna Myhrum, praised the song as a standout moment of the show.
“That Emily Dickinson one was beautiful and very evocative and profound,” Myhrum said. “I also grew up in Western Massachusetts, so I know a lot about Emily Dickinson. It struck a chord.”
She appreciated the special opportunity to watch the group at her local library.
“I also live in Newton, and having an event like this really close to my neighborhood is awesome,” Myhrum said. “It’s kind of not what you would always see offered at the library.”
The evening wasn’t all fantasy—narrator Hanna made sure to sprinkle in fun facts about the stories’ origins and characters.
“Did you know the Headless Horseman is actually not unique to just Sleepy Hollow?” Hanna asked the crowd. “A similar figure actually appears in Irish and German folklore called the Dullahan, who carries around his own skull and a human’s spine for pain.”
The show ended on a playful note with Hanna and West shocking the crowd dressed as none other than monsters. The moment summed up the spirit of the night—humorous, creative, and witty.
“They took something that is familiar to the audience—these iconic monster stories, and they approached it in a really new and interesting way that combined music and puppetry,” Myhrum said. “That is really memorable and makes a great impact.”
