Armofthe Sea DIRT Mama Water michael nelson

Families
Music + Performances

DIRT: The Secret Life of Soil

When

Sun, Apr 19, 2026 1:00PM – 2:00PM

Where

Lower Lawn

Price

Free

with admission to the grounds

Where does food “come from” and from what is it made? Here’s a lively primer for urban bumpkins and upcountry gardeners alike. Fusing cutting-edge science and age-old puppetry, Arm-of-the-Sea Theater’s DIRT takes audiences on an extravagant journey of discovery into the Great Underneath—revealing the epic alchemy of plants, the fungi’s dance of mutual delight, and the microbes’ herculean labors. Featuring live music and a myriad of puppet figures ranging from 12 inches to 12 feet tall, the show reminds earthly residents of all ages how profoundly essential the ground beneath their feet is.

Registration not required. Questions? Please email us at information@wavehill.org or call 718.549.3200 x251.

The Lower Lawn is accessible by a paved path that has a moderately steep slope, which is not ADA-compliant. Accessible bathrooms are available a few hundred feet from the Lower Lawn, as well as at the Perkins Visitor Center, located at the top of the slope.

Arm-of-the-Sea

Arm-of-the-Sea

Arm-of-the-Sea is an arts ensemble that fuses visual storytelling with live music in large-scale works of mask and puppet theater. Founded in 1982 by Marlena Marallo and Patrick Wadden, the company’s hybrid performance style channels the evocative power of the arts as a force for joy, insight, and community uplift. Their low-tech devices of theatrical enchantment illuminate relations between humans and the life-support networks of this blue-ocean planet.
Under the direction of Marallo & Wadden, the 2025 creative team includes musicians Maclain Maier and Joe Davis, and performers Joanna Grabiarz, Douglas Keller, Dee Dee Maucher, Nick Panken, Rakel Stammer, Soyal Smalls and MJ Smythe.
Arm-of-the-Sea tours to cultural centers, festivals, and community venues throughout New York and adjacent states. The organization is transforming the ruins of a 19th century papermill into a waterfront cultural park - The Tidewater Center - in Saugerties, NY.
Recent recognitions include: 2024 Hudson River Watershed Alliance Wave-Makers Award, 2018 Ulster County Executive's Arts Award for Arts Organization, 2016 Environmental Champions Award from the US Environmental Protection Agency, 2014 Excellence in Arts Award from Mill Street Loft, 2014 Distinguished Environmental Achievement Award from Mohonk Consultations. Marallo & Wadden were 2013 Artists-in-Residence at SUNY Ulster (Stone Ridge, NY), and 2014 Artists-in-Residence at the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies (Millbrook, NY).