What happens when two brothers – a musician and a biologist – find themselves quarantined together with their six collective children on a Canadian lake? If it’s during the pandemic summer of 2020, a lot of initial fretting occurs. “While my brother Tobi, the biologist, took up moth-ing that summer, I took up worrying about work and rent,” says Peter Kiesewalter. Slowly, over evening campfires, the idea for a new show took root – one that would combine Tobi’s incredible moth images with music and family narrative. The multimedia show debuted in New York in 2022. Since then, it has been presented at a variety of prestigious venues – from concert halls (National Arts Centre, the Long Center) and museums (Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum) to botanical gardens (Santa Fe Botanical Garden). Appearing on NPR’s Science Friday, The MOTH PROJECT has garnered interest from science and environmental communities as well as anyone who enjoys a great story and good music.

The MOTH PROJECT traces the parallel journeys of a moth’s life cycle and one family’s migration to North America, probing the many ways we relate and connect to the natural world. Collaborating with interpretive naturalists, entomologists, biologists, graphic and video designers, The MOTH PROJECT bridges the divide between empirical data and our imagination by exploring the common themes that connect all living creatures – migration, seduction, death, and transformation. The expanded 90 minute show debuting at Minnesota Fringe will feature three walls of stunning video, two live musicians, one family’s migration story, a genre-defying set list, and an AfterParty that will have audience out of their seats and on the dance floor!