DAMASCUS, PA — Tannis Kowalchuk and the theater troupe Farm Arts Collective are halfway through their 10-year cycle of plays about climate change—but “we haven’t exhausted this at all,” says Kowalchuk. 

This year’s production, play six in the Dream on the Farm series, will center around the story of the Garden of Eden, as told in the 1667 epic poem “Paradise Lost.”

The idea began when Kowalchuk read a book by Olivia Lang, which used the story of “Paradise Lost” to talk about restoring a lost garden. That got Kowalchuk thinking about the illumination the story could bring to humanity’s interactions with climate change. 

Like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, humanity has eaten from the forbidden tree of knowledge, she says. We know the natural world around us, and we know that the actions we’re taking—flying airplanes, burning oil, buying plastic and the like—harm that world. And yet, we continue taking those actions. 

“I want to ask, ‘How do we take responsibility for losing paradise to our own human activities that are inducing the fires, floods, drought and rising annual temperatures?’ We understand why it’s happening, so how do we confront that, and then hopefully act to change our ways?” she says. 

The concept will get fleshed out further in the coming months, leading up to the production taking place at the end of July. 

Early conceptions for it have the audience participating in a scavenger hunt across the grounds of the eponymous farm at Farm Arts Collective’s Damascus headquarters, with performance elements to include an ancient Japanese style of theatre called Noh theatre. 

Kowalchuk introduced her ideas for the play at a December 16 public presentation. (Visit www.vimeo.com/farmartscollective to see a recording of that presentation.) Around 30 people came out, braving the snow to share their thoughts and their excitement for the performance. 

It was really interesting to get feedback on such an early idea, which she hasn’t done before for the series, Kowalchuk says.

Changing tides

The Dream on the Farm series started in 2020, and to this point, five of the proposed 10 productions have taken place. 

The changing climate—both the climate of the natural world and the shifting political climate—has impacted the series’ path. 

Last week, President Trump issued an executive order pausing the disbursement of all federal funding. That order threw into question everything from Medicaid to media funding, including a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for which the Dream on the Farm series has received a notice of award, a grant that makes up a third of this year’s production budget. 

“For sure, we’re in financial peril,” says Kowalchuk. While the administration has backed off from the funding freeze at present, Kowalchuk says that grant funding could still be slowed down in its disbursement. 

Beyond the potential impacts to funding, Kowalchuk pointed out that Trump’s administration is removing information about climate change from official government websites. It’s made her feel more committed to the performance, though it might run counter to official government pronouncements. 

“I feel responsible to keep talking about it in my community, in my little corner of the world there on my farm,” she says. 

That corner of the world has felt the effects of climate change. While the wildfires in California last month served as a dramatic, national example of climate change’s consequences, Kowalchuk has experienced summers of drought, flooding and air filled with wildfire haze in the five years of running the farm and the series. 

“Is it getting easier to talk about it in the community? I think so,” she says. She says with the consequences coming home, the reality of a changing climate has become part of our psychological makeup. 

And as things continue to progress, Farm Arts Collective will be there, telling the story alongside the community. 

For more information, visit www.farmartscollective.org.