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Where Does Food Come From?

LittleFarmShow2MARK YOUR CALENDAR

On January 27-29, 2012 Pontine Theatre presents the North American Cultural Laboratory Theatre (NACL), performing its award-winning “The Little Farm Show,” a musical extravaganza about farming, food, and the environment. From the inception of the solar system, to sunset on Millicent’s farm, the Magnificent MacDonald Twins explore the question, “Where does your food come from?” giving audiences a whirlwind tour of “The Greatest Show on Dirt!” (Continued below)

 

Performances are scheduled for Friday 27 January at 8pm, Saturday 28 January at 4pm and at 8pm, and Sunday 29 January at 2pm.  Tickets are $24 and may be purchased online at www.pontine.org.  Pontine’s West End Studio Theatre is located at 959 Islington Street, Portsmouth NH.  For further information contact Pontine call 603-436-6660.

Created and performed by Tannis Kowalchuk and Brett Keyser, the vaudeville-inspired performance kicks up some dirt with live original music, and high-spirited performances. The play plows through agriculture’s history from 10,000 BCE, exploring sustainability, local food systems, and organic farming. Steeped in history, philosophy, and a wheel barrowful of information, The Little Farm Show not only entertains, but asks us to consider our food choices and the effect those decisions have on our bodies, the environment, and society.

North American Cultural Laboratory (NACL Theatre) is a professional, not-for-profit theatre ensemble based in Highland Lake, NY. Since 2000, the company has operated a rural theatre center and an artist residence where it creates its own work, presents a season of new performance by guest artists and ensembles, and teaches actor training to artists at all stages of their lives.

Founded by Tannis Kowalchuk and Brad Krumholz in New York City in 1997, NACL Theatre has created sixteen original ensemble productions to date and tours its theatre performances internationally. Most recently NACL performed EXILIO:My Life as Bolaño at The Teatro Experimental in Guadalajara Mexico in February 2011.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES

Brett Keyser is a performance artist whose company, Nightjar Apothecary, produces solo and collaborative works exploring fiction-enhanced episodes in the history of science and technology. His currently touring project,  Darwinii: The Comeuppance of Man, is commissioned by the American Philosophical Society Museum where Keyser served four years as Artist in Residence. From 1997 to 2002 he was a core collaborator with the performance groups  Wishhounds and  Theatre Labyrinth. In 2010 he received an  Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts. He has created work for the Chemical Heritage Foundation, worked with the Franklin Institute's Traveling Science Show, and has led programs integrating performance with environmental science. Keyser is a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts teaching artist. His early study as a performer included work at Odin Teatret in Denmark, Primus Theatre in Canada, and the San Francisco School of Circus Arts. He is a graduate of the dear departed Department of Folklore and Folklife Studies at the University of Pennsylvania

Tannis Kowalchuk is co-founder and artistic director of NACL Theatre. She has created and performed in over sixteen NACL productions and has toured extensively in the USA, Canada, and Europe.  A graduate of the University of Winnipeg theatre department, she was a core member of Primus Theatre, a prominent experimental theatre troupe based in Canada from 1990-97. Past performances include: Self Portrait at County Fair (2009), Butorides (2009), a site-specific dance theatre performance in the Delaware River, featuring 10 local women and girls, The Lost Book of Lakewood House (2009), Hatchings (2008), a solo performance about childbirth,The Uncanny Appearance of Sherlock Holmes (2008,) in the role of Dr. John Watson at HERE Arts Center (New York City),  and The Mystery of Lakewood House (2007). Other significant performances include The Confessions of Punch and Judy created and performed with Ker Wells and director Raymond Bobgan, 10 Brecht Poems, a collaboration with Leese Walker of Strike Anywhere, The Passion according to G.H., a solo performance directed by Brad Krumholz.

ABOUT PONTINE

Serving the Seacoast since 1977, Pontine Theatre has developed a sterling reputation for high quality performances and educational programs.  With an impressive repertoire of innovative, original productions, the company serves both its home town, Portsmouth, NH and New England and neighboring states.

At the West End Studio Theatre, located in Portsmouth, an at-home performance series showcases all of the company's premieres and the works of a national roster of guest artists.  Two things unite the wide range of work presented in Pontine's at-home performance series: all use expression through movement as a primary dramatic vehicle and all are original works created by the artists who perform them.  The 2011-12 Performance Series includes Vermont-based Mud Time Theatre in their original production, The Nine Questions & Mildred Taken Crazy, and the premiere of Pontine’s original adaptation of stories by Kittery Point painter and writer, John Savary Wasson’s, Cap’n Simeon’s Store and Other Stories .

Pontine's touring program brings the company to audiences throughout New England.  The company offers performances, workshops, and residencies at community centers, historical societies, libraries, museums, and assisted living communites for seniors and the disabled.  Last season, Pontine offered fifty-five performances in thirty-two communities throughout New England.

Over the past decade, Pontine has become well known for a group of critically acclaimed productions which specifically reflect the history and culture of New England.  These include an original adaptation of Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables, a staging of Thomas Bailey Aldrich’s 1896 novel The Story of a Bad Booy; an original adaptation of Brewster’s Rambles About Portsmouth; Wallace Nutting’s Old America, about the Colonial Revival Movement; an original adaptation of Sarah Orne Jewett’s 1896 novel, The Country of the Pointed Firs, which chronicles daily life in the maritime villages of Southern Maine;  Cornish Castles, based on the life and work of New Hampshire painter, Maxfield Parrish; Journey to Heaven, based on the history, lives and beliefs of the Shakers; and Dearly Earned, about 19th century textile mill workers.  These plays have been performed in venues throughout the region, including Canterbury Shaker Village, Currier Museum, Decordova Museum, Enfield Shaker Village, Museum of Fine Art-Boston, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Penobscot Marine Museum, and Strawbery Banke Museum

 

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