Welcome to the homepage for the Interlochen Arts Academy Theatre Company’s production of Yvette Nolan’s The Birds. We’re so happy to see you.

The Birds is a modern adaptation of Aristophanes’ Greek comedy. Masterful playwright Yvette Nolan has taken this classic tale of mankind’s ever-shifting and often hypocritical relationship with nature and spun it into a striking and deeply thoughtful commentary on colonization, temptation, and identity, all told through the lens of the necessity of the vitality of respecting indigenous culture. The play starts out with Jack and Gulliver, two self-proclaimed refugees from the cities of man, as they struggle up a mountainside, desperate to discover a new and better way of life with the community of birds who live at the mountain’s peak. However, the two have very different futures in mind. Will the birds follow Jack’s path of industry and ambition, or stay true to their history?

Enter Andrew McGinn, our director and fearless leader. From our first meeting as a cast back in December, he instilled in all of us, cast and crew, a spirit of collaboration and listening and a deep love for this show and all it means. When we returned to campus in February, well rested and ready to create, we hit the first speed bump in our process. Andy had to head home to be with his family for a little while. While we had all adjusted to the Zoom format over the past year, none of us knew what this change would mean for our show.

Least of all me. I’m Katherine Humes, the assistant-turned-co-director of The Birds. This has been my first time directing anything outside of staging scenes for class work and daydreaming. And yet, before I knew what to think I found myself standing on Harvey Stage, looking out over a sea of expectant faces, and having to step up, take what Andy had taught me, and be a leader. Together, with the exceptional cast, patient stage managers, supportive teachers, and a truly phenomenal script to return to, we managed to create fertile creative ground to build on in anticipation of Andy’s return. We built the show as a true team, and every moment holds a little bit of each of us. And when Andy returned after a month away, we finally had our last puzzle piece back.

This website is an amalgamation of all of us, just as the show is. It tells the story of our process, from design concepts to dramaturgical work. You’ll meet the cast and crew, discover every reference and theme in the text of the play, learn about indigenous culture, and gain a deeper appreciation for this wonderful story.

As Gulliver says,

“to seek out a new path

To move forward in a good way”

Walk this new path with us.

-Katherine Humes (Co-Director)

We Are, The Birds