In this action-packed election year, it seems like there’s no shortage of political theater, and anxieties about the future of the United States are at a fever pitch. A multipronged project by Pointless Theatre Co. at Transformer, Democracy’s Last Hurrah?, faces these election year worries and the decline of American institutions head-on. Part gallery show, part art workshop, and part performance, the collaborative project will culminate in a participatory parade around Logan Circle on Sept. 7 depicting the death and possible salvation of democracy. 

Transformer executive and artistic director Victoria Reis approached Pointless Theatre with the idea of keying into the ongoing political anguish with a democracy parade. It was an idea that the theater company was excited to run with. 

Pointless Theatre has long built its performances around puppetry. “The shows that we have created blur the lines between, is this a puppet show, is this a dance piece, is this a concert?” says founding member Scott Whalen. The company can add gallery exhibit to the list now, as Transformer’s walls are filled with props, puppets, masks, and other ephemera from past Pointless Theatre productions. Whalen describes it as “a bit of a retrospective of our work to familiarize the community with some of the things that we’ve made in the past.” 

Over the coming weeks these works will rotate out as Transformer becomes a studio where blueprints for the eventual parade will be drawn up and pinned to the walls and new puppets and placards are created. It’s not new for Transformer artists to use the space for creating works, but it’s unique for the public to not only get such a close look, but a chance to get involved. From now until Sept. 7, the artists will be working in the space Wednesdays through Fridays from noon to 4 p.m. and anyone can drop in and contribute, a hands-on approach that drives home the idea of participation in democracy. Inexperienced artists shouldn’t balk at getting their hands dirty. “Most of what we’re going to be building is using very simple techniques and simple materials that anybody can use to sculpt,” says Whalen. Transformer will also host workshops specifically around puppet construction and manipulation, and will do some test run rehearsals of the procession. 

If U.S. democracy is often called the “great American experiment,” then the workshop is something of a mad scientists’ lab where all are welcome to shake something up in a test tube. The organizers hope that in addition to grabbing some paper-mache or paint to work on some in-progress puppets, visitors will hang out, chat, and contribute their own ideas and thoughts about democracy’s potential demise. There’s a loose outline for some of the parade narrative so far, but much of the proceedings are being dreamed up in real time. 

“How do we visualize these things that we’re afraid that we’re losing, or that might already be somewhat lost in the current state of democracy that we are in?” says Whalen. “Figuring out exactly what those images are is something that we as the creative group are still finalizing in terms of the sequencing.” 

So far the pastiche includes aspects of a political cartoon brought to life, an array of Americana-inflected imagery, and European avant-garde influences that Pointless has deployed in other projects.

So why use puppets as a way to parse political issues and democratic debate? 

“You can do things with puppets that you can’t do with people,” Whalen explains. “You can create a tableau with puppets. You can get away with saying things, showing things that you can’t necessarily do if you were just an actor or someone giving a speech.” Puppets and visages of political figures are often used in protests—think statues of Hugo Chavez being toppled or the inflatable rats at union demonstrations. It also injects some much-needed levity and lightness into the conversations that point toward doomsday. 

“If the death of democracy is a potential, how does that look?” Whalen asks. “How do we bring some sort of hope into it?”

Democracy’s Last Hurrah? runs through Sept. 7 at Transformer concluding with the parade that starts at 4 p.m. transformerdc.org. Free.