Swedish Cottage (Thursday Doors)

what welcomes,
defines, tells us who
we are?—asks
nothing of
us?—what shelters, creates in
us centered stillness?

how do we
become intrinsic,
belonging
to somewhere
that our heart recognizes–
a place to call home?

The Swedish Cottage in Central Park is the home of the marionette company which began in 1939 as a traveling performance group, staging free shows in playgrounds, parks, and schools around the city. Before the Cottage became its headquarters and workshop in 1947, the building served as a toolhouse, lab, restroom, and, during World War II, as headquarters for civil defense.

For some reason the Manet painting chosen by Colleen for her Tanka Tuesday ekphrastic challenge, above, and the poem I wrote, reminded me of this structure and its windows and doors. Perhaps it is the trees and their reflections.

In 1973 a permanent theater with room for an audience of 100 was created inside the Cottage for the company, where it now performs original productions, making new marionettes for each one. It also tours the city in a traveling Puppetmobile which visits all five boroughs, as it did in its early days, giving free shows and puppet-making workshops in parks, schools, and recreation centers.

The Marionette Theater is the only building in Central Park not created just for the park. Frederick Law Olmsted saw it at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, where it was Sweden’s exhibit. Built as a schoolhouse of pine and cedar, the structure caught his eye, and he convinced the city to purchase it and move it to the park.

Fully restored in 1996, the cottage also has a room you can reserve for children’s birthday parties.

The setting and building are lovely from all sides.

And, as always, be sure to check out all the doors host Dan Antion has gathered at Thursday Doors.

Here’s a link I found that has a lot of interesting interior photos and an interview with one of the puppeteers.

And here’s the parks department website for the theater.