Workshops
Farm Arts Collective presents workshops on organic farming, sustainable living practices, artisanal food topics, ecological investigations, as well as workshops and presentations on social justice issues of equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
Past workshops include sauerkraut making & vegan soul food cooking, how to start a sustainable farm, children's horticulture, animal husbandry, soil health, fermentation & flower farming.
DEVISING PHYSICAL THEATRE with Tannis Kowalchuk
Devised theatre-making is a unique creative method that invites the performer to be a creator. This results in a process that engages the actors’ imagination, voice, body, writing skills and design concepts. Devised theatre usually does not start from a pre-written script but is created together through a collective rehearsal process. This creates original, moving, and relevant theatre, a direct expression and reflection of the imagination and bodies of a collective of individuals.
Who Should Take This?
Led by Farm Arts Collective’s artistic director, Tannis Kowalchuk, this workshop invites actors, directors, writers, dancers, singers, and designers to explore devised theatre technique that includes, physical-movement theatre, voice work, and text-writing to create original theatre performance. Group and individual exercises will be taught to explore principles of movement, voice and song, and developing a “ready” body and imagination to create theatre. Participants are asked to wear clothes to move in and bring a pen and notebook.
What Will We Do In this Workshop?
Tannis Kowalchuk, she will share her life’s work making theatre with ensembles. In this concise 2 hour workshop, everyone will move physically, sing, write, and develop a short performance piece. The class will start with specific physical exercises that engage the complete body and get the participants moving in the space and interacting with others. (Please wear clothes you can move in). We will explore voice and song together as a group, and then each participant will create an action and write a piece of text led by prompts from the workshop leader (please bring a notebook and pen). The individuals’ material will be montaged into a complete ensemble score, a scene utilizing everyone’s creative material. This portion of the workshop might be of particular interest to directors and writers of theatre.
PAY WHAT YOU CAN at the door.
The Goddess is a Clown with Clown Daddy
The Goddess is a Clown is a playful, embodied workshop that invites you to step back into your power, pleasure, and sense of play. Through movement, laughter, and a touch of the ridiculous, we'll shake off the weight of seriousness and remember that joy is our birthright. The Goddess within isn’t just wise and powerful - she’s got a wicked sense of humor too!
Led by Clown Daddy, this workshop is a celebration of the divine mischief-maker inside every woman, guiding us back to our bodies, our desires, and the sheer delight of being alive.
Bringing Your Story to Life
Bringing Your Story to Life
A theatre workshop with Farm Arts Collective
Presented by the Western Sullivan Public Library - Delaware Free Branch
Everyone has a good story to tell. In this workshop participants will work with a story from their life and create a unique short monologue that employs theatrical elements including movement, props, action and music. Learn methods to activate a story and transform it into a unique short performance piece. Open to all levels of performance experience. Bring a notebook, a pen, and comfortable clothes to move in.
Taught by Tannis Kowalchuk and Jess Beveridge of Farm Arts Collective.
Registration Required! Email WSPLPrograms@rcls.org to register!
Bringing Your Story to Life
Bringing Your Story to Life
A theatre workshop with Farm Arts Collective
Presented by the Western Sullivan Public Library - Delaware Free Branch
Everyone has a good story to tell. In this workshop participants will work with a story from their life and create a unique short monologue that employs theatrical elements including movement, props, action and music. Learn methods to activate a story and transform it into a unique short performance piece. Open to all levels of performance experience. Bring a notebook, a pen, and comfortable clothes to move in.
Taught by Tannis Kowalchuk and Jess Beveridge of Farm Arts Collective.
Registration Required! Email WSPLPrograms@rcls.org to register!
Family Farm Day
Join us on Willow Wisp Organic Farm for our annual Family Farm Day! Bring the whole family and learn more about organic farming, join a led tour of our greenhouses, vegetable and flower fields.
The day will include:
Led farm tours
Touch-a-Tractor
Face Painting by Foxglow Face Painting
Eco Crafts by Kit Sailer
Seed starting
Farm Fresh snacks!
Flower Cut & Design
The day begins with coffee at the barn followed by a led tour by Willow Wisp flower farmers, Tannis Kowalchuk and Jess Beveridge. The attendees will visit the annual and perennial flower fields and learn best practices in growing cut flowers, our favorite varieties, and tips on post-harvest methods.
-Wear your farm boots!
-Bring clippers or scissors. We have a few pairs!
-Bring a vase or vessel to bring your bouquet home.
-Light refreshments will be served
-Please NO pets!
Flower Cut & Design
The day begins with coffee at the barn followed by a led tour by Willow Wisp flower farmers, Tannis Kowalchuk and Jess Beveridge. The attendees will visit the annual and perennial flower fields and learn best practices in growing cut flowers, our favorite varieties, and tips on post-harvest methods.
-Wear your farm boots!
-Bring clippers or scissors. We have a few pairs!
-Bring a vase or vessel to bring your bouquet home.
-Light refreshments will be served
-Please NO pets!
Understanding Food Labels
Understanding Food Labels:
Organic, Regenerative, Free Range, Cage Free, Non-GMO.
What does it all mean?
A collaborative workshop with Gael Roots Farm and Farm Arts Collective with support from a For Farmers Grant
In this workshop, consumers will learn the difference between certified labels and buzz words to describe the food we buy. What is the difference between organic & regenerative? What is the difference between cage free & free range? What is grain finished beef?
Hear from farmers on their ranging perspectives on certification, regulations and how they choose their farming practices.
This is a workshop for consumers to learn how to be responsible buyers and to understand what is in their food.
No Reservation Required. Pay What You Can at the door.
Soup Making Workshop
Join us in the Willow Wisp Organic Farm kitchen & learn how to make 2 delicious soups with step-by-step guidance from Souperstar Tannis Kowalchuk.
Each participant will learn the basics of soup making and will chop, dice, and cook 2 soups with farm-fresh ingredients that will be provided.
Please bring with you 2 quart-sized containers to take the soup you made home to share with your family & friends.
Limited seats are available for this intimate, hands-on cooking demo! Reserve your spot now!
PLAYWRITING with Melissa Bell and Mark Dunau
This hands-on seminar will be taught by Farm Arts Collective resident playwrights Melissa Bell and Mark Dunau. Students will explore the elements of playwriting, from character, stasis, rising action, recognition to denouement. Through writing exercises and prompts, the class will explore creating dialogue and events, which drive the play forward. They will discuss broader aspects of theme and structure, with a chance to play with ideas, put the pen to paper and see what comes out.
The question will be asked: “What makes a play different from other forms?” Famously, Aristotle gives six elements of drama - plot, character, theme, dialogue, music, and spectacle. But this can be a little overwhelming when looking at a blank page. And not every play incorporates all of these elements, nor do they use Aristotelian structure. So, how does one begin writing a play?
The instructors will give writing prompts and time will be devoted to actual writing and presenting written work. Participants will have an opportunity to get their work up on its feet and read. Participants are encouraged to bring a theme, idea or character you would like to explore.
This class is Pay-What-You-Can and the address of Farm Arts Collective is 38 Hickory Lane, Damascus, PA 18415
Artists’ Bios
Melissa Bell has been a member of Farm Arts Collective since 2019 and has contributed to all 5 productions of Dream on the Farm. Her play LADY CAPULET was twice nominated for Best Adaptation & Modernization by New York Shakespeare and awarded Finalist for Henley Rose Playwright Competition. Her work on COURAGE with Tannis Kowalchuk was awarded Honored Finalist for the Collaboration Award by the Women in Arts & Media Coalition. Her play ZOE COMES HOME, a dark comedy, premiered at the Tusten Theatre and Bernie Wohl Theatre in NYC in 2023 and 2024. Visit www.themelissabell.com to see more of her work.
Mark Dunau is a farmer and artist. He has had ten full length plays produced, seven in New York City. His play Glass was nationally toured for three years with grants from the National Science Foundation. He has worked collaboratively with Tannis Kowalchuk since 2014 on several productions. Mark has been making his living farming without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides since 1990 at Mountain Dell Farm in Hancock, NY. He is known in the agricultural community as a pioneer in the Farm to Table movement, and mentored many farmers.
STAGE FIGHTING Workshop with Jess López-Barkl
Have fun finding your inner warrior! This stage combat workshop will give you some foundations and skills to perform convincing fight scenes safely. You will learn some basic terminology for stage combat, safety, consent/intimacy work, punches, kicks, falls, and weapons. This will class will prioritize safety and using this tool for optimum storytelling through movement.
Diverse skill levels: The workshop is suitable for beginners to experienced actors.
Practical application: Hands-on exercises to learn fight choreography.
Storytelling element: Stage combat can be used to enhance character development and excitement for the overall presentation aspect of theater.
Variety of techniques: Unarmed and weapon techniques will be covered.
PAY WHAT YOU CAN at the door.
SONG-WRITING Workshop #2 with Doug Rogers
Participants will share their compositions with each other and receive detailed feedback and next-steps advise from the teacher.
PAY WHAT YOU CAN at the door.
SONG-WRITING Workshop #1 with Doug Rogers
Introduction, philosophy, technique, with song-writer Doug Rogers who has created many incredible and memorable tunes for the Dream on the Farm series. Doug will give participants a song-writing assignment which will be brought in the following week.
PAY WHAT YOU CAN at the door.
INVOKE YOUR CLOWN Workshop with Clown Daddy
Finding your clown’s physicality and inner life is the goal with this playful workshop. Actress, Clown Daddy will teach how to shift your body and mind into a state of energized creativity, curiosity and joy. Red nose provided.
PAY WHAT YOU CAN at the door.
Vocal & Group Song Workshop with Tannis Kowalchuk
Tannis will teach a battery of songs with amazing group harmonies as well as introduce exercises that employ the voice as a muscle. We will stretch our range and capacity and attempt some improvised song-making. Everyone can sing is the philosophy. Singing is natural and good for us.
PAY WHAT YOU CAN at the door.
VOCAL and GROUP SONG Workshop with Tannis Kowalchuk
THIS WORKSHOP HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8 FROM 1-3 PM DUE TO WEATHER!!!
Tannis will teach a battery of songs with amazing group harmonies as well as introduce exercises that employ the voice as a muscle. We will stretch our range and capacity and attempt some improvised song-making. Everyone can sing is the philosophy. Singing is natural and good for us.
PAY WHAT YOU CAN at the door.
"There is a remarkable amount of agrarian history and knowledge in our community — thinkers, artisans, makers, and creatives who want to make the world a better place, who see sustainable living and social justice as a necessity. Our workshops bring this community together to learn from one another. And there is so much to learn! Be it herbalism, fermenting & preserving, healing racism, organic soil management, CBD production, raising happy pigs, cut flower design, Lenape language — it is the process of listening and learning that moves us together and forward as a culture."
– Tannis Kowalchuk, Artistic Director