PRELUDE Festival 2023
PERFORMANCE
Dream on the Farm: The More Things Change
Farm Arts Collective
Theater, Music, Puppetry
English
75 minutes
1:00PM EST
Saturday, October 21, 2023
Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY, USA
"The More Things Change" is play #4 in a 10-play series of climate change performances, created by Farm Arts Collective. Conceived and directed by organic farmer and theatre-maker, Tannis Kowalchuk, "The More Things Change"is a promenade performance that tells the story of a multi-generational farm family who is offered a large sum of money to sell their organic farmland to developers of a “bio-diversity” theme park called Eco-Land. The offer pitches the family into a dramatic crisis and a riveting family drama unfolds as they decide what to do in the face of climate change and their own personal dreams—to sell or not to sell?
The devised performance features original music, a chorus, and puppetry. The work premiered at Willow Wisp Organic Farm in August 2023.
Conceived & Directed by Tannis Kowalchuk
Text by The Ensemble, Mark Dunau, Melissa Bell, Hudson Eynon-Williams
Composer Doug Rogers
Music and Choral Director Annie Hat
Additional songs by Melissa Bell, Mark Dunau & Traditional music
Company Manager Jess Beveridge
Costumes by Chris Barkl
Parade Puppets by Sue Currier & Ace Thomas
Stage Manager Cami Pileggi
Dramaturg Jess Barkl-Lopez
Ensemble Actors
Jess Beveridge as Sarah Wilder
Beau Brazfield as Oliver Wilder
Michael Chojnicki as Grandpa “GiGi” Walter Wilder
Ginny Hack as Aunt Linda
Annie Hat as The Ghost of Grandma
Tannis Kowalchuk as Nora Kosciuk-Wilder
Lexee McEntee as Candace Two Feathers
Doug Rogers as The Narrator, Old Joseph
John Roth as Theron Wilder
Jonah Watwood as Jo Wilder
Hudson Williams-Eynon as Justin Darling
The Musicians & Chorus
Pam Arnold, percussion & banjo
Rebekah Creshkoff
Tiffany Esteb
Annie Hat
Karen Hudson, guitar
Kris Kurtz
Doug Rogers, guitar & piano
Phoenix Murns
National Endowment for the Arts, Radio Drama Network, William E. Chatlos Foundation, Honesdale National Bank and Deep Roots individual donors.
Content / Trigger Description:
Farm Arts Collective is based on Willow Wisp Organic Farm in Damascus, PA, a 30-acre solar-powered vegetable and flower farm owned and operated by farmers Greg Swartz and Tannis Kowalchuk.
Farm Arts Collective was founded in 2018 by theatre artist, Tannis Kowalchuk, to provide programming in four life-sustaining practices: farming, art, food, and ecology. Our mission is to serve and improve our rural community in creative ways that intersect art with farming and ecology. The collective offers a full season of unique public programs, events, and performances, and feeding people farm-fresh food is always a priority at events.
Farm Arts Collective has developed and trained a LOCAL ensemble of over 25 actors, scientists, farmers, stilt-walkers, playwrights, and composers who create ORIGINAL innovative and spectacular performances. The company was featured in THE NEW YORK TIMES Arts Section.
DREAM ON THE FARM is a ten-year performance project focusing on climate change. From 2020-2030 the company creates and presents one new play every August. The event attracts hundreds of people to the farm for a week of site-specific theatre performances about the environment, farming, and climate change that both educates and entertains. Every performance also includes a meal of farm fresh food shared by audience and artists.
https://www.farmartscollective.org/ https://www.facebook.com/farmartscollective Instagram @FarmArtsCollective