Squonk creates joyful, boisterous outdoor spectacles by fusing fantastical visual design, playful staging, and high-energy original music. Led by Co-Artistic Directors Jackie Dempsey and Steve O’Hearn, Squonk presents Brouhaha, a riotous romp featuring the Squonkcordion, an enormous musical instrument the audience gets to play. The New York Times called Squonk “ingenious, hallucinatory and hypnotic.” Experience the joy of community and the power of live music in this immersive outdoor spectacle bursting with rollicking music and dazzling imagery.

Squonk will help Chautauqua celebrate its sesquicentennial with music, puppetry, and performance outdoors on a pop-up stage in Bestor Plaza. On Sunday, watch them perform; on Monday join them for a street puppet-making workshop (times and locations TBA), and on Tuesday, celebrate Chautauqua with a birthday edition of Brouhaha: participatory entertainment for kids and adults alike. The Tuesday performance on Bestor plaza immediately follows the Old First Night ceremony, striking up outside of the Amphitheater in Odland Plaza and then progressing to Bestor Plaza for the show itself.

Rain location for Brouhaha performances: Amphitheater