“Unfashioned Creature takes inspiration from Mary Shelley's timeless 1818 novel Frankenstein. Weaving together contemporary social themes: rejection, self-discovery, and love, both works forward a complex character who seeks to find belonging and equality. Just as each of us holds multitudes inside ourselves, the Creature in this production is cast as three dancers working together, showing many facets of one being.

Sharing a passion for creating unconventional and thought-provoking work, together we question what is considered beautiful and inspire respect for identities that are different from our own. Unfashioned Creature is a poignant reminder of the importance of accepting and embracing difference in all its forms.”

- Timothy C. Takach and Penelope Freeh

Contemporary ballet practitioner Penelope Freeh thoughtfully transforms how ballet is transmitted and embodied. Sitting in the question of how aesthetics shape content and meaning, she makes new dance performance. She is a McKnight Fellow for Choreographers, Sage awardee for Outstanding Performer, and her work is in the repertoires of many Twin Cities companies and groups.

Inextricably linked collaborations include works developed with composer Jocelyn Hagen. Their dance opera Test Pilot premiered and won a Sage Award for Outstanding Design in 2014 and toured Minnesota in 2016. Freeh was on the design team for Minnesota Opera’s The Song Poet (libretto by Kao Kalia Yang, score by Jocelyn Hagen, stage direction by Rick Shiomi, conducted by Tiffany Chang) and recently created choral ballet Unfashioned Creature with composer Timothy C. Takach, named a Top Ten Most Memorable Dance Event of 2023.

Freeh danced with James Sewell Ballet for seventeen years, serving as Artistic Associate from 2007-11. She is an affiliate Lecturer at the University of Minnesota and adjunct Assistant Professor at St. Olaf College. She holds a Dance MFA from Hollins University where she met colleagues Elizabeth Corbett and Brynne Billingsley, with whom she co-founded the long-distance performance collective TINATA.

Libretto by Mary Shelley
ed. Takach

The libretto is taken from Shelley’s novel, deconstructing the prose to form more poetic phrases.

Prologue

Listen to me. Believe me.
We are unfashioned creatures, half made.

1. The Idea

Darkness
The raising of ghosts or devils
A promise I most eagerly sought
Darkness
Bodies deprived of life - food for the worm.
Darkness
In the change from life to death, and death to life,
a sudden light broke in upon me.
Animation upon lifeless matter.

2. Creating the Creature

the unhallowed damps of the grave.
the instruments of life around me,
a spark of being into the lifeless thing
that lay at my feet.

3. Awakening

one in the morning
the dull yellow eye of the creature
convulsive motion
yellow skin
their features: beautiful
muscles and arteries beneath
hair lustrous black and flowing
teeth a pearly whiteness
watery eyes, dun-white sockets
shrivelled complexion
straight black lips

Now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished
breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.
I beheld the wretch— the miserable monster whom I had created.
Their jaws opened, a grin wrinkled his cheeks.
They might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out...

4. Cottage

A small room, whitewashed and clean, bare of furniture.
In one corner, near a small fire, sat an old man, his head on his hands.
A young girl sat down beside, taking up an instrument, he began to play,
sweeter than the voice of the thrush or the nightingale.
A sweet mournful air drew tears from the eyes of his companion.
He raised her, and smiled with such kindness and affection.
Sensations: a mixture of pain and pleasure, such as I had never before experienced.
I withdrew from the window, unable to bear these emotions.

5. Similar and Yet Unlike

The gentle people; I longed to join them, but dared not.
I cherished hope but it vanished when I beheld my person reflected.
I remembered the treatment I suffered,
and resolved that I would remain quietly, watching.
I found myself similar yet strangely unlike them.
I understood them, but was unformed in mind.
What did this mean?
I have no relation or friend upon the earth.
These amiable people have never seen me, know little of me.
I am full of fears; for if I fail, I am an outcast in the world forever.

Do not despair. The hearts of all are full of love and charity.
Rely, therefore, on your hopes; do not despair.

An outcast in the world forever.

6. Listen and Believe

Listen to me, Frankenstein.
Listen to my tale.
Life is dear to me, and I will defend it.
Believe me, Frankenstein:
I was benevolent; my soul glowed with love and humanity:
but am I not alone, miserably alone?
If mankind knew of my existence, they would arm themselves for my destruction.
Shall I not hate them who abhor me?
Listen to me, Frankenstein.
Listen to my tale.
I ask you not to spare me: listen to me;
and if you can, if you will, destroy the work of your hands.

7. The Creature’s Demands

Cursed, cursed creator!
Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark which you bestowed?
If I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear.
I will work at your destruction, nor finish until I desolate your heart.

I swear to you that when I live in communion with an equal,
my evil passions will have fled,
for I shall meet with sympathy; my life will flow quietly away.
The sun shall shine on us as on us all.

8. Rely on your Hopes

Do not despair. Listen to me.
The hearts of all are full of love and charity.
Rely, therefore, on your hopes; do not despair.
Believe me.
We are unfashioned creatures, half made.