DAMASCUS, PA — August 8-18 Thursday-Sunday for a limited two week run, Farm Arts Collective will present Conference for Those Still Living, play #5 of DREAM ON THE FARM, a decade-long series of performances about climate change at the new Agri-Cultural Center on Willow Wisp Organic Farm.  Showtime is 6:30 PM and each performance concludes with farm-fresh food.

This year’s immersive and original performance, Conference for Those Still Living is collaboratively created and performed by the Farm Arts Collective ensemble, directed by artistic director Tannis Kowalchuk, with music and lyrics composed by Doug Rogers. 

The performance ensemble includes company manager Jess Beveridge, and members Pam Arnold, Melissa Bell, Rebekah Creshkoff, Ginny Hack, Annie Hat, Lexee McEntee, John Roth, Yurika Sase, Debra Thomas, Hudson Williams-Enyon. Technical production and lighting design by Kai Brothers, production technician Phoenix Murns; set pieces designed by Kit Sailer and Erin K. Orr; cooking with Alicia Grega and Helen Baldus; poster design by Karen Hudson.

Conference for Those Still Living tells the story of a group of people who are invited to a climate change conference organized by their mutual friend, a world-famous ornithologist named Benjamin Drake. The invited guests include an international mix of artists, scientists, and activists. Each guest has been asked by the ornithologist to prepare a presentation with the prompt: How has climate change affected your life and livelihood?

When the ornithologist does not show up at his own conference, a mystery ensues to his whereabouts.  As the presenters carry on with the conference in his mysterious absence, the anxiety and concern for their missing friend is a wrenching parallel for the anxiety they feel about climate change and their own lives. The conference becomes something nobody quite expected.

In this new immersive DREAM ON THE FARM experience, the audience will be immersed in the conference as delegates, and the collective’s new Agri-Cultural Center will be transformed into a conference hall.  The performance takes place both indoors and out and will feature live music composed by resident composer Doug Rogers and performed by the Farm Arts Collective band.

As part of the play experience, the audience will be invited to walk the farm led by a Willow Wisp Organic Farm farmer, with an interactive  stroll through the “conference exhibit field” where booths will be set up and each actor-presenter will share their research and work with the audience who will be able to stroll and mill about at their leisure for a period of time.

Like all DREAM ON THE FARM shows, the evening will conclude with a shared farm meal with our audience to offer space and nourishment so that we may continue the conversation inspired by the evening’s performance.

We believe that Climate Change is the greatest local and global issue of our time. As rural artists, we are compelled to address this issue as it affects everyone, especially the most vulnerable.  We have told many stories in the DREAM ON THE FARM series. In fact, we are at the mid-point of this decalogue.  

We have observed that art has a profound way of addressing climate change.  No other medium can deliver the same impact as live story, music, and theatre. We aim to offer our community an artful message that will hopefully inspire action and ideas for bettering our community.