In most, if not all, movements performed by Double-edged theater, the earth is a central character. The artist-run theater in Ashfield, Massachusetts, co-founded in 1982 as a feminist ensemble collective by Stacy Klein, among others, is committed to “art, living culture and artistic justice” through theater creation, land management, sustainability efforts, community partnerships and meetings. They’re not just words: they’re literally rooted in the place where Double Edge lives and works.
“The farm is located in a rural area on 105 acres of land,” said company member Melina Dabova. “The members of the ensemble don’t just live and perform there: there is a real collaborative effort with the land. »
What this looks like varies depending on the project (their most recent, Leonora, the magician and the teacheris now broadcast until November 13). The theater, best known for its sold-out traveling avant-garde summer glasses (featured in Annie Baker’s first feature film Janet Planet) considers ground logistics whenever considering and planning its outdoor productions or the work of guest artists.
This means that lands and what happens to them (including the effects of climate change) dictate what they can stage and also inform strategic efforts. Theatrical processions like the summer show, immersion in the site’s bodies of water (last spring The hidden territories of the Bacchantes), and climbing structures in trees are some of the ways the outdoors are used in productions. Careful planning and respecting what the land can support is the top priority. Weather, accessibility for spectators and the animals that call Double Edge Agricultural Center home are also part of the process.
Dabova and Travis Coe, whose April show Suga explored the Afro-Caribbean/Latinx history of her family and their homelands (Belize, Nicaragua, and Puerto Rico), and explained how the presence of a family of beavers changed their interactions with the stream there. Coe pointed out that the stream is now more of a pond, which, Dabova noted, “has affected the way we think about performance order and show flow” for the summer show.
We hope this kind of agility will allow Double Edge’s work to feel immersive and impactful.
“We respond to the environment,” said Cariel Klein, artist, ensemble member and daughter of Stacy Klein and Carlos Urionaleading actor and theater maker.
For the The flight of the heronheld in August (and expected to return in summer 2025), session times had to be adjusted as sunsets rose earlier “so we could still get the right light,” Cariel said . “It’s a new performance that travels around the farm, like most of our works.”
The flight of the heron focuses on a heron that lives on the ground. Coe and director Jennifer Johnson worked on the production, which explores iconic characters, animals and mythical creatures.
The theater’s agricultural center also anchors other efforts. Last year Art and Survival Festivalorganized by Ebony Noelle Golden— company partner, artist and founder of Betty’s Daughter Artist Collaborative and Jupiter Performance Studio, as well as an upcoming Eco-Womanism Institute — demonstrated the company’s commitment to vibrant culture earth-centered and artistically just. The festival took place over several days and centered the voices, stories and work of people of color, focusing on their connections to the land, stewardship, world-building, climate change, food , and much more. Golden said: “The idea is to make us think and reflect on our relationship to the land, the water and each other. »
Golden tapped people for the festival who were “doing work at the intersection of arts culture, community, and climate or environmental justice,” she explained. The festival included a resonant experience of the “Altars of the Earth” of Viktor the. Dataa fascinating “Invisible rivers” by Mondo Bizarro, the impactful impact of Golden’s Jupiter Performance Studio Quickening: Ceremonies in the name of the M/other treeand the beautiful and strange offering of Double Edge The hidden territories of the Bacchantes. Mississippi Center for Cultural Production founders Carlton and Brandi Turner led a discussion on “From Farm to Freedom,” Golden hosted a “Conjure a World: Community Strategy Session” with Art and Survival Fellows, and there was a tour of the 12 foot puppet. Little Amal.
This type of meeting is fully aligned with the Double Edge philosophy. Since then, Golden has been in a phase of deep research and listening to learn what form her eco-womanism institute could take, she said. Leading up to its tentative launch in 2027, Golden and Double Edge will host a series of pre-launch events. Partnering with Golden for this next institute will be “one of the next offshoots of this work,” Stacy said. “One of the things that matters most to me about this… is the Black and Indigenous solidarity that was able to emerge from this last festival and this last meeting, which we did, in partnership with Ohketeau and Jupiter Performance Studio. I’ve been working on it for several years. »
In addition to the performance of Double Edge and the future institute (more of a practice than a space project, Golden noted), another type of growth is occurring, from the vegetables that feed the whole to the exploitation of the ‘solar energy. electricity and tree planting to replenish the landscape, as well as the company’s work with the Nipmuc indigenous community to help build the Ohketeau Cultural Centeraccording to its website, “the only indigenously founded and operated cultural center in all of central and western Massachusetts.” The center aims to “elevate the voices of Indigenous peoples and dismantle unjust frameworks, replacing them with accessibility, equity, dignity and well-being for our Indigenous communities.”
“We are partners in every sense of the word,” Cariel said. “We share land with them. We are their fiscal sponsor, but it is an autonomous organization. Cariel and the ensemble are always looking to advance the theater’s work, talking about partnering with Ohketeau and the Conway School’s graduate program in Sustainable Landscape Planning and Design to carry out a replanting of native plants during ‘a ceremony.
“It’s all extra-theatrical,” she said, but “that’s what Double Edge is.” We are not just theater. Indeed, Double Edge operates, as much as possible, as a self-sustaining center that contributes to, engages with, and amplifies the work of partners and surrounding communities, with a clear dedication, even respect, for the land.
Everything the company does, whether it’s programming or otherwise, Cariel said, “is infused with repair work, our justice work, land work, it’s all intertwined.” We don’t have one without the other.
