NOVA Nightsky's 'Curious Case of the Cottingley Fairies' Casts a Spell
NOVA Nightsky Theater is staging Claire Wittman's The Curious Case of the Cottingley Fairies, a play about the early 20th-century fairy photographs and their lingering questions. The narrative moves between 1966 and the teenage years of Lillian 'Lilli' Barnes in Cottingley, examining truth and belief. Directed by Hannah Ruth Blackwell, the production uses an intimate church basement with a detailed woodland set.
Claire Wittman's play examines the Cottingley fairy photographs, taken in 1917 Yorkshire by two girls while World War I continued. The work asks whether the images proved something supernatural or were a trick, and it connects that uncertainty to current image manipulation. Its action shifts between 1966 and teenager Lillian "Lilli" Barnes's earlier years in Cottingley.
Hannah Ruth Blackwell directs. NOVA Nightsky Theater stages the piece in a Falls Church Presbyterian Church basement, using a snug space and a woodland design with moss, trees, mushrooms, flowers, and wisteria. The cast also portrays family members, media figures, intellectuals, villagers, and fairies.
This production may encourage audiences to reflect on how readily images can persuade, especially as artificial intelligence and altered media spread. Theatergoers, students, and media consumers could find parallels between the Cottingley case and contemporary questions about misinformation. By presenting belief and truth as layered, the play may spark conversations about trust