We are thrilled to be Artists in Residency at Wellesley College where we will share ‘Decompositions’ written and performed by Tannis Kowalchuk and will also be offering a devised theatre workshop with the current students.

We are thrilled to be taking ‘Decompositions’ to Catapult in New Orleans presented by Mondo Bizzaro.

Lucy Joseph is an original performance by Farm Arts Collective based on the life of a 19th century gender non-conforming pioneer Lucy Ann Joseph Israel Lobdell. Directed by Mimi McGurl with contributed story and texts from the Farm Arts Collective Ensemble, author William Klaber, and historical texts by L.A. Lobdell and others. The original musical performance features Jess Beveridge, Doug Rogers, Pam Arnold & John Roth.

Notes from the Director:
The historical figure at the center of our play, Lucy Ann/Joseph Israel Lobdell is very close to my heart and I know many people in our community feel the same way. I first heard about the Female Hunter of Long Eddy more than twenty years ago when LGBTQ historian Jonathan Ned Katz referred me to an article in his anthology Gay American History. I had the simple and pleasant feeling that someone not unlike me lived here on the Delaware River a very long time ago. Now, after years of research and reading, this feeling is not so simple.

During Lobdell’s well-documented years, the amount of colorful labels attached to them in newspaper articles, histories, and medical journals was as much of a shock to me as the fact that so many people cared enough to come up with them. It seems as though everyone had an inventive and frequently insulting term for this person raised as a girl who, by 30 years of age, clearly preferred to live their life as a man. This speaks volumes to the cultural shifts squeezing through so much religious and political turmoil during the nineteenth century.

It would be impossible to catalog all of the changes the United States went through during Lobdell’s lifespan. In 1829, the year they were born, there were only 24 states, slavery was legal in 15 of them, and indigenous tribes still had sovereignty over significant North American territory. After the Indian Removal Act of 1830, the War of the Rebellion (1861-1865), and the rapid rise of industrialized capitalism, the country was nearly unrecognizable as the purple mountain majesties we sing about today. Scientific revolutions centered around Darwin’s theories, as well as gender and class struggles, were exploding into the political sphere. In fact, the notion of X and Y chromosomes was only articulated a few years before Lobdell’s death in 1912. Was Joseph ever allowed to rest in a stable understanding of who and what he was? There really is no way we will ever know.  

Now, nearly two centuries later, one would think we as a society might have progressed in our thinking about these issues, relegating the harms done to Lobdell to our past. Yet, there are still powerful and influential people who insist that our genetic markings at birth remain forever the essential truth of who we are. So much so, in fact, that the current Supreme Court will almost certainly allow states to make accessible medical treatment to young people differently based on the sex they were assigned at birth. I would argue that progress has been made in many realms during these centuries. Yet, Lobdell’s life stands as a beacon of exactly how much more work still needs to be done in order for all of us to have the freedom to determine, for ourselves, our own gender identities and our own personal truths. 

STAY TUNED TO PURCHASE TICKETS!

Paradise Lost: Scavenger Hunt is play #6 in the DREAM ON THE FARM cycle of climate change plays that we are creating from 2020-2030

John Milton’s Paradise Lost was first published in 1667 and told the familiar biblical story of Adam and Eve and humanity’s fall from grace. His poem included descriptions of Creation and Paradise, Satan’s Plot, The Fall, God’s Judgment; and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden.

In Farm Arts Collective’s 6th play in the DREAM ON THE FARM cycle of performances 2020-2030, Paradise Lost: Scavenger Hunt picks up where Adam and Eve leave paradise, hand in hand, to venture into the world.

The audience follows the lovers on a SCAVENGER HUNT across the 25-acre farmland of Willow Wisp Organic Farm. They encounter scenes, performances, interactive experiences, art installations, and are tasked to collect scavenger hunt objects, flowers, and specific actions needed to accomplish their hunt.

In all of these scavenger hunt experiences with Adam and Eve, a small truth is revealed that invites spectators to face the impacts that modern knowledge/science/progress (aka "eating the forbidden apple ") has had on our paradise.

Like Adam and Eve, contemporary humans have also eaten the fruit of knowledge, (in fact we keep eating it), knowing full well that what we are doing is harmful as we watch climate change, environmental degradation, the loss of species, the threats of food and water shortages.

The scavenger Hunt invites these questions:

What is Your Paradise Lost? What are you Holding on to? What is Gone? What Can be Re-Claimed?

Paradise Lost: Scavenger Hunt is a moving theatrical experience that invites artists and audience to experience a catharsis that requires accepting responsibility, becoming a vehicle for potential redemption and positive change. 

Farm Arts Collective presents of a weekend of innovative solo performances.
Stay tuned for submission opportunities.